I’ve been using kitchen screens from this tutorial with plenty of edits.
Has been working well for almost 4 years, when it gets very busy it is a god-send as paper tickets get lost easily. Side-note, we print kitchen tickets as well but that goes with the food to the hot pass.
If one system is not working we have a second PC that only handles waiters screen (hotpass) and printing, so always a backup (I even wired them differently from switch to server switch so if Ethernet cable gets damaged there is also a backup)
In the tutorial there was a screen for waiters to say that food was delivered to the table after kitchen used send bump button, but this was just a hindrance to the flow. We actually don’t let the kitchen use the completed button but reply on the waiter to push the order completed button to take it off the screen.
This is also handy for cost, so only the waiters need a touch screen at the hot pass and complete tickets as they take the food. The kitchen can have cheaper 17 inch monitors instead. I use VGA splitters so one PC can power two screens in a kitchen.
We have linked two businesses which are 70m apart using a central server with a total of 6 kitchen screens (Main meals, Dessert, Pizza, Sandwich, Special Drinks, Barista) and 4 Waiters tills and 1 Waiters Kitchen screen, this last one is the best one of all, you never have to ask the kitchen if they got your order or where it is in relation to other tickets, instant double check you have all items on ticket and of course the timer that changes color depending on how long it has been is amazing.
My go to screen in the office is the MAIN orders screen as it shows all the ticket lists for all kitchen screens on one page, making it easy to find out where I need to be or help out.
MAIN ORDERS screen with each column representing 5 departments
