Below are some real-world scenarios that will help you understand KMS configuration.
- A facility wants drink orders that are placed in the main dining room to print at the bar's printer.
- Can items ordered from a POS location be configured to be sent to a different KMS location?
- A kitchen wants whole orders to be displayed at the production station, but requires one or two items from an order to be sent to a different prep station?
- Can separate KMS configurations be set up for different meal periods (i.e., breakfast, lunch, dinner)?
A facility wants drink orders that are placed in the main dining room to print at the bar's printer.
The facility has two locations: a main dining room and a bar. Each is a separate POS location, with an aligned KMS location. The facility wants any drink orders placed in the main dining room to print at the bar's printer.
The solution is as follows:
- For the Main Dining Room KMS location, create a production station named Bar (Bar production station).
- For the Bar production station, link it to the existing bar printer.
- For the Bar production station, select the same production areas that are currently assigned to the Bar KMS location (via its production stations).
Can items ordered from a POS location be configured to be sent to a different KMS location?
No. Because a POS location is aligned with a KMS location, any items ordered from the POS location are sent to its aligned KMS location.
Although you can use a touchscreen to access any station of any KMS location, doing so would require constant toggling between KMS locations and stations, disrupting workflow in the area in which the touchscreen physically resides.
If requiring certain items from a POS location to be sent to a non-aligned KMS location, a workaround is to use the printer that is physically present at the desired KMS location. This workaround is configured as follows:
- In the KMS location that you do not want items sent to from its POS, create a production station and assign it the production area with the items that you do want sent to another location.
- For that production station, link it to the printer of the desired location.
A kitchen wants whole orders to be displayed at the production station, but requires one or two items from an order to be sent to a different prep station?
Assume a kitchen wants the whole order to be displayed at its hot production station, but requires grilled items to be sent to a prep area for grilled items. Because the coordinator station mirrors items that are on production stations, the scenario can be handled as follows:
- In the core system, create a "Grilled Items" production area, and assign the grilled menu items to it. See Production Areas: Assigning or Unassigning Menu Items.
- Create a coordinator station and associate it with the Grilled Items production area.
- For the existing Hot production station, associate it also with the Grilled Items production area.
With the above configuration, the grilled items will appear both on the production station (with the whole order) and on the coordinator station (as stand-alone items).
To add further to this scenario, assume the coordinator station is only a printer and not a touchscreen. Because the grilled menu items are sent to the hot production station also, you will want to prevent the coordinator station from bumping the ticket, which would also remove it from the production station. This unwanted scenario will occur if the Hardware Configuration setting for the coordinator station is Printer Only. Therefore to prevent this, set the Hardware Configuration setting to Screen and Printer.
Can separate KMS configurations be set up for different meal periods (i.e., breakfast, lunch, dinner)?
Unfortunately, this functionality is not currently available.
A workaround is for the facility to manually update the POS location to point to a different KMS location based on meal periods, specific days of the week, or other scheduling needs. See Selecting a KMS Location for POS Orders or Selecting a KMS Location for Advanced Orders.