Prep Stations
A prep station is a part of your kitchen that handles certain types of orders — the Hot Kitchen that grills the steaks, the Cold Station that plates the salads, the Bar that pours the cocktails, the Dessert counter that finishes the panna cotta.
Setting up prep stations on the Dashboard does two important jobs:
- It tells your printers what to print. When a server fires a ticket on the iPad, only the items belonging to a station get printed at that station’s printer. The Bar’s printer doesn’t spit out steaks, the Hot Kitchen’s printer doesn’t print espressos.
- It tells the kitchen screen (KDS) what to show. Each KDS iPad can be set to one station, so the chef on the grill only sees the items they actually cook.
You’ll find the page in the left sidebar under Prep Stations.
Most venues set their stations up once during onboarding and rarely touch the page again. You only come back when you add a new printer, change your kitchen layout, or roll out a brand‑new section like a Coffee Bar.
How prep stations connect to the rest of your venue
Three things in the Dashboard talk to each other:
- Categories in Menus can have a Default Prep Station — every item in that category will be routed there
- Items in Menus can have their own Prep Station that overrides the category default for individual dishes
- Printers (set up on the Printing & Receipts page) are attached to one or more stations on this page
The flow when a server fires a ticket: item → its prep station → the printers attached to that station → the KDS for that station.
You don’t have to plan this in any particular order — you can create stations first and assign printers later, or the other way round.
The Prep Stations page
Across the top, you’ll see the page title Prep Stations with the subtitle “Organize your kitchen workflow with prep stations”, and the Add Prep Station button on the right.
Below that, an All Stations card lists every station you’ve set up as a sortable table.
The columns
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Station | The icon you picked (e.g. a chef hat, flame, coffee cup) plus the station name and its short note underneath. Tap the column header to sort A→Z or Z→A. |
| Assignment | A blue All Locations badge if the station applies to every venue, or a list of location names with a pin icon if it’s restricted to specific venues. Sortable. |
| Printers | Small badges with a printer icon for every printer attached to this station. Shows None in grey if no printers are connected yet. |
| Actions | The ⋯ button — Edit Station or Delete Station (red). |
Tap any row to open the edit dialog for that station.
The empty state
Before you’ve added any stations, the page shows a centred card with a chef‑hat icon, the message “No prep stations yet — Create prep stations to organize your kitchen workflow”, and an Add Prep Station button.
Creating a prep station
Tap Add Prep Station in the top‑right (or in the empty state). A side dialog slides in titled “Add Prep Station — Create a new station to organize your kitchen workflow”.
Type the station name
Station Name is the only required field. Keep it short and obvious — the kitchen team will see it on tickets and on the KDS.
Examples: Hot Kitchen, Cold Station, Pizza Oven, Bar, Coffee, Dessert.
Pick an icon
Tap one of the nine icons in the grid:
- Chef Hat (default)
- Grill/Hot (flame)
- Beverages (coffee cup)
- Desserts (ice cream)
- Pizza
- Salads
- Soups
- Sandwiches
- General (utensils)
The icon shows up in the table on this page and on the KDS — pick whatever makes the station easiest to recognise at a glance.
Add a note (optional)
A short description for your team, e.g. “Handles all grilled items and fried foods” or “Espresso, drip coffee, and cold brew”. Appears under the station name in the All Stations list.
Decide where the station applies
Two big buttons sit side by side under Assign To:
- All Locations — the station exists at every venue you have. Pick this if your Hot Kitchen is the same idea everywhere, even if each branch has its own physical hot kitchen.
- Specific Locations — the station only exists at the venues you tick. A list of locations appears underneath with a checkbox next to each. You must tick at least one location — Create Station stays disabled until you do.
For a single‑venue restaurant, leaving it on All Locations is the simplest choice.
Pick the printers (if you have any set up)
If your selected location has printers configured, a Kitchen Printers section appears at the bottom with a checkbox per printer. Tick every printer that should print this station’s tickets.
Most stations have one printer, but you can attach more than one — useful if you want a backup printer or a duplicate ticket on the pass.
No printers showing? That just means none have been set up yet for this location. You can save the station now and come back to attach printers later.
Tap “Create Station”
The new station appears in the All Stations table straight away. The button shows a spinner while it saves.
Most kitchens only need three or four stations to be well organised: Hot, Cold, Bar, and one of Dessert or Pizza. Adding too many can confuse servers when they’re picking a station for a new menu item, and clutter up the printer rules.
Editing a station
Tap any row in the All Stations table — or use the ⋯ button → Edit Station. The same dialog opens, this time titled “Edit Prep Station — Update station settings and assignments”.
You can change:
- The Station Name
- The Icon
- The Note
- Whether it’s All Locations or Specific Locations, and which locations
- Which Kitchen Printers receive tickets
Tap Save Changes at the bottom to commit, or Cancel to discard.
Renaming a station doesn’t break anything — items already linked to it keep working. The new name simply replaces the old one across menus, tickets and the KDS.
Deleting a station
From the table, tap ⋯ → Delete Station (red). A confirmation dialog asks “Are you sure you want to delete [station name]? This action cannot be undone.”
Tap Delete (red) to confirm or Cancel to back out.
If items in your menus are routed to the station you’re about to delete, those items will lose their routing and may not print anywhere until you re‑assign them. Before deleting, head to Menus and switch the affected items (or their categories) to a different station.
Connecting items to a station
Stations only do something useful once items are pointed at them. There are two ways:
Per category (the easy way)
Open Menus → pick a menu → tap ⋯ on a category → Edit Category. The Default Prep Station dropdown lets you pick the station every item in that category should go to.
This is the recommended way for most venues — set Starters and Mains to Hot Kitchen, Salads and Cold Plates to Cold Station, Cocktails and Beers to Bar, and you’re done.
Per item (for special cases)
Open the item editor in Menus. The Prep Station dropdown overrides the category default for that one item.
This is for the odd dish that doesn’t fit the rest of its category — e.g. a Tuna Tartare on the Starters menu that should print at the Cold Station instead of the Hot Kitchen.
Connecting a station to a KDS iPad
Each Kitchen Display iPad can be set to one station. Once it is, the screen only shows tickets for that station’s items.
You set this on the iPad itself, not from the Dashboard — see the KDS guide for the steps.
Briefly: open the KDS iPad’s Settings tab → KDS Mode → pick the station → done.
Multi‑location notes
If you operate more than one venue:
- All Locations stations show up at every branch. Each branch can attach its own printers to the station — the Hot Kitchen at your Soho branch will print at Soho’s printer, the Hot Kitchen at your Shoreditch branch will print at Shoreditch’s. The station is the same idea, the hardware is local.
- Specific Locations stations only exist at the venues you tick. Useful when one branch has a unique kitchen layout — e.g. a Pizza Oven station that only the Soho branch has.
- The Assignment column in the All Stations table makes it easy to see which is which at a glance.
The Kitchen Printers list in the Create/Edit dialog only shows printers for the currently selected location. To attach or detach printers for an “All Locations” station at a different branch, switch the location selector in the sidebar to that branch first, then open the station. The same applies to the Printers column on the list — it only resolves names against the currently selected location. If you’re viewing at the organisation level (no location selected), the printer section is hidden entirely.
Quick recap — the moves you’ll do most
- Add a new station → Add Prep Station → name it, pick an icon, choose All Locations or Specific Locations, attach printers → Create Station
- Change which printer prints for a station → tap the row → tick or untick printers → Save Changes
- Rename a station → tap the row → change the name → Save Changes
- Add a station at one venue only → in the dialog, switch Assign To to Specific Locations → tick the venue → save
- Stop a station from being used → first move its items to another station from the Menus page → then ⋯ → Delete Station
Next steps
- Menus — set the default prep station on each category, or override per item
- Printing & Receipts — add the printers you’ll attach to your stations
- KDS — point each kitchen iPad at a station so it only shows that station’s tickets
- Devices — register and configure the iPads that run the KDS