Drive-thru order confirmation boards: what they show and cost

An order confirmation board is a small outdoor screen, or a zone of a digital menu board, that shows each item, modifier and the total as the order goes in. The guest reads it at the speaker and fixes a mistake before the kitchen starts. The Howard Company prints under $100 for a small plug-and-play screen and $1,500 and up for one tied to the POS.

This guide covers the confirmation screen alone: what it should show, the hardware on sale, a first-year cost example and a test for your lane. Our drive-thru menu board guide covers the board around it, and the drive-thru AI and POS guide covers how an AI order reaches the ticket.

What does a confirmation board show?

Howard's order confirmation page describes three phases for its WebOCS software. Before the guest speaks, the screen plays promotions. Once the cashier keys the first item, the POS sends a start-of-order signal and the screen shows each item and modifier line by line. When the order goes to the kitchen, the screen shows the full order with tax and total, then a message such as "please pull forward".

Two settings on that page solve problems most stores have. A "dictionary" swaps kitchen short forms for guest names, so "SM Fry" can read "Small Krinkle-Cut Fries". It can also hide notes meant for staff, such as the "Blue Sedan" or "Red Truck" a cashier types at a dual-lane drive-thru to hand food to the right car.

On the screen	Why it matters	Check at your lane
Each item, in the guest's words	A guest cannot correct "SPCY CHKN" if they do not know what it means	Every item on the board reads the same on the screen
Modifiers, including removals	"No ice" and "no onion" are the details guests forget to check	A removal shows as its own line
Size and quantity	A medium keyed as a large changes the price and the cup	Change a size mid-order and watch the line update
Price per line and total with tax	The guest sees the amount before the window	The total matches the receipt to the cent
A clear end message	Tells the guest the order is sent and where to go	The screen clears before the next car speaks

Does a confirmation board catch errors?

It can, if guests read it. The guest is the only person at the speaker who knows what they meant to order, and a screen lets them check it without a read-back. Oracle's Simphony documentation describes the board as a device that shows the order as it is built on the POS, and says it improves communication between the guest and the person entering the order. Toast's April 2026 Toast Drive-Thru release says its Advanced Order Confirmation Screen helps "catch order errors before they're fired."

The 2025 QSR Drive-Thru Report, run with Intouch Insight, looked at how boards were used. Accuracy was 26 percentage points higher when the board showed the order correctly, and brands scored 64% when it did not, which the report reads as the crew keying the order in wrong. The report says having a board had little impact on accuracy by itself, and Intouch advised operators to have guests confirm the board to catch errors early.

So train the crew to ask "Does everything on the screen look right?" before they close the order. The screen shows only what was ordered, so your crew still checks the bag at the window. Our drive-thru order accuracy guide traces each kind of mistake to the step where it starts and has a bag audit you can run in one rush.

What is a live cart, and what changes with AI ordering?

A live cart is a confirmation screen that fills in as the guest speaks. With a crew member on the headset, the POS feeds the screen item by item. Some AI order-takers send the order to the POS only when the guest finishes, which would leave a POS-fed screen blank until the end.

Howard says its WebOCS takes a separate JSON feed so a voice AI can show items, modifiers and prices line by line even when the order reaches the POS at the end. It also says the software listens to the AI feed and the PAR Brink feed at once, so the screen keeps working when a cashier takes over or the AI goes offline.

Maple's drive-thru unit brings its own screen. It stands beside the existing speaker post, shows each item and the running total as the guest talks, and has a one-press switch that returns the lane to the crew. It is in early access with a small number of restaurants and priced per unit, with no public price.

Which confirmation boards can you buy, and what do they cost?

Option	What the seller's page says	Printed price	Start here if
Small plug-and-play screen	Howard describes small screens stuck to the canopy pole or menu board frame	Under $100, per Howard's drive-thru pricing page	You have a static board and want the cheapest way to show the order
Howard WebOCS	Stand-alone or built into a digital board; works with PAR Brink, NCR Aloha, SpotOn and Qu, plus a JSON feed for voice AI	Full POS integration $1,500 and up, which may include recurring content charges	You run one of those POS systems or plan to add a voice AI
Delphi Endura 15X	A sealed display for speaker posts or canopies that connects to the POS; it can also show a screen the POS draws itself	No price on Delphi's page	You want a separate screen on the speaker post
RDS order confirmation boards	A 17-inch board built to fit most existing pedestal and canopy enclosures, needing one CAT6 cable with Power over Ethernet; screens up to 55 inches; a controller that adds confirmation to an existing digital board	No price on RDS's page	An old board has failed and you want to reuse the enclosure
Stream Signage	Software set-up for its digital boards, plus a hardware bundle (HDMI extender, capture card, cables and a tablet, depending on the POS)	Software set-up $799.99 once plus $150 a month, billed monthly; hardware bundle $1,250.00	You already have a digital menu board and want a printed price to start from
Toast Advanced Order Confirmation Screen	Part of Toast Drive-Thru, launched April 2026 and rolling out first to brands with 15 or more locations	No price in the release	You run Toast across 15 or more stores

Stream's prices are on its software set-up page and set-up bundle page. Both pages take a quote request with no payment up front, and the bundle page says some POS systems do not need every part.

What might the first year cost?

A worked example for a made-up single-lane store that already has a digital menu board and adds Stream's confirmation software. It uses Stream's printed prices and leaves out tax, shipping and install labor.

Line	Printed price	Year one
Software set-up, one time	$799.99, charged once	1 x $799.99 = $799.99
Software subscription	$150 each month, billed monthly	12 x $150 = $1,800.00
Hardware bundle	$1,250.00 per bundle	1 x $1,250.00 = $1,250.00
Total	Sum of the rows above	$3,849.99 in year one, then $1,800.00 a year

Howard's figure is a starting point for integration only, so ask for the screen, enclosure, install and any content fee as separate lines before you compare the two.

What should you ask before you buy?

1. Which POS, and which version, does the board read? Oracle added support for Texas Digital boards in Simphony 19.6, so version matters.
2. Does the screen update with each item, or only when the order is sent?
3. Can you replace kitchen short forms with guest names, and hide staff notes?
4. Do removals, sizes and prices each show on their own line?
5. If an AI takes orders, does the screen keep working when the crew takes over?
6. What happens when the internet drops? RDS says its controller runs on site for that reason.
7. With two lanes, does each lane get its own screen? Oracle's diagrams show one board per lane.
8. What recurring fees apply for software and content, and what does the warranty cover?

How do you test a confirmation board at your lane?

1. Order from a car at noon and after dark. Read every line from the driver's seat, then from a pickup truck.
2. Order a combo with a swap, a removed topping and "no ice". Check each change shows as you say it.
3. Change a size mid-order. The old line should go and the total should change.
4. Hand the order from the AI to a crew member partway through, if you use one. The screen should keep the items already ordered.
5. Compare the final total with the receipt and the kitchen ticket.
6. Listen for the crew asking the guest to check the screen before the order closes.
7. Watch the next car pull up. The screen should be clear before they speak.

For the rest of the lane, see our speaker guide and fixes for a slow drive-thru.

Published by Maple, which sells an early-access drive-thru ordering unit. This AI-assisted guide combines makers' and sellers' own product and pricing pages, Oracle's POS documentation, Toast's April 2026 release and the 2025 QSR Drive-Thru Report with an original checklist, a made-up cost example and a lane test. It does not rank makers or report a hands-on test of any board.