How Kitchen Display Systems Improve Efficiency and Reduce Costs in Restaurants

A kitchen display system (KDS) is basically an ordering and information system display in the kitchen backend to increase restaurant efficiency. KDS is becoming increasingly important and popular for modern restaurants, especially quick service restaurants whose business model works around giving prompt services to customers.

POS Integration

The Point of Sale software, when equipped with a Kitchen Display System, can truly work wonders for your restaurant. This integration is what enables orders placed in the POS to automatically get updated in the KDS and displayed to the kitchen staff.

• It also allows online orders to fully integrate into restaurant operations, so that they do not require additional staff or re-entering in the POS.
• If you have an iPad POS/tablet POS or a mobile phone POS, you can directly take orders from customers from their table and it will get updated in the KDS, which will save a great amount of time and boost efficiency.
• With an access to a mobile POS, the serving staff can be updated as soon as the orders are prepared which would ensure that food is served right after it is prepared.

Let us discuss the ways a KDS improves restaurant operations and leads to greater business success.

1. Increased Service Speed and Efficiency

Restaurant kitchens are one of the busiest places, with everyone rushing to get their work done. It should not be surprising if the hand-written ticket orders are lost, or damaged due to spills and splatters or rendered illegible because of the handwriting. This can eventually lead to nightmarish order inaccuracies.

A KDS puts an end to all such problems by showcasing details of all the orders on a bright, easy-to-read, wide display system which also serves as a central repository. Everything that the food preparation staff needs to know about meal preparation, including restrictive ingredients (if any) or other specific preferences. In addition, it also keeps real-time track of the change in orders and additions. All changes are reported to the kitchen staff as soon as they are requested by the customer.
With this, instead of waiting for the serving staff to get the order details, the preparation staff can begin working on their food preparation as soon as order details are notified at the display system.
A KDS tracks the time it takes to prepare an order and expedited to the table, making the staff aware of how long an order is taking to process and helps them to increase their efficiency and speed accordingly.

2. Improved Inventory Management and Waste Control

A KDS also helps to reduce wastage at your restaurant, which eventually reduces the overall food costs. A discrepancy in order taking by the waiter, or mixing up of orders is one of the major causes of food wastage in restaurants. The KDS eliminates such confusion and reduces food wastage significantly.

Integrated with the POS, KDS automatically monitors order volume and inventory levels, alerting you when quantities become low, ensuring that the stock in inventory is replenished accordingly. This prevents inaccurate or delayed orders due to the lack of required ingredients that force the preparation staff to improvise orders against the preference of customers and creates preparation snafus.
Apart from being environmentally friendly by eliminating the use of paper for kitchen orders, it greatly contributes to food wastages that occur due to erroneous communications between the preparation and serving staff.

Also Read: All You Need To Know About Inventory Management For Restaurants

3. Better Customer Service

Enhanced accuracy and service speed provides an excellent experience to customers. The food service industry is quite literally based on customer service and the quality of service that you provide breaks or makes your business. A KDS positively transforms a restaurant’s overall performance and contributes greatly to customer service. With lesser hassles and confusion in the kitchen backend, even the serve staff is able to extend good hospitality to the customers. Such high caliber service provides for a good customer experience which leads to increased sales and profits, and of course loyal customers.

4. Complete Tracking of Orders and Detailed Reporting

The KDS screen displays the time it will take for your kitchen staff to complete a ticket (order), and if you are equipped with a POS system that offers reports and analytics, you can get access to tremendous data that can help you improve your overall restaurant operations.
With this information, restaurateurs and managers can keep a check on the average time taken for a particular meal to be prepared as well as the average time it takes for orders to get processed. This helps to focus on the key areas that need improvements, and also helps you categorize your preparation staff into the most efficient ones and ones that need additional training for better performance. They can then optimize labor by comparing the speed of service data against the revenue generated. This will allow determining whether increased sales are turning into profit or being lost to operational inefficiencies.

Also Read: The Need For Mobile Analytics In Restaurants

The restaurant industry revolves around efficiency and accuracy, and a KDS has proven to be of tremendous value for restaurants, replacing paper tickets and kitchen printers. The operational advantages of a touch-screen display system are vast, and they also counter restaurant wastage and give a great customer experience by better kitchen coordination and management.

Originally published at blog.posist.com on January 19, 2017.