Does a KDS flow work like this?

[MarkSpiegelman]

Am I envisioning how KDSs work together?

For example, an order can be placed either by POS or Online. The customer orders a bowl of spaghetti, a coke, and a dessert.

I assume the spaghetti bowl has a KDS "Hot Entree" category, so part of the order is sent to the cook station's KDS (prep station).

Up front, when that same complete order comes in, both "Hot Entree" and "Cold Item" categories are set to display at the front of the house KDS (expediter station). Here, I think that the complete order will be displayed. 

Once the cooking prep station KDS marks the pasta dish as completed,  the front-of-the-house KDS will somehow display that order's hot portion line item as completed.

Having received the hot entree, the front of the house pulled the cold components together and marked the order as complete.

Am I close or widely off base?

Cheers all - Mark

[TheRealChipA · Accepted solution]

Hello @MarkSpiegelman.  You seem to have a good understanding of one way that Square KDS can be configured to work.  Your scenario is probably the most common usage, but there are others depending on a restaurant’s needs and work flow.

When items are marked off on Prep KDS devices, the corresponding item will be marked (subtly) as completed on the Expo station.  So the Expo will always know the status of the entire order.  Also, in this setup, orders can be marked as complete on Prep devices and they will still remain visible on Expo devices.  However, if an order is marked complete on any Expo device, then that order will be removed from all devices, both Prep and Expo.

Just remember that you will have to do some configuration on each KDS to accomplish this.  On Prep stations, you will specify which categories and/or individual items are shown.  You will specify whether or not to display online orders.  Etc.  On the Expo KDS, however, you will set it up to display all categories and items, all orders, everything.  If you have any other questions, I can help.  I’m an ice cream shop with four KDS — one for each ice cream order/prep window, one for the finishing station (toppings added, etc), and one Expo shared by both order windows where orders are marked completed as the last item is handed out the window.  It works beautifully for our needs!

[MarkSpiegelman]

Hi Chip,

I was almost shocked to learn from you that my understanding of the KDS works is in the ballpark. There is only so much you can glean from support docs, and other members have chimed in, answering my questions that I have found so valuable. So thank you for your advice!

Can I take this one step further and ask a follow-up question? This may be more related to Square items but applies to the KDS as well.

We have been simulating a real-time order flow. But what if an item comes in but has a later delivery date? For example, someone ordered 10 gallons of ice cream for a party next weekend. How might you incorporate this sale into Square and have it appear on the KDS?

Cheers, and thanks again! -Mark

[TheRealChipA]

@MarkSpiegelman I’m going to need to answer this after I get to my shop today.  We don’t allow pre-ordering, so I’m not 100% sure.  As I recall, there is a KDS setting to control this, but I want to be sure I’m giving you the whole story.  More in a few hours.

[TheRealChipA]

Hey again @MarkSpiegelman.  First, apologies for the delay.  With the extreme heat here in Kentucky this week, my ice cream shop business has exploded somewhat.  I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been.  LOL.  Anyway…

There are a couple of KDS settings in the Routing section:

“Show orders when they’re placed”

”Show orders when marked in progress”

“Show orders based on pickup time.”

You’d probably want to use the one based on pickup time, and then you can edit and specify how much of a lead time you want, in hours and minutes.  I think this will do what you want.

Let me know if you have any other questions.