What is a KMS?
KMS stands for kitchen management system.* The KMS is an organized system used to manage food preparation and order fulfilment in a kitchen setting, particularly in healthcare and food service operations.
Orders are sent as tickets to the KMS, and these tickets are accessed and managed by staff using the Touch app on a touchscreen and/or a printed ticket.
*KMS is a MealSuite term. In the industry, it is known as a kitchen display system (KDS).
How a KMS is Structured
A KMS consists of the top-level KMS location and second-level food preparation stations.
The KMS location is the overall meal assembly area (or hub), whereas a food preparation station is a work point (or role) in the KMS location that is responsible for handling a specific part of the meal preparation process. The KMS supports three types of food preparation stations:
Each station type can be configured as follows:
- Screen only.
- Printer only.
- Screen and printer.
Production Station
A production station is a station where specific items from an ordered meal (or drink) are prepared. A production station is associated with one or more production areas, such as a hot production area where hot line items are prepared (e.g., steak), or a cold production area where non-cooked items are prepared (e.g., salad).
A production station cannot share the same production area(s) as another production station. For example, if the cold production station is associated with the cold production area, then the hot production station cannot be associated with the cold production area.
When a ticket is bumped from a production station, the following occurs:
- The bumped items are removed from the coordinator station ticket.
- The ticket items in an expo station are highlighted green to visually indicate that they have been bumped, and therefore are ready for the next stage.
Coordinator Station
A coordinator station is used to prepare specific items at a prep station that the regular line (i.e., hot production station) is not responsible for. For example, grill items such as a hamburger. By having the item sent to the coordinator station manned by a grill cook, the production or expo station staff do not need to call out "hamburger" multiple times per night.
Another example is a large facility with one puree station; specific puree items are sent to the coordinator station manned by the puree production staff.
If a ticket is bumped from a coordinator station, the following will occur.
- Assuming an item is also at a production station, then that item's ticket is also bumped.
- The ticket items in an expo station are highlighted green to visually indicate that they have been bumped, and therefore are ready for the next stage.
Expeditor (Expo) Station
An expeditor (or expo) station is where meal items from all the production stations are consolidated and checked before being served, ensuring meals are completed prior to serving. The expo station screen combines tickets from different production areas into a single view, helping ensure that entire orders are completed.
When bumping a ticket from an expeditor station, the following occurs:
- Removes ticket from production station.
- Removes ticket from coordinator station.