How the default kitchen sends each item to the right station

What an item's prep station is

The default kitchen is a field on a menu item: you open the item and say which station prepares it — Grill, Bar, Pastry. It belongs to the menu, not to the order. Once it's set, it applies to every order for that item, whether it comes from the waiter app or from the guest through the table QR code.

When the waiter taps Send to kitchen, each line carries the station from the item's setup and appears only on that station's display. The order is still a single one — same table, same tab, same total — but each station sees its own slice. If your restaurant has just one kitchen, the field doesn't even appear in the item editor: we point items to it ourselves when you save.

Why point each item to its station

• Each screen shows only what that station prepares. The display filters by the station's items: the draft beer doesn't take up the grill's queue and the dessert doesn't get lost among the main dishes.
• Nobody picks a station during the rush. The waiter taps the item and that's it — the station comes from the item's setup. Fewer decisions in a pinch means fewer items on the wrong screen.
• Printing comes out separately too. At a station with printing turned on, the ticket that joins the queue carries only that station's items from that send.
• You can see each station's queue. In the Dashboard, the Load per kitchen block shows how many items each station has in its queue right now — a number that only makes sense when items are pointed correctly.

How to set the default kitchen in 6 steps

Six steps: check the stations, point the items and watch the order split up on its own on the first send.

1. Check how many stations your restaurant has

   Open Kitchens in the Dashboard and look at the list. A new restaurant starts with one station, called Kitchen — and if that's your situation, you can stop here: with a single kitchen, every item goes to it automatically and the field to choose doesn't even appear in the Menu.

2. Create a station for each work area

   Tap New kitchen for each station that prepares something different: Grill, Cold station, Bar, Pastry. The window asks for the Kitchen name and the Display password, at least 4 characters; confirm with Create kitchen and the card comes with the screen's link. From the second kitchen on, the station field starts appearing in the item editor.

3. Point the item to its station

   Go to Menu, open an item and look for the Default kitchen field, with the list of your stations. Pick who prepares that item and tap Save. The hint under the field says exactly that: it's where the item is prepared by default.

4. Sweep the menu for items without a station

   Go back to the Menu list and look it over item by item. With more than one kitchen set up, each line shows the price and, next to it, the station's name — R$ 42,00 · Grill. An item with no name there hasn't been pointed yet, and that's exactly the one that will land on the first active kitchen on the list.

   Tip: Just created a new station? Older items keep pointing where they were, and deactivating a kitchen doesn't re-point anything either — re-point the items before you take a station offline.

5. Check the routing in the waiter app

   Open the Waiter app on a phone and look at the menu: with more than one station in your restaurant, each item shows its station's name in small type. Tap a few items and open the order review — each line also shows the station, so you can check the routing before sending anything.

6. Send it and watch the order split

   Tap Send to kitchen. The Draft becomes an order, the send time is saved and each item goes off to its station's screen: the picanha on the Grill display, the draft beer on the Bar's. Open the displays side by side once just to watch the split happen — after that it's routine.

Frequently asked questions

Glossary

Default kitchen

The field on a menu item that says which prep station makes that item.

Prep station

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

Kitchen display

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

Custom item

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

Send to kitchen

The button that sends everything on hold at once. On an order that was already sent, those items go as an addition to the same order.

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