Running a successful restaurant in the UK’s fast-paced hospitality industry takes more than great food and service. You also need seamless coordination between your front and back-of-house, and one of the most common challenges restaurants face is managing that communication. Lost tickets, misread handwriting, and order delays can all lead to frustrated chefs, longer wait times, and dissatisfied guests.
That’s where Lightspeed’s Kitchen Display System* comes in, with its more efficient way to manage kitchen operations. Instead of relying on printed tickets, KDS displays orders digitally in real-time, so every dish is prepared accurately and on time.
Lightspeed KDS: Where speed meets accuracy
When orders flow smoothly from the dining room to the kitchen, everything else follows suit. With Lightspeed KDS, orders entered on a handheld ePOS device appear instantly on kitchen screens, eliminating the potential wait and errors that can come with manual systems.
As Elliot Hill, General Manager at London restaurant 1 Lombard Street, explains, “The quicker the chef gets the order, the quicker they can make it. Any delays impact how quickly a customer can be served. So the efficiencies that have been found from the handheld straight through to KDS tickets, probably saves us two or three minutes a table, which is huge. That's two or three minutes more the chef didn't have before we used the KDS.”
For a bustling restaurant, saving even a few minutes per table can add up to dozens of extra covers every night, as well as happier guests across the board.
Enhancing the customer experience
A faster kitchen isn’t just about speed; it’s about improving the entire dining experience. When communication between front and back-of-house is frictionless, guests receive their orders promptly and consistently.
Elliot knows this well. “Chefs are getting through tickets about 3 to 4 minutes quicker because there wasn't that input time. So our service score and our service speed went up, and invariably, the customer gets a better experience. When the customer has a better experience, they leave a tip, and everyone is happy. It's a win-win for everyone.”
With Lightspeed KDS, restaurants can not only increase operational efficiency, but also boost team morale and guest satisfaction. It empowers staff to focus on what they do best: cooking great food and providing exceptional service.
Embracing innovation in the kitchen
Adopting new technology can seem daunting at first, but as Elliot puts it, it’s all about mindset.
“When something’s easier, you start adopting it, you have fun, and you invariably want to learn from it as well.”
Lightspeed’s Kitchen Display System is designed to be intuitive and adaptable, making the transition from paper to digital seamless for any team. It integrates smoothly with our whole ePOS system, giving restaurant owners and managers full visibility of orders, prep times, and performance metrics, all in one place.
If you’re looking to improve speed, accuracy, and communication in your restaurant with Lightspeed KDS, now is the ideal time. You’ll get a free KDS screen when you add Lightspeed KDS to your setup this Black Friday. Reach out now** to benefit from this limited-time offer.
