Troubleshooting
The problems kitchens actually hit, in the order they usually hit them.
No sound
- Look at the alarm bar. Sound is off — tap to enable means the browser has not been touched since the last reload; tap it. Muted means someone muted it; tap it again. Both reset on every reload.
- Check the station in SSP Manager: Kitchen → Capacity, the station's Play sounds on the kitchen screen and Chime when a new order arrives switches. See Alarms and sounds.
- Check the tablet's own volume and that the browser tab is not muted at the system level.
- If the alarm bar keeps flipping back to Sound is off on its own, the tablet is suspending audio — usually a power-saving setting. Keep the screen awake during service.
The ticket is on the waiter's screen but not here
- Station. Open the picker. The dish's routing class must be subscribed by a station this screen shows. An unsubscribed class lands on the Default station; a dish with no class shows there with an Unrouted badge. Fix the class in Kitchen Routing.
- Course. A dish in a held course is under the ticket in Coming later, not on it, until the course is fired.
- Pre-order. An accepted pre-order waits in Later today until its start time.
- Web order. An online order nobody has accepted is in Incoming web orders, not on the board.
- Tab. A served or completed ticket is on Completed, not Active.
The board is not updating
The KDS gets changes live and also re-reads the board every 30 seconds. If the board is stale for longer:
- Reload the page. Stations and sort are remembered; you will need to tap Sound is off — tap to enable again.
- Check the tablet's network. The KDS shows no offline banner; a tap that fails shows a red message instead.
- If it keeps happening on one screen only, the tablet is the problem; if on all screens, ask your administrator to check the realtime (Pusher) setup for the location.
A tap was refused
A red message after a tap is the server's reason, word for word. The common ones:
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Missing permission: … / This action is unauthorized. | The account signed in on this screen lacks the ability. See Who can do what. |
| Cannot move a served item back | Use Recall rather than a quick action for a served dish. |
| This order has already been accepted. | Someone else decided this web order first. Nothing to do. |
The row or dropdown springs back to what it was. A refusal never signs the screen out.
The screen went back to "Sign in with SSP"
The session expired or was revoked (a password change, a deactivated account, or a long idle time). Tap Sign in with SSP and sign in again; nothing already sent is lost. If it happens repeatedly during service, the account may be used on another device that signs out — give each screen its own account. See Signing in and out.
A dish is red the moment it is sent
The dish has no prep time, or the station's thresholds are 0. With no prep time the row reads elapsed and never alarms; with a prep time and a 0-minute grace it turns red exactly when due. Set the prep time on the item and the grace period on the station in Kitchen Capacity.
The ticket controls are missing
Mark Ticket Ready, Complete Order and the status dropdown live on the screen that owns the ticket: the Expo screen if the location has one, otherwise every screen. Fire course and Release course appear on the Expo screen only. If a prep screen used to have the ticket controls and lost them, a station was given the Expo role in Manager. See Screens and views.
I 86'd a dish by mistake
Put it back in SSP Manager (the item's availability); the KDS has no un-86. Tickets already carrying the dish were never affected.
Something is on the board that should not be
- A cancelled or voided ticket on Active: it should not be — cancelled and voided orders are not on that tab. If you see one, reload; if it persists, report the order code to your administrator.
- A finished ticket that will not leave: set its status to Completed from the status dropdown (or Complete Order), or let the waiter close it.
- A quantity that is wrong: the waiter edited the ticket; the amber 2 → 3 chip shows what changed.
Where to get help
For anything not covered here, contact SSP support with the location name, the order code from the ticket (the 8-character code beside the number), and the red message text if there was one.