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KDS

Kitchen tickets that move with the pace of service.

Nova KDS routes every order to the right station, tracks ticket age, and helps the kitchen stay ahead during rush periods.

  • Route items by station, category, or prep flow
  • Track ticket aging in real time
  • Prioritize dine in, pickup, delivery, drive thru, and kiosk orders
  • Keep expo, prep, and front of house aligned
Kitchen team preparing restaurant orders
Real time
Every ticket, station, and delay visible from one kitchen screen.
KMS

Kitchen management beyond the screen.

Nova KMS helps operators manage prep, production, recipes, waste, and station performance from one connected kitchen layer.

  • Prep lists based on forecasted demand
  • Recipe and build card consistency across locations
  • Waste tracking tied to items and stations
  • Production visibility for managers and operators
Chef managing prep in a restaurant kitchen
One kitchen layer
Prep, recipes, production, waste, and station performance connected to POS data.
BENEFIT 01

AI kitchen orchestration.
Trained on your kitchen.

Most KDS systems route a ticket and start a timer. Nova KDS predicts how long each ticket will take in your kitchen, balances station workload in real time, and streamlines the order queue during peak volume.

  • Dynamic station load balancing during peak volume
  • 80/20, 60/40, or custom station allocation rules
  • Prioritize orders based on station speed, staff rating, and prep capacity
  • Bump bar support for fast, hands-free ticket control
  • Ticket aging surfaced before complaints land
  • Honest ETA based on real kitchen conditions
Chef plating at the pass
BENEFIT 02

Kitchen management.
Beyond the ticket.

Nova combines Kitchen Display System (KDS) and Kitchen Management System (KMS) into a single platform. Operators gain visibility into station performance, throughput, bottlenecks, ticket aging, and kitchen productivity across every location from a centralized dashboard.

  • Station throughput and performance reporting
  • Identify bottlenecks before service levels are impacted
  • Kitchen productivity analytics by location and daypart
  • Ticket aging trends and service-time monitoring
  • Manager alerts when stations fall behind
  • Real-time kitchen health dashboards
Kitchen team during service
90s
Fry-station regression caught — before end of daypart
BENEFIT 03

One kitchen.
One queue.

Whether an order starts at the POS, kiosk, mobile app, drive-thru, web ordering, or a marketplace, every ticket flows through a single kitchen workflow. No duplicate systems. No third-party tablets. No missed orders.

  • All channels flow into a unified kitchen queue
  • Marketplace orders routed alongside in-store orders
  • No third-party tablets at the expo station
  • Prioritize by channel, promise time, or order type
  • Consistent workflows across every location
  • One source of truth for kitchen operations
Expo line with delivery orders
Real example — lunch rush load balancing

During a lunch rush, Nova KDS identified one grill station falling behind while a parallel station had available capacity. The kitchen manager adjusted routing rules and rebalanced the queue in seconds. Ticket aging stabilized, service times improved, and the kitchen avoided a growing backlog during peak volume.

More from Nova

Pairs with

Modern POS

Orders flow from POS to kitchen in near real time.

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Handhelds

Tableside and line-busting orders routed directly to KDS.

Learn more →

Online Ordering

Web, mobile, and marketplace orders enter one kitchen queue.

Learn more →
Book a demo

Modern KDS. Smarter kitchens.

See how Nova's Kitchen Display System (KDS) and Kitchen Management System streamline routing, balance station workload, and improve kitchen performance.

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Restaurant Kitchen Display System and kitchen operations