Operational Modes

Before starting to configure Kitchen iQ it is important to consider the operational mode that is going to be used within each site / configuration.

Standard Operations | Preparation & Serving

The standard operational mode of a configuration will display order line items in the kitchen as soon as they are sent from the Point of Sale, operators will be shown active tickets and can start to prepare items as they require. This operation fits many businesses and helps process orders efficiently from preparation through to serving.

Standard Operations & Assembly

The "assembly" option adds in an additional stage where items come to a central point within the kitchen to be put together before being ready to serve. Using the assembly stage is an optional feature and can add value to more complicated operations to ensure dishes are prepared and served correctly.

Cook Time Operations

To improve order delivery and accuracy when preparing items using cook time mode will change the configuration into a more controlled process where order lines are presented in a recommended "Waiting to Start" stage, when operators are ready to start preparing those items will "bump" to indicating that they have started to prepare this item, this in turns starts the next chain of events.

Products are setup in Aztec Product Modelling / Menu Manager to hold a "cook time" which will be the time it takes to prepare that item, items are shown on screen in time order. Once the first item is started the next item will be displayed in "waiting to start" X minutes after the first item, this will continue until all items are displayed. This production method should ensure that all dishes are cooked in the correct order and all items arrive for serving at the same time. In some instances the same product can have different cook times depending on the customer preferences, for example a steak with different cooking temperatures. The configuration will permit percentage increases / decreases depending on the required cooking temperature - a well done steak will appear before the rare steak.

Preparing for Configuration

The following steps are useful to consider when preparing a new configuration:

1. How many physical screens are going to be deployed

2. Where are products going to be displayed for preparation (known as stations in Kitchen iQ configuration)

3. Which operational mode will be used

4. Does the operation change when there are less people preparing items

When these decisions have been made the first configuration can be made by either:

• Editing the default created kitchen configuration

  or

• Cloning the default configuration and editing

  or

• Creating a brand new configuration