// Kitchen pacing for any POS
PrepFlow works out when each station should start each dish, so a whole order lands at the pass together, hot. Then it keeps re-pacing live as your kitchen drifts.
// The problem
Fire them together and the fries die under the lamp. PrepFlow starts each dish at its own minute, so they finish together.
Fired at once
9:00
How long a 3-minute salad waits under the lamp beside a 12-minute ribeye.
Paced
0:00
The spread at the pass when every start is counted back from when the order is due.
Re-paced
Live
A late start, an add-on or a split ticket: the waiting items move, on every screen at once.
01 · ORDER IN
PrepFlow gets each order as your POS sends it to the kitchen, with doneness, sides and notes, and knows which station makes what.
02 · BACK-SCHEDULE
From when the order is due, PrepFlow counts back each item’s cook time and gives every station a start time, so they all finish together.
03 · RE-PACE
START and DONE taps keep the plan honest. When something drifts, the waiting items move to match, and earlier orders keep their place.
// The screens
Plain, fast and readable from across the line. Every screen uses the same states, shapes and words.
// Station screen
Each cook sees only their station, in the order to start. Tickets wait HELD, then show FIRE NOW at the exact minute to start, and turn URGENT when auto-start is close. One tap to START, one tap for DONE.
// Expo screen
The expo assembles. CHECK each finished item as it goes on the plate, UNDO to take it back, Check all off for the rest. Ready-made sauces arrive already finished.
// Watch-only screen
Put a device in the office, on your phone or at the runner’s station. It follows every ticket live with the same states and cues, and nothing to tap.
// The setup page
Your POS menu flows onto a canvas of stations. Drop each dish where it is cooked, then open it to give each doneness its own time, send a side to its own station, mark a sauce “Just hand over”, or chain a second stage with “Then goes to”.
Every START and DONE tap measures how long a dish really takes. Suggest proposes a better time for you to apply; Auto moves it in small, capped steps. Every change is saved as a version, so you can see what moved and why.
// Features
Every item gets a start time per station, counted back from when the order is due, so the whole order lands at the pass together.
Medium rare and well done get their own times. A 24 oz is not a 12 oz. The plan knows which one is on the ticket.
Fries ordered with a burger cook at the fry station as an item of their own, and still land with the burger.
A tartar sauce that is already made has nothing to cook. It arrives finished and the expo just checks it off.
“Then goes to” chains stations: sear it on the grill, finish it at sauté. Both stages are paced.
Start and Done taps measure real cook times. Suggest proposes, Auto adjusts in capped steps, and every change is versioned.
Heartland, Clover, Square and Toast, plus Uber Eats and DoorDash orders, all paced together on the same screens.
Your POS menu flows onto a canvas of stations. Drop each dish where it is cooked; set times on its card.
Someone starts late, an item is added or rerouted: the rest of the plan moves at once, on every screen.
Paced tickets go to screens, to Epson and Star kitchen printers (network or Bluetooth), or both. Use screens at some stations and printers at others, or printers only.
Each screen can run in its own language, chosen per device, so every cook reads the board in the language they know best. Dish names stay as your POS sends them.
iPhone, iPad, Android or a browser. Any device can be a station, the expo, a watch-only screen or the hub, and there is no limit on screens.
// Built for every cook
Every state carries four cues at once: a fill, an icon shape, a word and a frame style. Take any one away and the ticket still reads, for every type of color vision.
Waiting for its minute. Neutral fill, pause circle, solid frame.
Start it now. Yellow fill, triangle, dashed frame.
On plan. Sky-blue fill, circle, solid frame.
Auto-start is close, or it is late. Darkest fill, hatch, octagon, heavy frame.
Done at its station. Light fill, check square.
The allergen in words, on its own diamond. Used for nothing else.
// Pricing
As you grow, you pay less.
A month
$289.98
Average per order
9.67¢
1,999 × 10¢ + 1,000 × 9¢ + 1 × 8¢ · next orders at 8¢
Book a demo| Orders | Rate | Month’s bill at |
|---|---|---|
| 1–1,999 | 10¢ | 1,999 orders: $199.90 |
| 2,000–2,999 | 9¢ | 2,999 orders: $289.90 |
| 3,000–3,999 | 8¢ | 3,999 orders: $369.90 |
| 4,000–4,999 | 7¢ | 4,999 orders: $439.90 |
| 5,000–5,999 | 6¢ | 5,999 orders: $499.90 |
| 6,000–6,999 | 5¢ | 6,999 orders: $549.90 |
| 7,000–7,999 | 4¢ | 7,999 orders: $589.90 |
| 8,000+ | 3¢ | 10,000 orders: $649.93 |
// FAQ
PrepFlow is kitchen pacing software that works with your POS: it works out when each station should start each dish so a whole order, or a whole course, lands at the pass together. It sits between the POS and the kitchen screens, back-schedules every item from the moment the order is due, and keeps re-pacing live as cooks start early or late.
A KDS shows tickets; PrepFlow decides when each item on a ticket should start. Most kitchen displays fire everything at once or sort tickets by time, so a 3-minute side finishes long before a 12-minute steak. PrepFlow computes a start time per station, holds the fast items until their minute comes, and moves the plan when the kitchen drifts. It comes with its own station, expo and watch-only screens.
PrepFlow works with any POS: Heartland, Clover, Square and Toast, plus orders from Uber Eats and DoorDash. Orders arrive as they are sent to the kitchen, and the setup page reads your menu so you can place each dish on a station.
None of its own: any iPhone, iPad, Android phone or tablet, or a computer with a browser, can run PrepFlow, and any device can take any role. You can also print paced tickets on the Epson and Star kitchen printers you already have, instead of or alongside screens.
Yes: PrepFlow can send paced tickets to kitchen printers, to screens, or to both. It prints to Epson and Star printers on your network or over Bluetooth, and each ticket prints when its item should start, not the moment the order arrives. A kitchen can run printers only, screens only, or screens at some stations and printers at others.
PrepFlow is multi-lingual: each device can use its own language, so the grill and the expo can each read the board in the language they know best. Every state word (HELD, FIRE NOW, DONE) also has an icon, and dish names stay exactly as your POS sends them.
You give each dish a starting time, and learning refines it from your cooks’ Start and Done taps. In Suggest mode PrepFlow proposes a new time and a person applies it; in Auto mode it moves times itself in small, capped steps; every change is saved as a version. A station in learning mode, or a dish with no time yet, simply learns from real runs before it is paced.
Yes: each doneness, side and stage gets its own time and its own station. A medium-rare and a well-done steak get different times; fries ordered as a side are cooked at the fry station as their own item and land with the dish; a dish can grill and then “go to” sauté to finish; and a ready-made sauce can be set to “Just hand over”, so the expo only checks it off.
The expo checks each item off as it goes on the plate, with CHECK and UNDO on finished items and Check all off for the rest. With its Manage switch on, the expo can also start and finish items and see the FIRE NOW, START NOW and BUMP? alerts. It also shows when each order is projected to be ready together.
PrepFlow re-paces the rest of the order automatically, so it still lands together. Items already started never move; the items still waiting slide to match, and every screen updates at once. Earlier orders keep their priority and are never pushed back by later ones.
Very little: station screens use the words kitchens already know, such as HELD, FIRE, START, DONE and BUMP, and show one obvious action per item. Type is large enough to read from across the line, buttons are big enough for gloved hands, and every state carries four cues at once: a color, an icon shape, a word and a frame style.
PrepFlow has simple, usage-based pricing with a $0 monthly subscription: you pay per order, and as you grow you pay less. There is no charge per screen, so you can run as many screens as you want. The calculator in the Pricing section shows your monthly cost for any number of orders.
Works with Heartland, Clover, Square and Toast, plus Uber Eats and DoorDash. Book a demo, tell us about your line, and we will set PrepFlow up with you.
