Use the kitchen board

Read the New, Preparing and Ready columns, understand an order card, and move orders with Start preparing and Mark ready.

Goal

You can read every order on the board and move it from New to Preparing to Ready.

Before you start

You are signed in as kitchen staff, or as an owner, administrator, branch manager or order manager
Your restaurant takes orders at the table (guests order from the table QR code)

The kitchen board shows the open orders of one branch in three columns. It needs no refresh: new orders and changes made by other people appear by themselves. Kitchen staff, branch managers, order managers, administrators and the owner can use it. The board never shows prices, totals, payments or guest names.

Open the board and read the columns

Kitchen staff land on the board after signing in. Others choose Kitchen in the sidebar. The first column is New: orders waiting to be started. Preparing holds the orders you started. Ready holds the finished orders that wait for the waiter. Each column shows how many orders it holds.

The kitchen board with the three columns New, Preparing and Ready — The New column
The Preparing column
The Ready column

Read an order card

Every order is one card. At the top you see the order reference, for example ORD-0005, and the table number. The clock shows how long the order has been waiting. It turns amber after 10 minutes (Getting late) and red after 20 minutes (Overdue). In the Ready column the clock turns amber after 5 minutes and red after 10 minutes. Below are the items with the quantity, the size and the add-ons. A yellow box Special instructions belongs to one item. A blue box Order note belongs to the whole order. Always read both before you cook.

One order card showing the reference, table, clock, an item with size and add-on, special instructions and an order note — The order reference
The table number
The clock
An item with its quantity, size and add-on
The special instructions for the item
The note for the whole order

Wait for orders that are not accepted yet

A card with the chip Awaiting acceptance has no button. It says A manager or waiter must accept this order first. In practice a manager accepts new orders in Live Orders. The kitchen cannot accept, reject or cancel an order. As soon as the order is accepted, its chip changes to Accepted and the button Start preparing appears. The column title counts these orders, for example 1 awaiting acceptance.

An order card with the chip Awaiting acceptance and the message that a manager must accept it first — The chip Awaiting acceptance
The message that the order must be accepted first

Start preparing

When you start cooking an accepted order, click Start preparing on its card. The card moves to the Preparing column on your screen and on every other kitchen screen of the branch.

Mark the order ready

When the food is finished, click Mark ready on the card in the Preparing column. If two people tap the same order at once, only the first tap counts and the board refreshes.

The Preparing column with the Mark ready button highlighted on the order that was just started — The Mark ready button
The Preparing column

Let service collect it

The card moves to Ready and shows Waiting for service. It stays there until the waiter serves it. Orders that are served, completed, cancelled or rejected leave the board after ten minutes, and you can see them for that time under Recently closed. If a guest cancels an order that is being prepared, the board shows a notice Order ORD-0005 was cancelled. Stop preparing it.

The Ready column with the finished order showing Waiting for service — The text Waiting for service
The Ready column

Use the tools in the header

The header holds the tools. On a wide screen each button shows its name. From left to right:

The branch name. If you work in more than one branch, click it and choose Switch branch.
The connection indicator (see Notifications and connection).
Enable sound or Sound on.
Full screen, which uses the whole screen for the board.
Appearance, to choose Dark, Light or Match device.
The language button: it switches the board between English and Arabic.
Sign out. Owners and managers also see Back to dashboard.

The kitchen header with the branch switcher, connection indicator, sound, full screen, appearance, language and sign-out buttons — The branch name and switcher
The connection indicator
The sound button
The full screen button
The appearance button
The language button
The sign-out button

The appearance menu with the choices Dark, Light and Match device — Dark
Light
Match device

Use the board on a phone

On a phone only one column fits. Use the three buttons under the header to switch between New, Preparing and Ready. Each button shows how many orders its column holds. The cards work the same way.

The kitchen board on a phone with the three column buttons New, Preparing and Ready — The New button
The Preparing button
The Ready button

Expected result: You can see what to cook next, start and finish orders with one tap, and the finished orders wait in the Ready column for service.

Prices stay out of the kitchen

The board never shows prices, totals, taxes, payments or guest names. It shows the table, the items, the notes and the times only.