Kitchen Stations and Routing
Kitchen stations split F&B orders across several screens: Kitchen, Bar, Dessert, Grill, and so on. Each station sees only its own items, so drinks do not pile up on the hot kitchen's screen. This page explains how to set up stations and decide which items go to which station.
Kitchen stations and item-level KDS setup is available on the Pro and Enterprise plans. See Kitchen Plans, Roles, and FAQ.
Creating stations
Open Settings > Kitchen in the Dashboard (web or mobile) and add a station. Each station has:
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Name | The station name, for example Bar. Required and must be unique |
| Colour | The colour of the station's tab and tiles on the KDS |
| Order | The order of station tabs on the KDS |
| Target minutes | The time limit for a ticket to be ready. Used for the late marker and the prep-time report |
| Printer label | The printer used to print this station's tickets. See Kitchen Display (KDS) |
| Default | The station that catches items with no routing rule |
| Active | An inactive station receives no new tickets |
| Branch | Empty = serves every branch. If set, the station only serves sales of that branch |
The first station you create automatically becomes the default. Marking another station as default clears the flag from the previous one.
Routing: which item goes to which station
Set it on the routing screen. For one item, Etalasse checks in order:
- the rule on the product itself
- the rule on the product's category
- the default station
A product rule always overrides a category rule. Example: the Coffee category points to Bar, but one product "Affogato" points to Dessert; Affogato goes to Dessert and all other coffee to Bar.
Besides picking a station, a rule can be Does not go to the kitchen. The item appears on no ticket, which suits bottled water or merchandise. Clearing a rule makes the product or category inherit from the level above again.
A rule that points to an inactive or deleted station is ignored and the item falls to the next level. Deactivating a station never makes food disappear from the screens.
Routing checker
Use the checker to pick a product and see the resulting station and its source (Product, Category, or Default) before a busy shift.
When no station is configured
A shop without active stations changes nothing: no tickets are created and the old Kitchen Display (the 3-column board based on order status) keeps working as before. Older POS versions keep working too.
Deleting a station
- a station that still has unfinished tickets (not yet Served) cannot be deleted; finish those tickets first
- the station's routing rules are removed with it
- if the deleted station was the default, the next active station (by order) becomes the default
- to pause a station, deactivating it is safer