Kitchen Order Flow
This page explains what happens to an F&B order once stations and routing are set up: when tickets appear, each item's status, and how the kitchen relates to the order status.
Tickets per station per round
When an order comes in, each line becomes a ticket item and items are grouped into one ticket per station per round. One order with a coffee and a burger produces two tickets in the same round: one at the Bar and one in the Kitchen. Each item has its own status and timestamps, so a drink can be ready before the food.
When tickets appear
| Order type | Ticket appears |
|---|---|
| Dine-in (table) | When the order is created, even if the bill is unpaid |
| Order from the POS till | When the order is created |
| Online: takeaway, delivery, pickup | When the order is Paid |
An unpaid online order (for example a QRIS waiting for payment) does not reach the kitchen. A table bill paid at the end still shows on the KDS with an unpaid marker.
Item statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| NEW | Just arrived |
| PREPARING | Being made |
| READY | Ready to serve |
| SERVED | Served |
| VOID | The kitchen canceled this item |
| CANCELED | Canceled by the system (order canceled or expired, or the line was deleted) |
Forward flow: NEW, PREPARING, READY, SERVED. Quick items (no cooking step) may jump from NEW to READY. Other jumps, such as NEW straight to SERVED, are rejected.
- Tapping the status an item already has does nothing. Two people tapping the same tile never cause a skipped step.
- The ticket status is computed from its live items: all Served = Served, all Ready or Served = Ready, any started = Preparing, otherwise New.
Recall (one step back)
Recall undoes the last bump: Served goes back to Ready, Ready goes back to Preparing (or New if the item was never prepared), Preparing goes back to New. New, VOID, and CANCELED items cannot be recalled.
Rush
Rush flags an urgent ticket. A rush ticket shows a red ribbon and is always sorted first, followed by late tickets, then the oldest. Rush can be turned off again.
Void
Void is used when the kitchen cannot make an item (for example an ingredient ran out), with an optional reason. Only New, Preparing, or Ready items can be voided, and a void cannot be undone (add the item again if needed).
Void does not change the bill. The bill and the customer's money stay as they are. Edit the bill or issue a refund as a separate step.
Bulk bumps
From the KDS, a station can move many tickets at once, for example all Ready Bar drinks to Served. A bulk bump only moves items that are still in the starting status you specify, so a stale screen cannot skip steps. Items that cannot move are skipped and do not fail the rest.
Rounds on open bills
Round 1 is the first send to the kitchen. If items are added to an open bill and sent again, the new items become the next round with new tickets. Old tickets do not change, and an item that already has a ticket is never created twice (safe against double taps or retries).
Split and merge bills
See also Manage Table Bills.
| Action | Kitchen behaviour |
|---|---|
| Split, a whole line moves | The ticket item follows its line. If every item of a ticket moves, the ticket itself moves; if only some do, those items go to a copy of the ticket on the new bill. Status and times are kept: a dish that is already Ready stays Ready |
| Split, part of a quantity (3 becomes 1 + 2) | The item is divided like its line, with the same status |
| Merge | Every ticket of the source bill moves to the target bill as later rounds. Item statuses stay |
Relation to order status
The kitchen and the order status run separately. The kitchen never changes the order status.
| Event | Effect |
|---|---|
| All items Served | Order status is unchanged. The POS may offer a Mark delivered button (only for Paid or On-delivery orders; unpaid bills are not offered) |
| Order set to Delivered (from anywhere) | Every still-open item is automatically set to Served, so no stale ticket stays on a screen |
| Order canceled or payment expired | Open items become CANCELED. Items already Served stay |
| An order line is deleted | Its open item is canceled |
| Refund of one line | No kitchen effect (the food may already be made) |
The older per-order kitchen value in the system (waiting, cooking, ready, served) is now also filled in as a summary of the items, for orders that have tickets.