In this article:
About
How to set up KDS smart order routing
Using KDS order routing
Rejecting orders
About
When your kitchens are busy and you have multiple preparation areas for the same type of food, use our KDS smart order routing function to evenly distribute tasks across your kitchen. This will divide each order into its specific items and allocate them to various different KDS, prioritising those that have the least number of pending items (i.e. the most capacity available).
KDS smart order routing is suitable for stores that have this setup:
1 Master POS
1 "Pass" KDS (with no printer locations, so all orders come through this KDS)
2 or more KDS with the same printer location, which you want to share orders between
If you do not have this setup, KDS smart order routing will not be suitable for your requirements. A Pass KDS is required so you can keep track of all orders even if they are beyond the capacity of your other KDS.
When you have smart order routing, items will be distributed like this:
If any point you are having difficulties setting up your KDS order routing, please get in touch with our friendly support team and we will help you out.
How to set up KDS smart order routing
Make sure that all your KDS are connected to your Master POS. On your POS, go to Settings > Connection. Under the "Client List", you should see all KDS devices listed. If you can't see them, get in touch with our friendly support team or check out our Master and Slave connection troubleshooting guide.
2. On your Pass KDS, check that you have no printer locations selected. If you do have one selected, press RESET. The grey field should say "All locations", which means it will receive all orders regardless of the printer location.
3. On your first Routing KDS (the KDS that you wish to distribute items to) enter your Preparation Capacity. The Preparation Capacity is the number of individual items (not orders) that you can be taking on at one time at that KDS. Press Update.
Now that you have a Preparation Capacity, the KDS is in Smart Order Routing mode. By default, when a KDS is switched to Smart Order Routing mode, it is set to not accept orders. Your POS will reflect that: the Kitchen Display you just updated is "Not Accepting" Orders. We will change this later.
4. Set the Preparation Capacity for each KDS and press Update on each one (except for the Pass KDS). Your POS should have "Not Accepting" next to each routing KDS.
5. When you are ready to start accepting orders, switch to the Order Routing display mode on each routing KDS. Note: Your "Pass" KDS should still always be set to "Display All".
6. Toggle on "Accepting Orders"
7. On the POS, you will now see that "Routing KDS" has replaced "Not Accepting". The number at the end of the line is the Preparation Capacity of that KDS.
You are now ready to start routing orders!
Using KDS order routing
When you send an order from the POS, the full order will be shown on the Pass KDS, but each item will be individually distributed to separate routing KDS.
2. When the Preparation Capacity is reached for any KDS, it will stop taking on new item. These unassigned items will still display on the Pass KDS.
3. Tick any item that has been completed, and it will be removed from the KDS, so the KDS is ready to have any other orders routed to it.
4. The completed item will be highlighted in green on the Pass KDS.
Rejecting orders
Reallocating specific items
If, for example, you don't have the ingredients required to make a certain product, you can reallocate the item to another KDS.
Press the X button
Confirm Yes
The item will be removed from your routing KDS and given to another KDS with less items on it
Any other pending orders will be reallocated to your KDS
Stop accepting all orders
If one specific KDS needs to stop accepting orders (e.g. staff goes on a break), press the “Accepting Orders” button and it will turn into a “Not Accepting” button.
Any existing orders will remain on the screen, but no new orders will be taken on, even when the KDS is below capacity.
You can still complete or re-allocate remaining orders.
