srv-food POS — Kitchen Display

TV —

Two surfaces, two jobs

TV = awareness. Tablet = action. They are not alternatives. You cannot tap a TV from the grill, and if you could, everyone crowds one spot during exactly the rush when nobody can leave their station.

Must scale to three vendor setups: solo (one tablet does everything), common (TV + one tablet at the pass), busy (TV + station tablets). The solo case is the constraint — see the last screen.

Implies Terminal carries a role and a station, not just a kitchen — extends FD-LOC-1.

The encoding problem

Multiple handlers add ownership as a fourth job on top of channel, age, and line state. Four colour encodings at 3 metres is not survivable, so three had to move off colour.

Age → sort position + numeric timer, with a left rail only at the two thresholds that need action. A full green→red ramp across 20 tickets is noise.

Line state → checkbox + strikethrough. Reads at distance and survives being photographed in a bright kitchen.

Ownership → avatar initial, plus dimming for other people's tickets. Colour is per-cook, but it is a 26px dot, not a whole card.

Channel → small solid chip. The only place a large colour area survived.

Density

6 tickets: 34px numbers, nothing clips, everything readable across the kitchen. This is the only density that fully works as drawn.

Measured, not eyeballed. At 12 tickets 2 cards already clip; at 20, 7 do. The breakpoint is 12, not 20 — earlier than the first draft of this note claimed.

The 20-ticket board is the finding, and it is worse than "small text". Measured: 7 of 20 cards overflow their own row — every ticket with 2 line items — and what gets clipped is the footer: the owner label and the bump button. The tickets that most need both are exactly the ones that lose them.

And clipping was the smaller problem. The 20-ticket board is simply overwhelming — twenty equally-weighted cards assert that all twenty are the cook's problem right now. Shrinking them costs legibility and buys nothing, because the issue is not size, it is that nothing is prioritised.

Focus + tail (screen 4) is the proposed answer. Six oldest tickets at full 34px detail — the working set — and the remaining fourteen compressed to number + timer. A cook works one or two; the tail only has to answer "how far behind am I". Detail on the tail is wasted ink.

It also fixes the clipping for free: the six that matter get the room the twenty were fighting over.

The board should change character under load, not just shrink. At 20 open tickets the genuinely useful message is not a denser grid — it is "you are 9 minutes behind, stop promising 15." That banner is doing more work than any layout choice on this screen.

Remaining objection to focus+tail: a ticket in the tail is invisible as work. If the working set is claimed and nobody pulls from the tail, it silently ages. The tail must promote automatically as slots free — and FD-KIT-11 escalation has to watch the tail, not just the visible six.

So a 5-column rush board is not viable as drawn. Real options, none free: cap lines shown and add a "+2 more" affordance; give multi-item tickets a double-height cell; drop to 4 columns and paginate; or move the bump action entirely to the station tablet and make the TV strictly read-only. That last one is the cleanest and matches note 1 — but it means a TV-only vendor cannot bump at all. Undecided — FD-KIT-3.

Density also sets the queue payload. A 20-ticket board refreshing all day on mobile data is the cost case FD-PLAT-8 exists for.

Cues from Trello / kanban

Lanes beat both grids. Splitting by state — waiting / cooking / ready — is the split state machine of FD-CORE-5 made visible. And unlike focus+tail, nothing is prioritised for the cook; the buckets are just true, so no ranking rule can be wrong.

Column density can differ by purpose. Waiting needs no detail at all — number and timer. Cooking gets the full card. Ready needs the number and who is waiting. That is impossible in a uniform grid and is where all the space savings come from.

The WIP limit is the real steal. "4 / 4 · at capacity" is more actionable than "running 9 min behind" — it names the constraint rather than the symptom, and it is a concept kitchens already have (how much fits on the grill).

"Ready · at the pass" is the expo view we had not drawn. It is where the KDS meets handover (ADR 0009) — including B17, ready 6:30 and uncollected, which is FD-HAND-6 surfacing on the kitchen screen rather than only in a report.

Reject the drag. Trello's core interaction is wrong here: greasy hands, a TV, and a kitchen that does not reprioritise — it is FIFO with exceptions. Cards must move on bump, automatically, or by one tap. Never by dragging.

Also reject equal-width columns (volumes are wildly unequal) and Trello's card density (it assumes desk distance, not 3 metres).

New risk lanes introduce: "Waiting" is where work can go to die if nobody pulls from it. The WIP limit partly answers this — at capacity you cannot start more, so the queue becomes visible pressure rather than a hidden backlog — but FD-KIT-11 escalation must watch the Waiting lane, not just what is on screen in Cooking.

Still undecided between focus+tail and lanes. Lanes are better on every count I can measure; the one thing focus+tail keeps is that the oldest work is unmissable at the top-left. Worth putting both in front of a real cook — FD-KIT-3.

Multi-handler

Unclaimed is the default and looks neutral. Claimed-by-me is raised and outlined; claimed-by-others is dimmed to 52%. The dim is what stops two cooks reaching for the same ticket — FD-KIT-6.

Claim conflict is resolved optimistically on the tablet and rejected server-side (FLOW-091). The UI should make the reach unlikely; the API still has to make it impossible.

The station split shows one order on two screens with the same number. Grill sees the wrap; drinks sees the Coke. Neither sees a whole ticket — FD-LOC-3.

The solo tablet

This case was named as the constraint but never actually tested. Solo was only ever drawn at 7 open orders, where anything works. Drawing it at rush is what settled the layout argument.

Measured: solo grid at 20 open — 20 of 20 cards clip. Not "harder to read": every single card loses its owner row and its Done button. Compare the TV at the same volume, which lost 7 of 20. Less screen, same rush, total failure.

Solo with lanes: 0 clipping, and the three cooking tickets are larger than they were in the 7-ticket grid. Lanes are not a nice-to-have for the smallest vendor — they are the only thing that works.

This inverts the earlier assumption. Lanes looked like a TV refinement; they are most needed on the smallest device, because it has the least room to give away. If only one layout ships, it is lanes.

Still unhandled: two cooks sharing one tablet. Solo mode has no ownership UI — correct for one person, wrong for a two-cook stall with one device, which is a very plausible setup. The lanes version shows avatars, so the fix is small, but the claim/handoff interaction on a single shared screen is undesigned.

Plain language

The first draft of this prototype used "86", "Bump", and "Recall". All three are Western kitchen jargon — "86" is US restaurant slang, "bump" comes from physical KDS bump bars. The person commissioning the system did not recognise them, so a first-shift hire in Allen Ave certainly would not.

Replaced with what the action actually is: Done, Sold out, Tell counter: +5 min, Bring back an order. "Bump" mattered most — it was the primary button on every ticket.

The source discussion asked for staff productive within one shift and no training manual. Every label on these surfaces should be readable by someone who has never worked in a formal restaurant — and then translated (FD-I18N-1), which is a second reason to avoid untranslatable slang.

Partially ready

The state FD-CORE-5's split state machine exists for. A part-done ticket must not read as queued or as ready — here it keeps a full-strength card with struck lines and an amber "1 left" bump.

Dark surface

The KDS is dark where the counter is light. Kitchens are bright and hot with overhead glare; a white 20-ticket board is a lamp. This is the one place the counter's light palette was wrong to inherit.

Not yet tested: actual legibility at 3m. Everything here is judged on a monitor at arm's length, which flatters it. Needs a print-and-pin-it check before build.

Kitchen· Allen Ave6 active● Live

B03Take9:41

2 · Suya — Ram

Hot · Extra yaji

1 · Yam Chips

BBlessing

B04Dine5:12

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · Medium · No onion

Unclaimed

B05Deliv3:02

3 · Beef Shawarma

Regular · Hot

TTunde

B06Take1:48

1 · Suya — Chicken

Mild

2 · Coke 50cl

Unclaimed

B07Take0:52

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · Medium · No onion
Well done

2 · Suya — Ram

Hot

Unclaimed

B08Dine0:11

1 · Peppered Gizzard

Unclaimed

Kitchen· Allen Ave12 active● Live

BTC

Kitchen· Allen Ave20 active · rush● Live

BTCM

Kitchen· Allen AveRunning 9 min behind20 open

BTCM

B20Take15:00

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · Medium · No onion

2 · Suya — Ram

Hot · Extra yaji

BBlessing

B21Dine14:15

✓

2 · Suya — Ram

1 · Yam Chips

TTunde

B22Deliv13:30

1 · Beef Shawarma

Regular · Hot

Unclaimed

B23Take12:45

3 · Yam Chips

1 · Suya — Chicken

Mild

CChidi

B24Dine12:00

1 · Suya — Chicken

Mild

Unclaimed

B25Deliv11:15

2 · Coke 50cl

Unclaimed

14 more waiting · not started

B2610:30

B279:45

B289:00

B298:15

B307:30

B316:45

B326:00

B335:15

B344:30

B353:45

B363:00

B372:15

B381:30

B390:45

Kitchen· Allen AveRunning 9 min behind

BTCM

Waiting14

B2610:30

B279:45

B289:00

B298:15

B307:30

B316:45

+ 8 more

Cooking4 / 4 · at capacity4

B20Take15:00

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · Medium · No onion

2 · Suya — Ram

Hot · Extra yaji

B21Dine14:15

✓

2 · Suya — Ram

1 · Yam Chips

B23Take12:45

3 · Yam Chips

1 · Suya — Chicken

Mild

Ready · at the pass3

B18

Takeaway
waiting 2:10

B19

Dine-in · table 4
waiting 0:48

B17

Nobody collected
waiting 6:30

Kitchen· 3 cooks working6 active

BTC

B03Take4:41

2 · Suya — Ram

Hot · Extra yaji

BYours

B04Dine3:12

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · Medium

TTunde has it

B05Deliv2:58

3 · Beef Shawarma

Regular · Hot

CChidi has it

B06Take1:48

1 · Suya — Chicken

Mild

Unclaimed — tap to take

B07Take0:52

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · No onion

Unclaimed — tap to take

B08Dine0:11

1 · Peppered Gizzard

Unclaimed — tap to take

Kitchen2 tickets over 8 min● Live

B01Take14:22

2 · Suya — Ram

Hot

Nobody has started this

Unclaimed

B02Dine9:07

✓

1 · Coleslaw

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · No onion

TTunde

B03Take5:40

1 · Beef Shawarma

BBlessing

B04Take1:12

1 · Yam Chips

Unclaimed

KitchenNot receiving

Lost connection to the counter 2 min ago — this board may be missing new orders. Check the printer.

B05Take6:31

1 · Suya — Ram

Last known

B06Dine4:10

2 · Chicken Shawarma

Last known

Grill· Terminal K1 · Blessing● LiveB

B03Take4:41

2 · Suya — Ram

Hot · Extra yaji

Yours

B06Take1:48

1 · Suya — Chicken

Mild

Unclaimed

B04Dine3:12

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · Medium

TTunde has it

B07Take0:52

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · No onion · Well done

Unclaimed

B07· Takeaway · 0:52Grill · Blessing

✓

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · Medium · No onion · Well done

2 · Suya — Ram

Hot · Extra yaji

1 of 2 ready. The ticket stays on the board and the customer's number is not called until the suya is done.

Grill· Terminal K1 · Blessing● Live

B06Take1:52

1 · Suya — Chicken

CChidi has it

B07Take0:56

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Unclaimed

Chidi got there first

You tapped B06 at the same moment as Chidi. It is his — the board has already updated.

Nothing is lost; pick up the next unclaimed ticket.

Grill· Blessing● Live

B07Take0:56

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Unclaimed

Tell the counter we're out

This removes the item from the counter menu immediately. Orders already placed are not affected — the counter will be asked to swap or refund them.

Recently finished· last 10 minutesGrill

B02Takefinished 0:40 ago

✓

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Blessing

B01Dinefinished 3:15 ago

✓

2 · Suya — Ram

Tunde

Bringing an order back puts it on the board with its original placement time, so it sorts back to where it belongs rather than looking new.

Drinks· Terminal K2 · Chidi● LiveC

B06Take1:48

2 · Coke 50cl

Unclaimed

B09Dine0:22

1 · Zobo 50cl

Unclaimed

B06 also has a suya on the grill screen. Neither station sees the whole ticket — the pass does. Nobody can finish B06 as a whole from here.

Grill· BlessingNo internetCounter paired

Receiving orders from the counter over Bluetooth. Everything works here — the office will see today's orders when the line is back.

B10Take1:04

2 · Chicken Shawarma

Regular · Medium

Yours

B11Take0:15

1 · Suya — Ram

Hot

Unclaimed

Kitchen· one screen · Mama Cee7 active● Live

B03Take9:41

2 · Suya — Ram

Hot · Extra yaji

B04Dine5:12

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · No onion

B05Deliv3:02

3 · Beef Shawarma

Regular · Hot

B06Take1:48

1 · Suya — Chicken

2 · Coke 50cl

B07Take0:52

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · Well done

B08Dine0:11

1 · Peppered Gizzard

Kitchen· one screen20 open · 9 min behind● Live

Kitchen· one screen9 min behindBT

Waiting14

B2610:30

B279:45

B289:00

B298:15

B307:30

+ 9 more

Cooking3 / 3 · full3

B20Take15:00

1 · Chicken Shawarma

Large · No onion

2 · Suya — Ram

Hot · Extra yaji

B21Dine14:15

✓

2 · Suya — Ram

1 · Yam Chips

B23Take12:45

3 · Yam Chips

Ready3

B18

Takeaway
2:10

B19

Table 4
0:48

B17

Not collected
6:30