How to Set Up and Work with Alto’s Kitchen Display System (KDS)

If you run a restaurant or cafe, you can use Alto’s Kitchen Display System (KDS) to replace printers and paper tickets in your kitchen. It instantly transmits orders from the point of sale (POS) to the correct kitchen station, thus ensuring seamless coordination between the front desk and the kitchen staff.

Here are the steps on how you can set up and start using Alto’s KDS in your restaurant.

1. How to set up Alto’s Kitchen Display System (KDS)

1. First, go to Back Office > Settings > Features. Toggle the Kitchen printers switch on and tap Save.

2. Then go to Back Office > Locations & Devices > KDS devices. Tap the Add KDS Device + button to add a new kitchen display device.

3. Enter a device name, select the location and the right station to which the display will be connected. Tap Save.

4. Now download and open Alto’s POS & Inventory on the device that will serve as a KDS display.
5. On the Sign in screen, select Kitchen Display, then enter your email address and password to log in.

6. On the next screen, choose the added kitchen display from the dropdown list and tap Select.

7. From now on, orders are instantly displayed on the screen as tickets, provided that the correct station has been selected for the ordered items (i.e. the same as that selected for the current KDS).

2. How to work with Alto’s Kitchen Display System (KDS)

8. As indicated in step 7, orders are routed to the back-of-house via stations in Alto’s KDS. Hence, before starting to work with KDS, make sure that a correct station is selected for each product.
9. Below is an example of a KDS screen with orders on it:
   1. each ticket is displayed as a separate column;
   2. if a ticket is too long, items which do not fit on the screen can be viewed by scrolling down;
   3. if there are too many tickets, those that don’t fit on the screen can be viewed by scrolling to the right;
   4. an illustrative structure of all orders with their statuses can be viewed by tapping the left arrow button (<) in the lower left corner of the screen, where each horizontal bar represents one order item.

10. The system displays each ticket with its name, the time it was created, and the note entered.

11. Modifiers are displayed under product names.

12. The cook can start preparing the order by tapping the orange Start button, then tap the green Ready button as soon as the order is ready for serving.

13. When the cook taps Start on the kitchen display, a fire icon appears next to the order item at the Point of Sale, indicating that the order is being prepared. Likewise, when cooking is finished and the cook taps Ready on the KDS screen, the button changes to a green double tick. So does the fire icon at the Point of Sale.

14. If any order items are voided in a saved open ticket, the status of those items will be displayed as Canceled on the KDS screen.

15. Similarly, a new item added to an open ticket at the Point of Sale instantly appears with a new Start button under the same ticket on the KDS screen.

16. Fully completed tickets disappear from the screen.
17. Should there be a need to recall an already closed ticket, the cook can open the Recall window by tapping the history icon in the upper right corner of the screen and tap the necessary one from the list.
18. Tapping the Clear button will clear the history of completed tickets.