KitchenTools PCMS™ FAQ

These are only recommended configurations limited to issues related to operating KitchenTools PCMS™ and do not cover general hardware issues such as monitors, keyboards, etc. You may find that you can run KitchenTools PCMS™ satisfactorily with a lesser configuration. You may also find that if you have other demands on your systems, you might need to put more into your hardware.

• Any computer that will run MS Windows 10 or later
• Current versions of MS Windows require more than enough RAM to run KitchenTools PCMS™
• The KitchenTools PCMS™ client side requires very little hard drive space. The machine running the actual database will require enough to install SQL Server Express and store the database itself.
• Network – 10/100 hub and cables
• Printers – for KitchenTools PCMS™ reports, any recent windows ink jet or laser printer should do nicely (not dot matrix). See Seagull Scientific for a list of printers supported by BarTender®.
• Printer sharing – There are various ways that your label printers can be set up in order to run from KitchenTools PCMS™. Whether or not you require additional hardware for this will depend upon your needs.
• SERVER MACHINE: We highly recommend that the machine that will run the SQL Server database be running Windows Server 2012 or later and be configured for maximum performance (see notes below on SQL Server Standard and SQL Server Express). This means using the best quality, most reliable and highest limit hardware you can manage. You will need to make the final decision based on the performance you wish to achieve. Consult your hardware specialists for further recommendations including issues related to types of hardware, UPS and RAID configurations (recommended).
• We have designed most of the forms (screens) in KitchenTools PCMS™ to be run on a minimum of 17 inch monitors at a resolution of 1024x768. However, there is a lot of information built into many forms and you will find that even larger monitors set at a resolution of 1280x1024 will be easier to work with. The forms that handle Menu Item Labeling are designed so that you can use 17 inch monitors set at a resolution of 800x600 if necessary.

• In order to make use of the Menu Item Labeling features that are built into KitchenTools PCMS™, you will need to have one or more licensed copies of BarTender® Enterprise Edition installed (version 10 or higher).
• Windows 10 or later (see footnote #3 below).
• Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Standard Edition or SQL Server Express if appropriate (see notes below on SQL Server Standard and SQL Server Express).
• High speed Internet connection to allow our staff remote access to your system. This will allow us to more quickly correct problems that may arise without the time and expense of travel. This will also enable us to email you KitchenTools PCMS™ licensing files which are need to unlock your copy of the program.
• You should have a VPN set up so we can make updates to the SQL Server code more easily.

No, BarTender® Label Printing Software by Seagull Scientific is not included with your purchase of KitchenTools PCMS™. BarTender® will need to be purchased separately if you wish to use KitchenTools PCMS™ for high speed label printing. For more information about Bartender® professional label printing software from Seagull Scientific, please click here: Seagull Scientific.

No, KitchenTools Software, Inc. will not install any hardware or network equipment or any other software except for KitchenTools PCMS™, Microsoft SQL Server® Standard Edition (or SQL Server Express if appropriate (see footnote #2 below)). Any software installation or maintenance that we will need to do can be done remotely provided you have a fast internet connection.

We will install the KitchenTools PCMS™ program (see footnote #4 below) on up to 10 workstations in the same physical location as the data server (additional workstation installations will be charged at an additional hourly rate per workstation). If necessary we will also install your own properly licensed copy of either Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Standard Edition or SQL Server Express if appropriate (see notes below on SQL Server Standard and SQL Server Express).

• SQL Server Express (the free, but limited feature version of Microsoft SQL Server®), which is intended for single users or small workgroup environments, is a limited/restricted edition of Microsoft SQL Server. We are able to provide and install SQL Server Express for you free of charge. There are some limitations as to its capabilities and features such as how much data it can store, how much RAM it can use, how many CPU cores it can use, etc. See MS SQL Server 2017 Details for more information or contact Microsoft directly.
• We cannot guarantee that SQL Server Express will be adequate for your business. If it is not, then you will have to purchase the appropriate SQL Server Standard licenses. These costs are not included in the purchase price of KitchenTools PCMS™.

Training on KitchenTools PCMS™ is not included in the purchase price. However, We will be happy to provide either on-site or remote training at an hourly rate. KitchenTools PCMS™ includes an extensive electronic help system. We do provide limited support.....

1. KitchenTools Software, Inc. will not install hardware or network equipment or any other software except KitchenTools PCMS™, Microsoft SQL Server® Standard Edition (or SQL Server Express if appropriate (see footnote #2)). For any on site installations that we do you must have your system ready for the installation. If we have to return to your facility to complete an installation that we could not complete due to lack of equipment or equipment readiness, you will be billed for travel, lodging and installation time expenses for subsequent visits.
2. SQL Server Express®, which is intended for single users or small workgroup environments, is a limited/restricted edition of Microsoft SQL Server®. We are able to provide and install SQL Server Express for you free of charge. There are some limitations as to its capabilities and features such as how much data it can store, the resources it can make use of, and how many concurrent workloads it can maintain at one time, etc. See MS SQL Server 2017 Details for more information or contact Microsoft directly. We cannot guarantee that SQL Server Express will be adequate for your business. If it is not, then you will have to purchase the appropriate SQL Server 2017 licenses. These costs are not included in the purchase price of KitchenTools PCMS™. Most of our customers should be able to use SQL Server Express (which is the free version of SQL Server) for quite a long time without any losses in performance. Issues that might cause a customer to have to purchase a SQL Server license would be if they do not wish to summarize some data that can tend to make the database large and might exceed the 1GB SQL Server Express limitation. Also customers who desire to take advantage of more than 4 cores or 1410 MB of RAM in the server machine would need to purchase a SQL Server license.
3. At this time we have not yet tested the KitchenTools PCMS™ application on Windows 11. We are confident it will run fine under this new operating system but cannot guarantee this at the moment.
4. Covers installation of the KitchenTools PCMS™ program on up to 10 workstations in the same physical location as the data server (additional workstation installations will be charged at our current hourly rate for any additional workstations). If necessary we will also install your own properly licensed copy of either Microsoft SQL Server Standard Edition (or SQL Server Express if appropriate).