Kitchen Display — Live Ticket View

Feature Overview

The main Kitchen Display screen is the heart of daily kitchen operations. It shows every open order assigned to your prep station as a scrollable board of tickets, updated in real time as orders come in from the dining room or online. Each ticket displays the check details, individual menu items, modifiers, special instructions, and a color-coded timer showing how long the order has been waiting. Staff can track the status of every item at a glance without ever leaving their station.

Prerequisites / Requirements

The KDS app must be signed in and a prep station selected (see Getting Started).
An active internet connection is required to receive real-time order updates.

Step-by-Step Guide

Reading the Ticket Board

When you arrive at the main display, tickets are arranged in columns from left to right in the order they were received.

Each ticket shows:

Check number and table number (or order source for online orders)
Employee name assigned to the check
Number of guests
A color-coded border or background indicating how long the ticket has been open (colors are configured per location — generally shifting from a neutral color toward red as time passes)
All menu items, including quantities, modifiers, and special instructions
Allergy warnings displayed in red beneath any item that has them

Tickets marked with a prep station indicator show a small black square next to the specific items your station is responsible for when multiple stations share a ticket.

Switching Between Active and Completed Orders

The header at the top of the screen contains two toggle buttons:

Tap Active (shown as A on smaller screens) to view orders currently in progress.
Tap Completed (shown as C on smaller screens) to review orders that have already been fulfilled.

The current view is shown below the restaurant name in the center of the header.

Navigating Multiple Pages of Tickets

If your station has more tickets than fit on one screen, the board loads them in pages of 30.

Scroll horizontally to the right to see more tickets.
When you reach the end of the loaded tickets, additional tickets load automatically.

Understanding the Status Counters

The top-right area of the header displays color-coded counters showing the number of tickets currently in each status range. These counters update live as new orders arrive and existing ones are completed.

Checking the Connection Status

The center of the header shows the restaurant name with a lightning bolt icon.

A blue lightning bolt means the display is connected and receiving live updates.
A red lightning bolt means the connection has been interrupted. The screen will attempt to reconnect automatically. If the issue persists, see Troubleshooting below.

Tap Menu in the upper-left corner to open the drawer navigation. From here you can access:

Current Tickets — returns to the live ticket board
All Day Counts — item count reporting
Item Availability — toggle menu items on or off
Device Settings — view device configuration and log out
Exit Prep Station — return to the station selection screen

Changing Your Prep Station

Tap the station name displayed in the upper-right corner to return to the station selection screen and choose a different station.

Common Troubleshooting / FAQs

Tickets stopped updating and the lightning bolt is red. The KDS lost its live connection. The app will attempt to reconnect automatically every few seconds. If the display does not recover within a minute, check the tablet's internet connection. You can also tap the restaurant name in the center of the header, then tap Reconnect to force a new connection attempt. If the problem continues, contact Katalyst support.

The display shows "All caught up! No outstanding orders." but there are open checks at the POS. First confirm you are viewing the Active tab (not Completed). If filters are applied — such as a specific Revenue Center or Order Type — those filters may be hiding the tickets. Tap the Filters button in the header to review and clear any active filters.