Use Standard or Advanced Mode for Prep Times on SkyTab KDS

Description: Learn the differences between SkyTab KDS Standard and Advanced Prep Times for managing kitchen preparation times, including how timing and notifications are handled in each method.

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To set up preparation times for items and modifiers in Lighthouse, visit the Configure Prep Times by Item and Modifier for SkyTab KDS article. 

To watch more how-to videos, visit our video section.

On your KDS, tap on the gear icon near the bottom left of the screen to open the Settings screen.

Scroll down to locate the Item Actions section. Here, you will find two modes, Standard and Advanced.

Prep Time Configuration

Within SkyTab KDS, a device-level configuration allows a kitchen worker to choose either the Standard or Advanced workflow. Notifications ensure no items are missed when an item is ready to be prepared.

Standard Prep Times as the default option, starts item-level timing as soon as a ticket is received. Timers run automatically from highest to lowest time, with users notified via sound and through the user interface that an item's timing has marked the item as Fired.

Advanced Prep Times alternatively allows kitchen workers to control the timing by requiring them to mark items as fired. Once a ticket with Prep Times is received, the standard new ticket notification is played, and the highest timed item(s) are marked as Ready to Fire. Users must then tap the item to move its state to Fired. Once additional items are ready to prepare, timers will pause, and item(s) will be marked Ready to Fire. The KDS user must manually mark these as Fired for timing to resume.

Prep Time Notifications

In both workflows, users will be notified when a timed item is ready for preparation by highlighting the ticket border and changing the item text to blue. Additionally, a new notification sound will play briefly. The on-screen notifications can be dismissed by tapping anywhere in the ticket header at any point.

After an item has notified that it is ready for prep, item states can be moved from Fired (Advanced mode only) to Fulfilled (green background) to Sent (if enabled - green background and text with strikethrough).

Standard Prep Times

In Standard mode, timers run automatically. Items ready for preparation immediately will be shown as normal, and any items not ready for preparation will be grayed out. Once the timing for the held items elapses, users will be notified through notifications. Prep Timing will continue to run until all held items are ready for prep.

Advanced Prep Times 

In Advanced mode, timers hold once a user is notified when an item's timing has elapsed. The user will then need to tap on any items that have been notified as ready for prep to mark them as “fired,” indicating they are now in prep.