You have launched your dark kitchen or virtual restaurant, and you are wondering how to increase your profitability? Or are you looking for the right digital tools for a future launch? Or your dark kitchen is booming, and you are wondering how to better organize production to deliver to your customers on time?

Digital can really help you manage your virtual restaurant. There are many solutions available today, but be careful: it is often easy to get lost among all the features and tools you could be offered. In this article, we zoom in on a tool that is still too little known among dark kitchens and yet is a true business solution: the kitchen screen or KDS.

What is a KDS?

A KDS, or Kitchen Display System, is a screen system that replaces paper tickets in your kitchen. All orders arrive automatically, are displayed and sorted instantly.

The KDS or kitchen screen is a tool you will love using every day, because it makes orders arrive smoothly in the kitchen and at the counter.

The goal of a KDS is to automate time-consuming tasks as much as possible so that you can focus on your job. It is thanks to the automation that this digital tool enables that your virtual restaurant will gain more profitability.

Why can a KDS increase the profitability of your dark kitchen?

A KDS lets you produce more serenely in the kitchen

A kitchen screen saves you precious time, because all orders arrive automatically and are centralized. As orders are sorted automatically, you focus on priorities. In addition, you are much less likely to make mistakes.

If you are having difficulties organizing your virtual restaurant, for example if:

  • you have to deal with a large volume of orders,
  • you struggle to manage the delivery drivers,
  • preparations do not come out on time, which causes delays,
  • you feel that there are dead times in the kitchen while the counter is overwhelmed, or the opposite

And these problems harm the reputation of your establishment, but also generate stress and increase the number of errors, then you have everything to gain by setting up kitchen screens. Once correctly installed and configured, they will become essential to your teams, who will never want to go back.

A KDS helps you improve customer satisfaction

The profitability of a dark kitchen relies on the satisfaction of its customers and on its reputation on the platforms. Because the better your ratings, the higher your restaurant climbs in the algorithms, and the more meals you sell. 😉

Here are 2 key points a KDS can help you with:

  • meals must be prepared as quickly as possible so that your customers are delivered quickly
  • meals must be nice and hot when the delivery drivers pick them up

How to set up a KDS in your dark kitchen?

This is often the most difficult part for many restaurateurs, because in truth there is not really a single all-in-one solution, but rather a set of solutions to connect together. For the KDS to work, it must be able to receive all the orders, in particular those from the delivery platforms.

Before choosing a player on the market, make sure it receives all your orders by being perfectly integrated with your delivery platforms or click and collect system.

Through your POS system

Dark kitchens do not always need a POS system. However, if you do have a checkout solution, know that some of them offer a KDS in their suite of solutions alongside the register.

Advantages

Your orders taken on the register arrive very easily on the KDS. For orders from your delivery platforms or your website, you have to check with your checkout solution that it is well integrated, or go through an integrator to retrieve the orders.

Disadvantages

Since your POS is not an expert KDS solution, the operation of their KDS is not always optimal for virtual restaurants. In addition, it is often an additional paid option. And note that it is an option that is far from being offered by all POS systems.

Through an integration solution

Integration solutions, more and more numerous on the market, are a good alternative to the POS system for dark kitchens. They offer both to retrieve all your orders, sometimes to display them, but also other features such as catalog or stock management.

Advantages

The integration solution often presents itself as an “all-in-one solution” for dark kitchens. It is designed for this type of catering and is even necessary to receive orders from platforms like Uber Eats or Deliveroo. Not all integration solutions can display orders, but some offer a substitute for a true KDS.

Disadvantages

Once again, integration solutions do not have KDS as their expertise, but offer a substitute solution that can have its limits depending on what you are looking for.

With a specialized KDS solution

TicknCook is the only specialized kitchen screen solution. This makes it possible to have a solution truly thought out and designed for the profitability of virtual restaurants. It can work on its own thanks to its platform integrations or coupled with the integration solution to allow you to display your orders and manage them from a kitchen screen.

Advantages

It is the way to have a KDS system truly adapted to your needs. Much more efficient than the other solutions, but just as simple to install and configure.

Disadvantages

If you choose the option of a specialized KDS solution, you will also need to subscribe to an integrator like HubRise or Deliverect to receive your orders.

As you have probably understood, when choosing the right digital solution, the technical barrier is often the most difficult to overcome. However, if you want a high-performance KDS for the profitability of your kitchen, the most efficient and simplest way is to choose an integrator like Deliverect or HubRise, then connect the TicknCook kitchen screen solution.

What are the essential features of a KDS for a dark kitchen?

Know that you can test several KDS solutions before choosing the one that suits you best. Above all, it must be adapted to your way of working. You should be able to use several touch tablets at the same time in the kitchen and at the counter, for example, and they should be perfectly synchronized. Orders must arrive instantly and, at best, in order from most urgent to least urgent. It is also essential that you can see the number and all the other information relating to the order.

KDS like TicknCook can also allow you to manage your dishes in the kitchen and the desserts and drinks at the counter. You can also have a screen specially designed for delivery drivers so that they can see the status of their order without disturbing you.

In addition, the solution can provide you with statistics to analyze your preparation times and optimize them.