Kitchen (KDS) — kitchen display
Kitchen (KDS) (Kitchen Display System) is the kitchen screen that replaces paper tickets: new orders appear automatically, and the cook marks them ready with one tap.
Open: Admin panel → Kitchen (KDS). Runs in a browser on any device — tablet, monitor or TV.
Putting KDS on a kitchen screen
Two ways:
- Staff login — a cook signs in with their own account (the "Cook" role only sees kitchen screens).
- Device code — in Devices, create a code for a kitchen display and enter it on the device. The tablet/TV connects without a password and shows only the KDS.
Useful modes: fullscreen and a sound alert for new orders (toggled on the screen).
Working with tickets
Every order is a ticket card with the table, type (Dining area / Delivery / Pickup), items and note.
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| "Start" | All ticket items move to "Preparing" |
| Tap an item | Cycles the item status: Queued → Preparing → Ready |
| "Done" (bump) | The ticket closes for the kitchen; the order becomes ready |
| "Recall" | Brings a closed ticket back if it was bumped by mistake |
A timer runs on each ticket from the moment the order was placed — overdue orders get highlighted. Cancelled items are marked on the ticket automatically.
For delivery orders, after "Done" the order moves to "Ready for pickup" — couriers see it on the Courier screen; for pickup orders the guest is notified.
Stations
If the kitchen is split into stations (hot, cold, bar, desserts), enable the Stations filter: pick menu categories and the screen will show only dishes from those categories. Put a separate display at each station — everyone sees only their own queue.
The chosen set of categories is saved as a station preset, shared across all kitchen screens of the account. A physical device is bound to a station through a link (the stations panel offers a QR code and a copy button): the tablet opens straight into the right station. If the link goes stale, the screen does not hide orders — it simply stops filtering and warns about it.
Each station can have its own printer, so station tickets print there, with a backup printer in case it fails. Setup and details — Kitchen printing.
All-day summary
The Summary tab shows total quantities per dish in the queue: "Khinkali — 24, Khachapuri — 7". The cook sees what to batch-cook without counting tickets manually.
Courses and guests
Full service brings dishes in waves: starters first, then mains, then dessert. Turn coursing on in the KDS settings (off by default) and the rail starts to understand them:
- every line gets a course number; the waiter sets it at the till, or it comes from the "default course" setting of the dish category;
- lines of courses whose turn has not come are grouped on the ticket into a "🔒 HELD ·
" block — the kitchen sees them but does not cook them; - the 🔥 "Fire" button releases a course to the kitchen when the table is ready for the next wave;
- course names are configurable: three by default ("Starters", "Mains", "Desserts"), up to six in total.
Independently of courses, a line shows the guest number if the waiter split the items between guests on the till ticket. Combo slots the guest picked arrive in the line's options.
Smart prep time
The Smart prep section of the KDS settings solves the main headache of delivery: how many minutes to promise the marketplace. Instead of the channel's fixed value it turns on an automatic prep-time quota computed from the current kitchen load and sent to Wolt and Yandex Eda. It is off by default; once enabled you set:
| Parameter | Default |
|---|---|
| Min / Max (quota clamps) | 10 and 45 minutes |
| Base per order | 8 minutes |
| Per item | 2 minutes |
| Per active ticket | 3 minutes |
Ticket urgency itself is measured against the promised time where one is known (slot time or estimated readiness) rather than raw age; separately, a dish that is taking longer than its own cooking time is highlighted on its line.
A separate toggle inside the section — "Cook for courier arrival" — floats tickets with a known courier arrival time to the top of the rail and sorts them by that time instead of ticket age.
Handoff ("Expo") mode on a tablet
In the Android KDS app the same tablet can work in a second mode — "Handoff": instead of the kitchen rail it shows the queue of ready bags to pass to couriers and guests. The data is exactly the same as on the web Expo screen — selection, grouping and sorting of the queue match.
Switching between "Kitchen" and "Handoff" happens inside the app; no separate device is needed for the pass.
The differences are worth knowing up front. The app has a "Send back to the kitchen" button (ready items are rolled back and the order returns to the rail) — the browser has no such action — and it beeps both on a new card and on a courier arrival, while the web beeps only on the latter. On the other hand, the app's handoff mode has no voice assistant, no manifest and bag-sticker printing and no dark-kitchen virtual brands — for those, use the web Expo screen.
The tablet app
The kitchen screen has a native Android app, Cenaly KDS. Things the browser does not have:
- kiosk mode (pinning the app to the screen) — a toggle in settings, off by default;
- starting up after the tablet reboots — the app tries to bring the board back by itself (there is no guarantee: without device-owner Android forbids background activity starts, so the tablet is granted the "Display over other apps" permission);
- a brightness slider for the window plus a "System" chip;
- device-level overrides of urgency thresholds and filters — what you set on this tablet does not travel to the account;
- "Hey Cenaly" voice commands right in the kitchen.
Related
- POS — where waiters send orders from
- Kitchen printing — station tickets and stickers through the hardware bridge
- Expo — the handoff screen for ready orders
- Orders — the shared feed and order statuses
- Own delivery — what happens to an order after the kitchen
- Staff & shifts — the "Cook" role
FAQ
What hardware do I need?
Any device with a browser: a tablet, smart TV, all-in-one PC or an old laptop. No special kitchen terminals required.
Does the screen refresh itself?
Yes, new orders and status changes arrive automatically without reloading. If the connection drops, the screen shows an "offline" indicator and reconnects on its own.
Can I run several screens for one kitchen?
Yes, unlimited. With the Stations filter, each screen shows only its own categories.
Where do KDS orders come from?
From every channel at once: guest QR menus, the POS, the venue website, Telegram, WhatsApp, plus Wolt and Glovo.