In a busy kitchen, dishes in the same course often have different prep times. Item timing allows restaurants to set specific prep times for each item, enabling the KDS to display a countdown and synchronize cooking. This ensures that all items in a course are ready at the same time, improving efficiency and coursing.
Learn how to set up item timing below:
- In Tabit Office, go to Menu > Items and find the relevant item
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Select the pencil icon at the top right of the screen to edit the item
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Scroll down to Preparation Time [Seconds] and enter the minimum amount of time the item is expected to take to prepare in seconds
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If a modifier or decision affects the timing of an item it's attached to, this can be configured as well. For example, if the bacon cheeseburger takes 300 seconds to prepare when medium rare, and an additional minute for each additional meat temp, it can be updated automatically as the customer selects the meat temp. For more complicated situations ie: egg on the burger that takes 60 seconds, the highest number will be added and it won't be cumulative as it's expected that the kitchen is working on all parts of the burger at the same time. This should only be done for modifiers/decisions that truly add time to the prep time
To change the timing for decisions or modifiers, select the relevant tab when editing the item and then select the pencil icon next to the decision/modifier
- Select the Preparation Times tab and then enter the additional time each option will add to the prep time
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Select Save
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Select Save again
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Select Publish to push these changes to the cloud
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Now that the item timing has been set up in Tabit Office, it needs to be configured in Tabit Kitchen
In Tabit Kitchen, select the four arrows and then select the three dots in the top right corner and then select Setup
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Find Item preparation timing under Kitchen Stations. Selecting the checkbox next to Manage preparation timing will trigger an alert a set amount of time before the cook should start prep on a timed item. For example, if the bacon cheeseburger takes 5 minutes and the pizza takes 2 minutes, and the time alert is set to 1 minute (60 seconds), it will start counting down on the pizza once the burger has been in prep for 2 minutes
Start timing on preparation will start the timer from the moment the cook marks an item as in prep. If this is not checked, the timer will start from the moment the item is fired to the kitchen
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Under Manage preparing status, mark the checkbox next to Manage all items. If needed, items can be excluded from item timing by adding them under Exclude items
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Select Save
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Now, when the item is ordered, a countdown with the set prep time will appear above it in Tabit Kitchen. Learn how item timing works and how to use it here