1. The waiter sends the order
Order M3-1942 (Table 3, opened at 19:42) has: Pizza Margherita, Caesar Salad, Water, Mojito, Tiramisu, Coffee. The waiter presses Send once.
🍽️ For restaurant · café · bar
How does a kitchen display (KDS) work?
A kitchen display means a tablet on every station — hot kitchen, cold kitchen, bar, pastry, coffee — on which orders appear as live lists. Tickets are routed automatically to the correct station (pizza to the pizzaiolo, mojito to the bartender), each one has the Accept → Start → Ready → Delivered buttons, and every transition is recorded with date and time in the order history. No paper, no lost tickets, with a fully auditable history.
🎯 Automatic routing · product → configured station
⏱️ Timestamp on every transition · full flow audit
📱 Multi-tablet · 2-3 tablets on the same station OK
📜 Full audit · who + what + when, immutable
How it works, from order to plate
The waiter enters the order once — on their tablet at the table. From there, the system handles all the splits and routing with no human intervention.
2. The system routes automatically
Each product has its own station tag. The system iterates through the lines, groups them by station and generates one ticket per group — 5 separate tickets for 5 different tablets.
3. The cook works with buttons
On every ticket: Accept (take it) → Start (begin preparation) → Ready (notify the waiter). Every transition saved with a timestamp in the order history. No paper, no shouting, no confusion.
4. The waiter delivers
The waiter gets the alert on their tablet, picks the dish up from the pass, takes it to the table, presses Delivered. The ticket goes to the archive, visible in reports.
Routing example — one order, 5 tablets
This is what a typical restaurant order looks like once it is split across stations.
Order M3-1942 (Table 3) — 1 press on Send
│
├── Hot kitchen → ticket: Pizza Margherita ×1
├── Cold kitchen → ticket: Caesar Salad ×1
├── Bar → ticket: Water ×1, Mojito ×1 (2 lines in one ticket)
├── Pastry → ticket: Tiramisu ×1
└── Coffee (espresso) → ticket: Coffee ×2
5 tickets, each on its station's tablet. Each with its own workflow.
The pizza cook sees ONLY pizza — not distracted by mojito, coffee or tiramisu. Simple, clean, focused.
What the cook sees on the tablet
Four columns (or tabs on smaller tablets) — visually organised by the stage of each ticket.
To accept
Tickets that have just come in. The cook sees the order number, the table, the products, the notes ("no onion"), the age in minutes. One click on Accept and it moves to the next column.
In preparation
Tickets on which Start has been pressed. The moment of acceptance and of the start are saved on the ticket. The Ready button notifies the waiter.
Ready (waiting for delivery)
Tickets that are prepared. They stay on the screen until the waiter presses "Delivered" (after picking up from the pass and bringing to the table).
Delivered tickets are removed from the cook's screen. Visibility of "what went to the waiter" stays on the waiter's side (the history of their orders for the day).
Features that make the difference in practice
Reject with a reason
When the cook cannot prepare (an ingredient ran out, the oven is broken, peak hour), they press Reject + pick a reason. The waiter gets the message right away and offers the customer an alternative.
Multi-tablet on the same station
In large kitchens — 2-3 tablets on the same station. Whoever presses Accept takes the ticket, the other tablets hide it. No double-cooking.
Sending in waves
The waiter can send a group of products at one time (starters in the first wave, main courses in the second) — no need to send product by product. The order of sending dictates the order they appear in on the station.
Timestamp on every transition
Every action (Accept, Start, Ready, Delivered) has its own date and time in the order history. Useful for retrospective inspection of the flow.
What happens when the customer cancels
Three scenarios, each with a clear rule — no improvisation, no red tape.
Before "Accept"
The waiter presses "cancel pre-prep line" — the cook has not even seen the ticket, it is deleted instantly. Zero loss.
After "Accept", before "Start"
The waiter requests a cancellation, the cook confirms they have not started yet. The ticket disappears. Zero loss.
After "Start" (preparation begun)
The Shift Manager approves (explicit confirmation: "Yes, cancel, with loss"). The system automatically generates a consumption ticket with loss for the ingredients already used. The reason enters the audit trail, the monthly report shows exactly how many losses of this kind you had.
Frequently asked questions
What kind of tablet do I need?
Any reasonable Android tablet or iPad (7"-10") works — the software runs in a browser. We recommend models with screens resistant to humidity and grease for the kitchen. During discovery we will tell you which models our clients have tested.
How many stations can I have?
Unlimited — a POS can have any number of stations. The licensing cost is calculated on the number of POS units (distinct points of sale), not on stations. A restaurant with 5 stations and a bar with 1 station = the same price if it is the same POS.
Can I have different stations on the "dining room" POS vs. the "terrace" POS?
Yes. A product can be routed to one station on POS-dining room and to another station on POS-terrace (e.g. coffee goes to "espresso" in the dining room and to "bar" on the terrace). Configured per product, per POS, at onboarding.
Can the cook change anything on the order?
Not directly. The cook can only Accept / Start / Ready / Reject. Changes in price, quantity or product are made by the waiter (before sending) or by the manager with authorisation. All actions stay in the audit trail.
Want a kitchen display in your restaurant?
Kitchen display with automatic product → station routing is part of the Extra HoReCa package (not the Micro / Start ones, which are oriented around POS + fiscal without stations). We configure the stations and the routing rules during onboarding — you tell us who does what, we set it up. Package comparison + current pricing → see the pricing page.
Book a conversation
We will tell you exactly which stations make sense to configure for your flow and we will set them up at onboarding. No technical burden on you — after 20 minutes of discussion we know what needs to be done.
SGAPPS LABS SRL · Chișinău, Moldova · Continuously in production since 2018 · POS · ERP · MEV fiscal register · Android fleet