How can I use multiple KDS's to achieve my goals?

[MarkSpiegelman]

I run a ghost kitchen that sells hot pasta entrees, drinks, and desserts for takeout and delivery only. There is no seating.

When POS (walk-in) or online orders come in, we have a KDS that routes hot items to our kitchen cook station. The KDS only shows the hot items to be made.

When an order has been cooked, it travels to the front of the house, where cold items like drinks and desserts are pulled and bagged to complete the order.

Can I add work in another front-of-the-house KDS (expediter station?) to monitor the progress of the hot food order and the items that must be filled out to complete it?

Lastly, a receipt printer up front that allows the order to be stapled to the takeout bag?

Thanks all!

[Sineaid · Accepted solution]

Hi @MarkSpiegelman 

Thanks for your post!

(Edit - Sorry if you didn't see this reply last week, I neglected to @-tag you. Apologies for the oversight!)

From what you’ve said, it sounds like you're halfway there towards what you’re hoping to achieve.

Square KDS offers two types of stations to help streamline your kitchen fulfillment. A Preparation (Prep) station, and an Expeditor (Expo) station. You can choose one station, or multiple stations for each type and adjust your station types whenever you need.

Both types of stations sync and communicate with one another in real time, creating an efficient workflow, but they also have a few differences.

With Prep Stations, you can:

• Set layouts
• Set yellow and red timers
• View all orders
• View All Day counts
• Route based on category configuration
• Recall tickets
• Clear all tickets

With Expo stations, you have all the same capabilities as Prep stations and can also:

• View completed items and tickets from Prep stations
• Mark items and tickets as complete—this will also mark them as complete at all other stations
• Automatically let third-party delivery services know when an order is ready by completing the ticket
• Recall completed tickets back to the Expo station(s) or to both the Expo and Prep stations

You’ll find a full breakdown of the differences between station types, as well as set up guides for each feature like station routing for your hot food, drinks and desserts, here. If you have any questions, just let me know. 

With regards to printing at your front of house, you can connect a supported device to print Order Tickets for attaching to your takeout bags, customer receipts, or both. Keep in mind though, Order Tickets are not automatically printed for each order, and you’ll need to manually select the orders you want to print. 

The set-up is relatively straightforward, and you can set up multiple printers if you wish.

1. On the KDS, tap Settings > Printers.
2. Under ‘Connect and manage’, tap Printers.
3. Select Create a Printer Station.
4. Name your printer and select the ticket types you want sent to this printer.
5. Under ‘Use this printer for’, select Order Tickets.
6. Toggle on Use this printer for order tickets, Single item for ticket, Compact tickets and Receipts.
7. Tap Save.

You can learn more about setting up a printer with KDS, as well as troubleshooting steps if you run into any problems from this support article.

Hope this helps!

[MarkSpiegelman]

Thank you, Sineaid,

I appreciate the response!  Having read the documentation, I knew the differences between the prep and expeditor stations. Still, I was looking for hands-on experience of actual use in the field.

I have a KDS on order, and as you recommend, I will set up this second as an expeditor.  

Cheers