A kitchen display system that ends lost tickets and shouting.
Orders fired at the till land on a live board, routed to the right station and timed from the moment they are sent. Prefer paper? Any station can print a kitchen ticket instead, or do both.
Kitchen Display System on a live shift.
Every cook sees their own tickets, and late ones turn red. Run a kitchen display, printed KOT slips, or a mix per station, from one order at the till.
- Screen, printed KOT, or a mix: chosen station by station
- Timers run green, amber, red, then flashing against your own prep target
- One screen per station, so grill, bar and tandoor each clear only their own dishes
- All-day counts total every unmade item across the board
- A Recipe button on every dish, scaled to the quantity on the ticket
What you get with Kitchen Display System.
- Late tickets are visible from across the kitchen
- Each ticket runs green, amber, red, then flashing against a target prep time you set for dine-in, takeaway and delivery separately. The clock starts when the order is fired, not when the tab was opened, so the colour tells the truth.
- One order, every station
- Assign menu categories to stations and one order splits itself: drinks to the bar, food to the grill. Each cook sees and bumps only their own dishes, the last station completes the order, and the expo view shows which station is holding up a table.
- Screen, paper, or both
- A small single-station kitchen can run on a thermal printer alone. A multi-station kitchen with a heavy delivery mix gets more from screens. Bhookly does either per station on the same system, so many kitchens run a display on the main line and keep a printer at packaging.
- Cook in batches, not ticket by ticket
- The all-day panel totals every unmade item across all tickets, for example "6 wings working". Grill and fry cooks drop the right quantity once instead of reading every card.
- Changes reach the cook
- A new ticket chimes and carries a NEW badge. Items added to a ticket already on the board raise a separate alert, and a voided item stays on the card, struck through with a VOIDED badge, so nobody cooks food that will not be paid for.
- The recipe is on the ticket
- A cook taps Recipe on any dish and reads the ingredients and numbered steps at the quantity ordered. New hires cook the dish the same way without the head chef standing beside them.
Everything Kitchen Display System does.
Used by cooks, head chefs, expo, kitchen managers and owners.
The live board
What the line sees from the moment an order is fired until it leaves the pass.
- Live ticket board
- Fired orders appear as cards in Preparing and Ready lanes. Cooks tap each item, tap Done, and the server taps Picked up.
- Per-item tick-off with a Cooking state
- Tap an item for ready, long-press for cooking. It is built for greasy hands: big rows, vibration and an instant tick sound.
- Colour-coded timers
- Every ticket runs green, amber, red, then flashing against its target prep time. The clock starts when the order is fired.
- Prep targets per order type
- Dine-in, takeaway and delivery each get their own target minutes, so a delivery promise and a dine-in pace are judged fairly.
- All-day counts
- One panel totals every unmade item across all tickets, so the grill and fryer cook in batches.
- Recall
- Undo a bump within a set window and the ticks are kept. A mistaken bump costs seconds, not a remake.
- Completed lane
- Today's finished tickets, view only. It answers "did table 6 go out?" without leaving the kitchen.
- New-order and added-item alerts
- A chime and a NEW badge for new tickets, and a separate alert when a waiter adds items to a ticket already on the board.
- Voids on the board
- A voided item stays visible, struck through, with a VOIDED badge, so the kitchen stops cooking it.
- Kitchen performance strip
- The last 24 hours at a glance: average prep time, percentage of tickets on time, and tickets done.
Stations, expo and the pass
How one order is shared between several cooks and brought back together.
- Station boards and per-station bump
- One screen per station, such as grill, bar or tandoor. Each cook sees and clears only their own dishes, and the last station completes the order.
- Expo view
- Regroups every ticket by station with a count such as "2/3 ready", showing which station a table is waiting on.
- Stations and category routing
- Create stations and assign menu categories to them. The setup page warns about any category that has no station.
- Bump-bar and keyboard control
- Number keys, arrows and Enter run the board hands-free with an inexpensive USB bump bar, so nobody touches a screen with wet hands.
- Self-healing connection
- The board shows Live or Offline, falls back to polling, and catches up by itself. A tablet that slept or lost Wi-Fi does not lose orders.
- "Food is ready" messages
- On bump the counter sees a notice, the customer is emailed, WhatsApp customers get a message, and the online order tracker moves to Ready.
Printed tickets and routing
For kitchens that run on paper, or on paper at some stations.
- Screen or paper kitchens
- Choose a kitchen display, printed tickets only, or a mix per station. One product fits a tablet kitchen and a thermal-printer kitchen.
- Per-station printers
- In the Windows and Android apps each station prints silently on its own printer and paper width: bar slips at the bar, kitchen slips in the kitchen.
- The kitchen slip
- A large quantity column, options on their own lines, notes flagged, adjustable font size and 12-hour time. Readable from across a hot line.
- Void slip
- A voided item prints "DO NOT MAKE" at the station that holds the ticket.
- Reprint a kitchen ticket
- The counter reprints a lost slip in one tap. The copy is marked REPRINT and the reprint is logged.
- Waiter tablet prints on the counter's USB printer
- A ticket sent from a tablet is queued and printed by the counter's desktop app, so the floor needs no network printer of its own.
- Offline kitchen tickets
- If the till loses the server it still prints the ticket, stamped "OFFLINE - NOT SYNCED", and the kitchen keeps cooking through an internet cut.
- Firing safety rules
- A double click cannot print two tickets, and a cancelled order can never print one. No phantom or duplicate dishes.
Recipe cards and event cooking
The method for every dish, and catering orders, on the same screen as service.
- Recipe button on every dish
- A cook taps Recipe on a ticket and reads the ingredients and numbered steps. No prices are shown on the kitchen screen.
- Auto-scaling quantities
- The card opens at the order's quantity and rescales to any batch size. Amounts read like a kitchen scale: 1.5 kg, 250 g.
- Sub-recipes
- An in-house component, such as the gravy inside a curry, opens its own card at the amount needed.
- Writing the card
- Steps are written on the menu's costing screen and saved separately from cost, so editing a method can never change cost or stock.
- Catering lane
- Dishes for a catering booking appear on the kitchen screen days ahead, with a countdown to the event and the recipe at event quantity.
“We were managing everything on paper and WhatsApp. Bhookly changed that in a single day. Our kitchen team actually wants to use it — which has never happened with any software before.”
Things people usually ask us.
Still have a question? Message us and we reply the same day.
Is a KDS better than a KOT printer?
Not for every kitchen. A kitchen display is better with two or more stations or a heavy delivery and takeaway mix, because it adds timers, colour warnings and routing; a KOT printer is enough for a small kitchen with a short menu. Bhookly runs either one, or a mix per station, on the same system.
Can I use a KOT printer and a kitchen display in the same kitchen?
Yes. Bhookly lets you choose a screen, printed tickets or both for each station. Many kitchens run a display on the main line and keep a printer at the packaging or cold station.
Does the kitchen keep getting orders if the internet goes down?
Yes. In the Bhookly Windows and Android apps the till keeps printing kitchen tickets during an internet cut, stamped "OFFLINE - NOT SYNCED", and orders sync when the connection returns. The kitchen display shows Live or Offline and catches up by itself once it reconnects.
How does the kitchen know an order is running late?
Every ticket on the Bhookly kitchen display carries a timer that turns green, amber, red and then flashes against a target prep time. You set separate targets for dine-in, takeaway and delivery, and the clock starts when the order is sent to the kitchen.
Can different stations see only their own items?
Yes. In Bhookly you create stations, assign menu categories to each, and give each station its own screen or printer. A cook sees and clears only that station's dishes, and the expo view shows how many stations are ready for each ticket.
What happens on the kitchen screen when an item is voided or added?
The kitchen is told straight away. In Bhookly a voided item stays on the ticket, struck through with a VOIDED badge, and a paper station prints a "DO NOT MAKE" slip. Items added to an open ticket raise their own alert so they are not missed.
Can cooks see the recipe on the kitchen display?
Yes. Every dish on a Bhookly kitchen ticket has a Recipe button showing ingredients and numbered steps, scaled to the quantity ordered. Prices are never shown on the kitchen screen.
Does the KDS need its own device?
No special hardware is needed. The Bhookly kitchen display runs on any tablet or screen, you can run unlimited displays on the same restaurant account, and a USB bump bar or keyboard can drive the board without touching the screen.
Works with the rest of Bhookly
Let's get your restaurant running on Bhookly.
چلیں، شروع کریں
Book a 20-minute demo. We'll show you Bhookly running on your kind of restaurant, with no pressure and no obligation.
- No lock-in contracts
- Live in a morning
- Same-day WhatsApp support