Freedom251 › Kitchen Display System Software
Nova KDS
What Nova KDS is
Nova KDS is a cloud kitchen display and management system for restaurant operations. It routes orders to kitchen stations, tracks ticket age, and helps teams handle rush periods. The system combines preparation, production, recipes, waste tracking, and station performance tools. Nova says its orchestration predicts ticket duration, balances station workloads in real time, and streamlines queues during peak volume. Managers can review throughput, bottlenecks, ticket aging, and productivity across locations from a centralized dashboard. Routing rules can use station speed, staff rating, prep capacity, and custom allocations, with bump-bar ticket control. Orders from POS, kiosks, mobile apps, drive-thru, web ordering, and marketplaces can enter one kitchen workflow. The hardware display is a 22-inch touchscreen with heat- and grease-resistant construction, Power over Ethernet, and wall or countertop installation. Nova lists REST APIs, offline order-taking with automatic synchronization, SOC 2 Type II certification, encryption, role-based access, and audit logging. Core costs $299 a month per location.
Who it suits
Nova KDS suits quick-service, full-service, café, and enterprise restaurants, from one location to thousands. It is useful for operators coordinating multiple order channels, kitchen stations, and location-level performance.
What it does well
- Routes orders across configurable kitchen stations
- Predicts ticket duration and balances workloads
- Central dashboard covers multiple locations
- Supports offline ordering and automatic sync
- Offers REST APIs and broad order channels
What to know first
- No free plan
- Core costs $299 a month per location
- Pricing is quoted after a demo
- Annual contract is mentioned without annual pricing
Limits
Core is billed at $299 a month per location and includes POS, KDS, handhelds, kiosk, third-party delivery, and a unified data layer. Growth is $649 a month and adds back-office functions, Ops AI alerts, forecasting, labor optimization, and Voice AI.
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Core | per location · POS · KDS · handhelds · kiosk · third-party delivery · unified data layer · annual contract qualifies for kiosk offer | $299 a month |
| Starter Pack | Per Month · Restaurant POS listing; pricing supplied by NOVA | $39 a month |
| Growth | Core features plus inventory · labor · payroll · financials · real-time alerts · AI labor optimization · predictive forecasting · Voice AI · annual contract qualifies for kiosk offer | $649 a month |
As novatab.com lists them, read 15 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Getting started
- Open https://www.novatab.com/solutions/kitchen-display-system
- Book a demo with Nova
- Discuss the restaurant locations and required plan
- Choose Core at $299 a month per location or Growth at $649 a month
- Connect POS, kiosks, handhelds, online ordering, or delivery channels
- Install the dedicated display on a wall or countertop
Verdict
Nova KDS combines kitchen displays, operational management, routing controls, and reporting for restaurant teams. Its cloud deployment, offline operation, and multi-location dashboard support distributed operations, with pricing starting at $299 per location monthly.
Questions
How much does Nova KDS cost?
The Core plan is $299 a month, billed per location. Growth is $649 a month.
Is there a free plan?
No. Nova KDS is a paid service.
Which restaurants does it serve?
Nova describes it for quick-service, full-service, café, and enterprise restaurant operations, from one location to thousands.
What order channels can feed the kitchen workflow?
POS, kiosk, mobile app, drive-thru, web ordering, and marketplaces can send orders into one workflow.
Does Nova KDS work offline?
Nova says stores can keep taking orders during internet outages and synchronize automatically when the connection returns.
What security controls are listed?
Nova says it has SOC 2 Type II certification, encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access, and audit logging. Cardholder data is tokenized and never stored on Nova systems.
Facts from Nova KDS's own pages
- AI orchestration
- Nova says its KDS predicts ticket duration, balances station workload in real time and streamlines the order queue during peak volume. · novatab.com, 7 Oct 2026
- AI ticket prediction
- The KDS predicts ticket completion time using kitchen conditions and adjusts queue handling accordingly. · novatab.com, 15 Oct 2026
- API
- Nova describes REST APIs across the platform for extending the system to existing tools. · novatab.com, 15 Oct 2026
- API documentation depth
- Public pages mention REST APIs but the reviewed site did not expose endpoint reference, SDK downloads or developer documentation. · novatab.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Bump bar support
- Kitchen staff can control tickets hands-free with configurable bump bars. · novatab.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Cloud hosting
- Nova says its cloud-native platform runs on AWS for high availability and continuous operation. · novatab.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Company size
- LinkedIn lists NOVA as a privately held software-development company with 51–200 employees. · linkedin.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Company specialties
- LinkedIn lists restaurant POS, online ordering, workforce and inventory management, loyalty, menu and pricing management, kitchen display systems and handheld devices among NOVA's specialties. · linkedin.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Data ownership
- Nova says restaurant, employee and guest data belongs to the customer and can be retrieved through open REST APIs. · novatab.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Encryption and access
- Nova says data is encrypted in transit and at rest, with role-based least-privilege access and audit logging. · novatab.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Founded
- 2021 · novatab.com, 28 Sept 2026
- Free kiosk offer
- The demo page offers a Sunmi FLEX 3 display and stand valued at $1,495 at zero cost when a qualifying annual Core or Growth contract is activated within 14 days, subject to campaign limits. · novatab.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Google Play KDS app
- Nova Platform Inc's Plateron KDS app tracks orders, starts and finishes orders, and updates order statuses. · play.google.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Google Play KDS app availability
- Plateron KDS showed 10+ downloads and no displayed star rating on Google Play when opened. · play.google.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Google Play KDS data handling
- Google Play reports no third-party data sharing, possible collection of personal information and device identifiers, encryption in transit, and no deletion option for Plateron KDS. · play.google.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Google Play Nova Edge
- Nova Edge provides restaurant sales-trend analysis, order tracking, staff communication and workforce management for single or multiple locations. · play.google.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Google Play Nova Edge update
- Nova Edge was updated on March 13, 2026 and showed 50+ downloads on Google Play. · play.google.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Google Play Plateron POS features
- The associated Plateron POS app lists ordering, payment processing, sales reports, staff management, loyalty, table management and a kitchen display system. · play.google.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Hardware
- Nova's kitchen display hardware uses a 22-inch touchscreen, supports wall or countertop mounting and offers Power over Ethernet connectivity. · novatab.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Headquarters
- Pleasanton, California, United States · novatab.com, 28 Sept 2026
- Headquarters and founding
- LinkedIn lists NOVA's headquarters in Pleasanton, California and its founding year as 2021. · linkedin.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Intended customers
- Nova describes its platform as serving quick-service, full-service, café and enterprise restaurant operations, from one location to thousands. · novatab.com, 7 Oct 2026
- KDS and KMS
- Nova combines a Kitchen Display System and Kitchen Management System, with prep, production, recipes, waste tracking and station performance tools. · novatab.com, 7 Oct 2026
- KDS ticket routing
- Nova KDS routes each order to the appropriate kitchen station and tracks ticket age during service. · novatab.com, 15 Oct 2026
Where Nova KDS stands on Freedom251
- Kitchen Display System Software#28 of 49