What a kitchen display is
A kitchen display (the industry says "KDS") is a screen where orders land as digital tickets the moment they're placed, dine-in, counter, and online orders alike. Cooks tap tickets through their life instead of reading curling paper: they see what's next, what's mid-cook, and how long everything's been waiting. No printer, no lost tickets, no "did anyone start table 6?"
You can run it two ways, and most places grow from the first into the second.
Way one: the tile on your register
Your home grid already has a Kitchen Display tile. Tap it and the display opens right on your register device. Fine for a one-device counter where the same person rings and cooks, you flip to the kitchen view when you need it.
Way two: a dedicated kitchen screen (the real setup)
Take any spare tablet or phone, this is the whole hardware story; there's nothing special to buy, and install Tavvi on it.
Sign in with your account and open the business switcher.
Your store offers two modes: POS Register (Take orders & payments) and Kitchen Display (View kitchen tickets). Pick the kitchen one.
That device is now the kitchen's screen. Mount it at eye level, plug it into power, and it just shows tickets all day.
The life of a ticket
- A new order arrives as Pending. Tap Start when cooking begins, it flips to In Progress.
- The ticket shows its items, modifiers, and progress ("2/4 items" style), plus how long it's been waiting, the waiting clock is the kitchen's conscience.
- Done? Tap Bump. The ticket clears to Ready, and the front knows to run the food.
- Bumped too soon? Recall it. Customer sent it back? Re-fire Order puts it back in the queue.
- Can't make an item on a ticket? 86 Item, the kitchen's classic "we're out", voids that item off the order with a reason, so the front knows it's not coming and can tell the customer before the rest of the food lands.
Stations: split the board by zone
A kitchen with zones (kitchen, bar, grill) can split tickets by station, set up Stations and Routing Rules under Kitchen Stations in Settings, and each zone sees its own work. Same organizing layer the kitchen printer uses, so set it up once and both benefit.
If something's off
- No kitchen option in the switcher. Kitchen display comes with restaurant and cafe business types. A retail or service setup doesn't carry it, that's by design.
- Tickets aren't appearing. The kitchen device must be signed into the SAME store, on working Wi-Fi. Check the store name at the top of the switcher first.
- Paper-loving cooks. Run both: the kitchen printer guide sets up paper tickets alongside the screen. Plenty of kitchens bump on the screen and keep paper as backup.