A kitchen display system (KDS) is a digital screen that replaces paper tickets and printers in a restaurant kitchen. Orders from the POS, online ordering and third-party delivery go straight to the right prep station in real time. Cooks see modifiers, allergy notes and timing, then mark items done as they finish. That helps keep front and back of house in sync, reduce lost or misread tickets and get food out faster. Toast KDS works directly with Toast POS, so orders go to the right station automatically, and managers can track ticket times to spot slowdowns during service.

Toast KDS integrates directly with Toast POS, sending orders instantly from front of house to kitchen stations without third-party software or manual syncing.

A kitchen display system is designed to speed up the kitchen and reduce errors by sending orders to the right station as soon as they're placed. This reduces the need to carry, sort or read handwritten tickets. It helps in a few ways:

• Instant routing sends each item to the right prep station in your restaurant kitchen, like the grill, fry station or bar

• Clear, readable orders show modifiers, allergy notes and special requests without smudged or lost paper

• Ticket timers and color alerts flag orders that are running long so the team can respond quickly

• Course firing and prep timing help dishes for the same table finish together

• Order status updates let servers and expo know when food is ready, which can cut down on trips to the kitchen

With Toast KDS, orders from the POS, online ordering and delivery appear on one screen, so the kitchen can work from a single queue.

Yes. Toast KDS is built for high-volume restaurant kitchens with durable hardware, flexible configurations, and Flex 3 processing that’s up to 2x faster than previous generations.

Yes. Toast’s modular hardware and flexible configurations make it easy to add stations, screens, or workflows as your restaurant expands or changes service models.

KDS stands for kitchen display system, a back-of-house digital screen that shows incoming orders to kitchen staff in place of printed tickets.

A POS (point of sale) is where orders are entered and payments are processed. A KDS is the back-of-house kitchen-facing screen that receives those orders once they're placed, so restaurants often talk about "KDS POS" setups where the two work together.

Kitchen printers print paper tickets that staff read, sort and pass along by hand. A kitchen display system shows orders on a digital screen and updates them in real time. Paper tickets can get lost, smudged or misread, and changes to an order mean printing a new ticket. A KDS updates changes right away, times every ticket, lets cooks mark items done and saves data on how the kitchen performed, which can feed into your restaurant POS reports. Many restaurants use both, keeping a printer as a backup or for certain stations while the KDS handles the main flow of orders.

What a kitchen display system costs depends on how many screens and prep stations you need, how they're mounted and how the system connects with your POS. Toast KDS pricing is customized to your kitchen's layout and order volume, so to get an accurate estimate, request a personalized quote.

An ideal kitchen display system works directly with your POS and online ordering, is easy for cooks to read and use during a rush, and holds up to heat, grease and spills. It's one of the core pieces of restaurant technology for any kitchen. Look for automatic routing to each station, ticket timers, clear modifier and allergy details, reporting on ticket times, and dependable performance during internet outages. Toast KDS is built for restaurants and works directly with Toast POS, so connected orders from your channels go to the right station and managers can track kitchen performance in one place.