What Does Kitchen Routing Mean?

Kitchen Routing is an option in restaurant POS systems that assigns items on an order to the appropriate station or prep area where they will be prepared. Rather than printing the entire order out on one printer, the point of sale system instructs the specific kitchen printers or kitchen display screens for those products, which helps to keep each section of the kitchen only preparing the items that they need to complete the order, which allows for a more streamlined preparation process and helps to decrease confusion during busy service times.

How Kitchen Routing Works in Restaurant POS Systems

Kitchen routing is processed by the POS system through predefined rules. Each item on a menu is allocated to a certain kitchen expediter depending on how the item needs to be cooked.

An example of a routing rule might be as follows:

• The grill items go to the printer associated with the grill station.
• The drinks will go to the printer at the bar.
• The desserts will go to the area prepared for the dessert.

All this organizing allows the kitchen teams to begin preparing their products at the same time without having to wait for instructions. As a result, kitchen routing improves operations by streamlining preparation times and improving the workflow of the kitchen.