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Kitchen Display System (KDS)

The Kitchen Display System (KDS) is a dedicated display used by kitchen staff to track incoming orders and manage their preparation states in real time.

A KDS device runs the same application as the POS, but is configured with the KDS app mode on the user account assigned to that device. This determines that the screen will show the KDS dashboard instead of the standard POS interface.

Warning

The kitchen display must first be switched on for your establishment by your Posbel account manager, with the Enable kitchen display setting. Until that is done, assigning the KDS app mode to a user has no effect. See Features Enabled by Posbel.

How It Works

When an order is sent from the POS, its items appear on the KDS screen in the Pending state. Kitchen staff then bump items through preparation states as work progresses:

State Meaning
Pending Order received, not yet started
In Progress Preparation has begun
Ready All relevant items are completed

Bumping an item moves it forward through these states. Unbumping moves it back.

Display Modes

There are two modes that determine how orders are grouped and displayed on the KDS screen:

Standard Mode

The default mode. Each account (order) can appear in multiple columns simultaneously — one for each preparation state its items are currently in.

For example, if an account has 2 pending items and 2 items being prepared, it will appear in both the Pending and In Progress columns, each showing only the items in that state.

This gives kitchen staff a granular, item-level view of all active orders.

Call Screen Mode

An optional mode enabled per user. Each account appears exactly once, placed in a single column based on the overall state of its items:

  • In Progress — as soon as any item in the account is being prepared
  • Ready — only when all items in the account are completed
  • Pending — when all items are still pending

This mode is designed for front-of-house call screens or runner stations where a clear, single-state view per order is needed.

Tip

Call screen mode is enabled per KDS user in the Admin Panel under Users → KDS Settings → KDS Call Screen Mode.

Setup

  1. Create a user in the Admin Panel with App Mode set to KDS.
  2. Log into the POS application on the display device using that user's credentials.
  3. The device will automatically open the KDS dashboard.
  4. Optionally configure KDS Subscribed Product Groups to limit which items appear on this screen.
  5. Optionally enable KDS Call Screen Mode for call screen behaviour.