Kitchen display systems

Printed tickets have run kitchens for decades, and they still work: they're cheap, survive heat and grease, and every cook knows how to use them. Kitchen display systems (KDS) add things paper can't: timers, routing that changes by time of day, an expo view of the whole order, and data on how long each station takes. This guide covers when screens are worth it, what to look for, and what they cost.

Printers or screens

What a KDS should do

• Route by station. Grill items to the grill screen, fryer items to the fryer, cold items to the pantry, with the whole order at expo.
• Hold and fire. For coursed meals, later courses appear when the server fires them.
• Bump and recall. Cooks clear a ticket with a tap or a bump bar, and a ticket bumped by mistake can be recalled.
• Timers. Each ticket shows elapsed time and changes color past the times you set.
• Modifiers that stand out. "No onion" and allergies highlighted, not buried in the item text.
• Order type and source. Dine-in, takeout, delivery, drive-thru, and which delivery app, labeled on the ticket.
• All-day counts. How many of each item are open across all tickets, so the grill can batch.

The expo screen

The expediter's screen shows every order as a whole, with which stations have finished their part. That's what keeps a table's food arriving together and tells the expediter which station is holding an order up. If you only add one screen, the expo screen can be the one that changes the most.

What they cost

Vendors usually price KDS as a monthly fee per screen, plus the hardware. Published examples, checked October 1, 2026:

• Square: the Square KDS app is $30 a month per device on Plus and $20 on Premium.
• Lightspeed Restaurant: kitchen display is $30 per screen per month across its plans.
• Clover: its kitchen display costs $799 (14-inch) or $899 (24-inch), plus $25 a month per device.
• SpotOn: KDS is $20 a month per station, plus $500 per device for hardware and $100 for installation.

Four kitchen screens at $30 a month each cost $120 a month, or $4,320 over three years, before the screens and mounts themselves.

Other vendors quote KDS as part of a bundle or a custom price; ask for it in writing, and ask whether you can use standard tablets or must buy their screens.

Hardware in a hot kitchen

• Mount screens at eye level, away from direct heat, steam and grease.
• Use a bump bar or large tap targets, so cooks with wet or gloved hands can clear tickets.
• Use a wired connection where you can; kitchens are hard on Wi-Fi.
• Keep one printer as a backup, so a dead screen doesn't stop service.

Switching from printers to screens

1. Start with the expo screen while stations keep printers.
2. Set routing and timer thresholds with your chefs, not for them.
3. Run printers and screens side by side for a week.
4. Move station by station once the cooks trust the screens.

Reports from the KDS

• Average ticket time by station and daypart.
• Tickets over your target time.
• Items most often late or remade.

Use them to adjust staffing and the menu, not to blame a cook for one bad night.

What to ask in a demo

1. Can routing change by time of day (for example, brunch items to a different station)?
2. What happens to the screens when the internet drops?
3. Does it work with standard tablets, or only the vendor's screens?
4. Do delivery-app orders show on the KDS without being retyped?

For the kitchen side of specific restaurant types, see the Chinese restaurant, pizzeria and drive-thru guides.