A kitchen display built for the rush, not the deck.

KDS runs the back-of-house for thousands of independent restaurants. We replaced their printer-and-shouting workflow with a station-aware kitchen display system that holds up at 7 p.m. on a Friday — multi-channel, real-time, designed to be read at arm's length while someone's hands are full.

Role

UI/UX Design

Graphic Design

Product

Restoplus KDS

Year

2024

Tools

Overview

The Kitchen Display System (KDS) is part of the Restoplus ecosystem, designed to unify order execution across POS, online ordering, and delivery platforms.

It serves as the real-time operational layer between order creation and kitchen fulfillment, replacing printed tickets with a centralized interface optimized for high-speed, high-pressure kitchen environments.

The Problem

In restaurant kitchens, orders arrive from multiple channels including POS, online ordering, and delivery platforms.

→ Orders are missed or acknowledged late during peak traffic

→ Item modifications are misinterpreted under time pressure

→ Communication relies heavily on verbal confirmation

→ No unified view of incoming work across channels

This creates fragmentation in execution flow, especially during peak hours.

Design Goals

The system was designed to:

→ Centralize all incoming orders into a single execution view

→ Reduce time-to-acknowledge for new orders

→ Minimize ambiguity in item-level instructions

→ Support fast scanning over detailed reading

→ Reduce reliance on verbal coordination

→ Maintain consistency across POS and delivery channels

These early sketches were created to help stakeholders visualize how a Kitchen Display System could improve order visibility, kitchen coordination, and real-time execution across restaurant operations.

Design Goals

The system was designed to:

Maintain consistency across POS and delivery channels

Centralize all incoming orders into a single execution view

Reduce reliance on verbal coordination

Support fast scanning over detailed reading

Research & Insights

Research focused on understanding how existing kitchen workflows operate across high-volume restaurant environments.

Due to limited direct access to restaurant kitchens, the process relied on:

→ Competitor analysis of existing KDS products

→ Workflow analysis of restaurant operations

→ Industry research across POS and delivery systems

→ Observation of common operational patterns in kitchen execution tools

→ Internal product and support insights from existing workflows

The goal was to identify recurring friction points in how kitchen teams process incoming orders under time pressure.

Key issues

Staff prioritize scanning over reading

Interfaces needed to support rapid recognition instead of dense information processing.

Ambiguity slows execution

Unclear modifiers and inconsistent order states create hesitation during preparation.

Fragmented order sources increase cognitive load

Multiple channels without centralized visibility lead to workflow inefficiencies.

Reliability perception affects adoption

Operational systems must behave predictably for teams to trust digital workflows during peak hours.

Design
Approach

The system was designed as a real-time execution interface optimized for speed, clarity, and operational visibility in high-pressure kitchen environments.

Structured order hierarchy

Each order card was designed to prioritize information based on how kitchen staff naturally process incoming work during service hours.

The layout surfaces key operational details upfront, including:

→   Collection type (dine-in, pickup, delivery)
→   Schedule type (ASAP or scheduled)
→   Order source
→   Customer and staff details
→   Table number for dine-in orders
→   Order creation time

This allows staff to quickly understand the context and urgency of an order without navigating through additional layers.

Clear item-level visibility

The item section was designed for rapid scanning and preparation tracking.

Each order displays:

→   Quantity
→   Item name
→   Modifiers
→   Item-level comments
→   Order-level comments

Special instructions and modifiers are surfaced directly within the workflow to reduce missed preparation details and minimize verbal clarification between staff.

The system provides immediate visual feedback as orders progress across kitchen stations.

Less paper, fewer errors, faster pass.

Designed to support fast scanning, execution visibility, and coordination across kitchen stations.

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