Shift4 kitchen display - Chad Wetherbee Design

Shift4 - Restaurant Kitchen Display

The Kitchen Display System (KDS) is a 21″ digital display designed to replace printed and handwritten tickets in commercial kitchens. Integrated with the restaurant’s Point of Sale system, it streamlines communication, ensures accurate food routing, and provides staff with a real-time view of orders. By digitizing the workflow, the KDS helps kitchens reduce errors, improve timing, and keep the entire team in sync.

Client: Shift4
Industry: Hospitality
Platforms: Enterprise Tablet, Android Native
Role: Lead Product Designer & Manager
Design Team: Myself, UX Designer, UX Researcher
Client Team: Stakeholders, Engineering Team & SME
Time Frame: 5 Months

Product Quick Overview

Product Walkthrough - Multi-Stage Fulfillment

Product Walkthrough - Prep Times

Context

Kitchens operate under constant pressure, with staff juggling timing, order accuracy, and coordination across stations.
Many still relied on paper tickets, which were easy to lose or misread, leading to delays and mistakes.
A connected digital system promised faster communication, fewer errors, and smoother handoffs across the kitchen team.

Problem

Kitchen Staff Impact:

Paper tickets were often smudged, lost, or misread, leading to confusion and delayed orders.
Staff had no easy way to see how long a ticket had been waiting or which items were highest priority.
Communication between stations broke down, with cooks and runners working from different views of the same order.

Business Impact:

Inconsistent service times frustrated guests and created an uneven dining experience.
Errors and remakes increased food waste and labor costs.
Lack of visibility made it difficult for managers to track kitchen efficiency and identify bottlenecks.

Objective

We saw an opportunity to replace paper tickets with a connected digital system that streamlined communication, reduced errors, and gave kitchen staff real-time visibility
All while keeping workflows simple and intuitive in a high-pressure environment.

UX Process:

Empathize

Tasks:

Reviewed stakeholder requirements
Immersed in daily kitchen operations
Interviewed kitchen staff including chefs, cooks, expediters, and runners
Shadowed staff during live service to observe workflows and bottlenecks

Stakeholder Requirements

Key Findings:

Ensure the system integrates seamlessly with existing POS and prep-time data.
Improve kitchen efficiency by reducing order errors, delays, and remakes.
Provide managers with visibility into bottlenecks and overall kitchen performance.

Conducted Interviews

Kitchen Staff:

Paper tickets were often lost, smudged, or misread, causing confusion and delays.
Lack of visibility into ticket times made it hard to prioritize and manage workloads.
Poor communication between stations led to bottlenecks and duplicated effort.
Tracking prep quantities across multiple tickets was slow and error-prone.

Stakeholders:

Inconsistent service times created uneven guest experiences and hurt customer satisfaction.
Errors and remakes increased food waste and drove up labor costs.
Lack of real-time visibility made it difficult to monitor kitchen efficiency or identify bottlenecks.
Reliance on manual processes limited scalability across multiple restaurant locations.

I feel like I’m flying blind once the ticket leaves my station — I have no idea if the next person is working on it or if it’s just sitting there.

Phil Verona - Sous Chef, The Iron Hattery

Shadowed Kitchen Staff

Key Findings:

Staff relied heavily on verbal callouts to track order status, often leading to missed or duplicated tasks.
Cooks had no clear way to see prep quantities across tickets, forcing them to scan each one individually.
Expediters struggled to coordinate timing between stations, which caused delays in getting complete orders out.
Runners frequently received incomplete or incorrect information, creating bottlenecks at the handoff to guests.

Conceptualize

Tasks:

Led foundational and exploratory research
Mapped end-to-end user journeys
Sketched concepts and built wireframes
Developed low-fidelity prototypes for testing

Foundation & Exploratory Research

Design

Tasks:

Developed interactive prototypes
Conducted usability testing sessions
Designed high-fidelity screens
Established a scalable design system

Prototype & User Testing

Key Findings:

Prototyped and tested workflows for ticket prioritization, station coordination, and order recall in simulated kitchen environments.
Introduced features like ticket timers, delay indicators, and an “all day” view to track prep counts.
Staff valued the ability to visually prioritize tickets, reducing confusion and missed orders.
The “all day” view made it easier for cooks to manage prep quantities without scanning individual tickets.
Timers and visual indicators helped expediters spot bottlenecks quickly, improving communication and reducing reliance on verbal callouts.
Overall, feedback confirmed the system improved communication between stations and reduced reliance on verbal callouts.

Project Outcomes

Key performance indicators (KPIs) were drawn from a 3-month pilot with Shift4’s partner restaurants, combining company analytics with manager feedback.

Kitchen Staff Impact:

19% Faster Ticket Times: Staff were able to complete orders more quickly, improving pace of service.
15% Fewer Errors and Remakes: Clearer tickets reduced mistakes, cutting waste and frustration.
22% Better Communication: Shared visibility helped cooks, expediters, and runners stay in sync.
One expediter said, “I finally feel like the whole kitchen is looking at the same playbook.”

Business Impact:

Improved efficiency led to shorter service times, enhancing guest satisfaction.
Reduced waste and labor from fewer remakes lowered operational costs.
Managers gained clear visibility into bottlenecks, helping them balance workloads.
Consistent communication and smoother workflows strengthened scalability across locations.

Knowledge Gained

Designing for High-Pressure Environments: Glanceable, simple interfaces are critical when users are working in heat, noise, and constant motion.
Change Management Is Just as Important as Design: Training and onboarding were key to getting staff comfortable with moving from paper to digital.
Feedback Loops Drive Adoption: Direct input from chefs, cooks, and expediters shaped features like the “all day” view and ticket timers.
Balancing Flexibility with Simplicity: Kitchens wanted many features, but usability testing reinforced that speed and clarity mattered most.
Scalability Across Locations: Pilots highlighted how workflows varied by restaurant, reminding us to design a system adaptable to different kitchen setups.