What does a kitchen display do?
The kitchen display shows each order as soon as a till or a tablet sends it, and the cook marks it ready once it is prepared. Depending on the software, the screen can sort orders by prep station or show the time elapsed since the order. These functions come from the restaurant’s point-of-sale software, and each vendor lists the devices they run on.
Kitchen screen or kitchen printer: how do you choose?
The choice depends on how the kitchen is organized and on the software. Ask the restaurant owner these questions before you propose a screen:
- Does the restaurant’s point-of-sale software offer a kitchen display, and which device does it run on?
- How many prep stations receive orders?
- Does the team want to track the preparation time of each order?
- Where will the screen be mounted, and how far from heat, steam and splashes?
- Should a printer stay in the kitchen for tickets or as a backup?
When the kitchen handles few orders or has a single prep station, a kitchen printer is often enough. A screen makes sense when several stations need to see the same orders, or when the team wants to measure its preparation times.
What hardware does G4POS offer for the kitchen?
For the screen itself, G4POS offers the G4POS BG220: a 21.5-inch Android 13 kitchen display with a quad-core processor, 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of storage. It connects over Wi-Fi or a wired network, and its network and USB ports are grouped on one cable, which makes installation in the kitchen simpler. Before you propose it, check that the restaurant’s point-of-sale software runs on an Android display.
The MG80 prints tickets on 80 mm thermal paper and connects over Ethernet, so several stations can send orders to it. Installed away from heat and steam, it works as the kitchen printer, or as the fallback if the screen or the network goes down.
LRS pagers take over when the order is ready. The transmitter at the pass vibrates the server’s pager, which shows the number or the message. At the counter, the guest pager lights up and vibrates to call the customer back, with no announcement over the speaker.
What should you check before installing a kitchen display?
A kitchen display depends on the restaurant’s network: an order that does not reach the screen does not reach the kitchen. Check the connection at each prep station, and agree on a fallback with the restaurant owner, such as a kitchen printer on Ethernet.