How to open and use the kitchen display on a TV

What a station's kitchen display is

The kitchen display is the screen each prep station has all to itself. Every kitchen you create in the Dashboard gets its own address, in the format qmen.us/your-restaurant/k/1/, and a display password. Whoever opens that link sees that station's queue and nothing else: no prices, no bills, nothing about what the other stations are doing.

It's designed for a TV or tablet mounted on the wall, with no keyboard and nobody spare to operate it. The board starts out dark, the cards spread over one, two or three columns depending on the screen, and the item name comes out in large type with the quantity highlighted. The connection stays open: when the waiter sends an order or the station marks something done, the board redraws in place, without flickering and without losing the scroll position.

Why a screen on the wall changes service

• Nobody has to touch the screen to know what came in. The board listens to the restaurant live and redraws on its own. If the connection drops, it tries to reconnect at longer and longer intervals and reloads the queue when the internet comes back.
• You can read it from a distance, with your hands full. Quantity and item name in large type, the category dimmer in front of the name, add-ons highlighted and the guest's note in yellow, with a warning sign.
• Each station sees only its own items. The item lands on the display of the kitchen set in the Menu, or the one the waiter picked when entering a custom item. The grill doesn't get desserts.
• Marking done tells the dining room right away. One tap on READY and the waiter on that order is notified, the guest's table page updates and so does the owner's Dashboard.

How to open the kitchen display in 6 steps

Six steps, from the link in the Dashboard to the screen running on its own on the wall.

1. Get the display link from the Dashboard

   In the restaurant Dashboard, open Kitchens. Each station is a card with its name, how many orders are in the queue and the Display link field, with a copy button next to it. If your restaurant has no station yet, the New kitchen button asks only for a name — Grill, Pantry, Pastry — and hands back the link right away.

2. Set the display password

   On the same card is the Display password block, with the Set button (or Change, if there's one already). It needs at least 4 characters, and every kitchen must have a password: it's what stops someone who only has the link from seeing your orders. Since it's a password for a shared device, you can reveal it with the eye icon on the card and pass it on to the team.

3. Open the link on the wall device

   Paste the link into the browser on the TV, the tablet or the PC at the station. A screen appears with the station name and the Display password field: type it and tap Sign in. If the device has no keyboard, the button next to the field opens an on-screen keyboard with big keys. A wrong password shows Wrong password. and too many tries in a row lock access for a few minutes.

   Tip: The session lasts 30 days on that device, so the screen doesn't sign out in the middle of lunch. While you're at it, put the browser in full screen and turn off the screen saver.

4. Learn to read the board

   Each card is an order. On the left is where it came from — Table 7, Delivery or Via chat — and the order name, when there is one. On the right, the stage label: Draft, Ordered or Preparing. Below come the lines with the quantity (or the measure, for a variable-price item), the category, the item name, the add-ons and the note. A dashed card is a Draft: the waiter is still putting it together and it reads Waiting for the waiter to send…. With no queue, the screen shows No pending orders.

5. Mark it done when the item leaves the station

   The button depends on a switch in the restaurant's Settings, Complete item by item. When it's on, which is the default, each line gets its own READY? and the station marks items done one by one. When it's off, the card has a single ORDER READY? at the bottom. Either way, the card leaves the board when nothing from that station is left, and once every item is ready the whole order becomes Ready.

6. Set the screen up your way

   In the bottom right corner there's a faded spot that lights up when you get close: that's where you'll find the light/dark theme (the choice is saved on the device) and Close, which closes the tab. If the device is old and the board doesn't draw properly, add lite/ to the end of the link to open the simplified version. And if the station also prints, the printing Set up has the option Open the display without a password.

Frequently asked questions

Glossary

Kitchen display

The wall screen that shows that prep station's queue live, protected by a password.

Kitchen

The display where orders show up and move from Preparing to READY.

Prep station

The station that makes one kind of thing: grill, cold station, bar, pastry.

Ready

An item's status after the prep station marks it done; the waiter is alerted right away.

Draft

An order's first status, while the waiter is still putting the list together and nothing has gone to the kitchen yet.

Custom item

An item the waiter types in on the spot, picking its prep station by hand.

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