What Terminals are Available in Menutech?

Menutech offers four terminals for order taking. Each one fits a different service style, from self-service to full kitchen-to-waiter coordination.

RFID Terminal

Guests place their own orders by tapping an ID card.

The guest taps their card (e.g., a hospital room key) on an RFID reader connected to an iPad.
The reader identifies the guest and the iPad displays only the menus they're entitled to.
The guest selects their food directly on screen.

The terminal stays logged in and identifies each guest by RFID, so orders go straight to the Manage Orders / Take an Order screens without staff needing to log each guest in manually.

Best for: self-service order placement, hospitals, clinics, and residences where guests carry an ID card.

Cantina Terminal

Staff verify and hand out food by scanning a guest's card at the counter.

Staff scans the guest's RFID card at the terminal.
The reader works like a keyboard: it types the ID number and hits "Enter" automatically, no manual entry needed.
The terminal confirms the order is valid. If the scan doesn't match a valid order, the terminal shakes to flag the error.

Display settings control how much information staff see per scan:

Order only – just the food order
Name + Order – guest name and order (current default)
Full info – name, room number, order, and dietary restrictions

Show past orders – toggle to show a guest's recent order history (e.g., last 10 orders) next to the current scan. Recommended: helps staff double-check during fast-paced service when guests scan in quick succession. This now runs through a real-time scan history panel, so staff see updates as they happen rather than a static list.

Best for: simple, high-volume distribution. It's positioned as an entry-level option for clients who want something lighter than a full KDS + Service Terminal setup, often as a first step before scaling up.

KDS (Kitchen Display System)

Full real-time order communication for the kitchen, with sound alerts. Orders move through four stages:

Reservations – orders placed in advance (e.g., a patient ordered via QR code or through their nurse for the next day). Reservation tickets move in bulk, since confirming one confirms the whole meal.
Orders – confirmed: the guest has actually shown up (e.g., seated in the restaurant).
Fired – the order is ready to be cooked (e.g., guest is seated, cutlery and bread served, drink order taken).
Done – ready to be served; the kitchen has plated it and it's waiting for pickup.

Unlike Reservations, the Orders/Fired/Done stages move one ticket at a time, since courses go out sequentially rather than all at once.

A few setup notes worth knowing:

Menus need items split by section, course, or option separators, otherwise everything lands on one ticket instead of separate ones per course.
If a section seems to be missing from the KDS, it usually means that subsection hasn't been activated in the KDS settings.
Hardware: a thermal printer (EPSON, or another using the same protocol like Sam4S) connected via USB to a kitchen tablet. There's no offline mode; Menutech provides order cards and reports as a paper-based fallback if connectivity drops.

Best for: kitchens handling multiple orders across production stages in real time.

Service Terminal

Lets waitstaff coordinate directly with the kitchen for in-room or table dining.

Waitstaff confirm reservations, allocate tables, and decide which orders get fired to the kitchen, all in real time via the KDS.
A table can show up on the KDS by itself in italics before an order is confirmed; that's just the guest's "preferred table" carried over as a default from the Service Terminal or the order-taking app.

Best for: in-room dining or table service, where a waiter manages timing and course pacing.

One setup note that applies to KDS and Service Terminal together: for real-time communication between the order-taking app and these two terminals, "Real time orders" needs to be enabled on the account. Ask your Menutech contact if this isn't switched on yet.