Keep Your Line on Time: Kitchen Display Ticket Timing ⏱️🍳
Running a smooth kitchen requires clear communication on the pass! On NX KDS, ticket colors automatically shift as order times tick up, giving your back-of-house team an instant visual cue of which orders are moving fast and which ones need immediate attention 🚀.
When those color changes happen depends on your station's Timing Profile. This guide breaks down how KDS ticket timing works, what the color stages mean, and how to choose the right timing profile for your kitchen line!
What Do the Ticket Colors Mean? 🎨
As orders sit on the kitchen display, tickets transition through four distinct color stages:
- 🩵 New (Pulsing Teal): The ticket arrived within the last 30 seconds.
- ⚪ On Time (Normal): The ticket is well within its expected prep window.
- 🟠 Approaching (Orange Timer): The order is getting close to its expected completion limit.
- 🔴 Late (Red Border): The order has passed its expected prep time.
Good to Know:
The Approaching and Late order counters in your top KDS header update in real time based on these exact colors! Plus, any order marked as Rush automatically jumps to at least Approaching (orange) the moment it arrives on screen.
📌 KDS V1 Note: Running classic KDS V1? V1 doesn't use timing profiles. Instead, it changes color once when it reaches your station's Seconds until Order Alert limit.
Understanding the 4 KDS Timing Profiles ⏱️
Station profiles control when tickets transition from Approaching (Orange) to Late (Red). Choose from four available profiles:
1. Order Alert Profile 🔔
Instead of categorizing items automatically, Order Alert applies a single, custom countdown timer across all incoming tickets:
- 🟠 Approaching: Triggers at 75% of your target time.
- 🔴 Late: Triggers at 100% of your target time.
Example: If your station's Order Alert time is set to 10 minutes (600 seconds), tickets turn orange at 7.5 minutes and red at 10 minutes. (If left blank, the station defaults to 10 minutes).
Preset Profiles: Relaxed, Standard & Tight 🍕🥩🥗
The other three profiles automatically detect ticket types based on item keyword names to adjust prep expectations:
- 🍕 Pizza: Any item name containing "pizza".
- 🥩 Grill: Item names containing "grill", "steak", or "burger".
- 🥗 Cold: Item names containing "cold" or "salad".
- ☕ Drinks: Item names containing "drink", "bar", or "coffee".
- 🍝 Hot: All other menu items.
Note: Tickets are categorized by the highest-priority item found, following the order above. A ticket with a pizza and salad uses Pizza timing.
🐢 Relaxed Profile
Gives your kitchen team extra prep time before tickets turn red.
- ☕ Drinks: 1½ min ➔ 3 min
- 🥗 Cold: 4 min ➔ 7 min
- 🍝 Hot: 7 min ➔ 10 min
- 🥩 Grill: 9 min ➔ 12 min
- 🍕 Pizza: 10 min ➔ 14 min
🎯 Standard Profile (Default)
Our recommended baseline for most full-service kitchens.
- ☕ Drinks: 1 min ➔ 2 min
- 🥗 Cold: 3 min ➔ 5 min
- 🍝 Hot: 5 min ➔ 8 min
- 🥩 Grill: 7 min ➔ 10 min
- 🍕 Pizza: 9 min ➔ 12 min
⚡ Tight Profile
Designed for high-speed, fast-casual counters where speed is the top priority.
- ☕ Drinks: 45 sec ➔ 1½ min
- 🥗 Cold: 2 min ➔ 4 min
- 🍝 Hot: 4 min ➔ 6 min
- 🥩 Grill: 5 min ➔ 8 min
- 🍕 Pizza: 7 min ➔ 10 min
Quick Reference: Which Profile Should You Use? 🎯
| Profile 🏷️ | Best Used For... 💡 |
| Standard (Default) | Full-service dining rooms and standard kitchen lines. |
| Relaxed | Made-to-order dishes or scratch kitchens requiring extra cook time. |
| Tight | Quick-service restaurants (QSR), coffee shops, and fast-casual concepts. |
| Manual | Stations with unique item names or specialty menus (e.g., juice bars where smoothie items contain "Bar" and shouldn't trigger 2-minute drink timers). |
How to Change Your Station Profile ⚙️
Because timing profiles are set at the Routing Destination configuration level, updating a profile is quick and easy:
- From the NX Portal, navigate to Configuration > Printing > Routing > Routing Destinations
- Locate the Routing Destination that you're wanting to modify.
- Select the KDS Settings tab and scroll to the Alerts section
- Choose your preferred profile (Manual, Relaxed, Standard, or Tight).
- If you select Manual, set your Seconds until Order Alert as needed
Need Help? Troubleshooting Common Issues 🔍
- ❓ Why are smoothie orders turning red after only 2 minutes?
- Keyword matching checks letters in item names. An item like "Protein Bar" or "Juice Bar" matches the Drink keyword! Switch that station to the Order Alert profile to set a custom timer across all items.
- 🔴 Why don't ticket color changes match between KDS screens?
- Each kitchen station can run its own independent timing profile! Check that both screens are configured with the same profile name.
- 💬 Still Have Questions?
- Contact our friendly NX Restaurant Support team anytime for assistance with your KDS setup! 🌟