Toast's Online Ordering feature can be configured to your meet your restaurant’s needs by accessing the Online Ordering section of Toast’s POS back-end. This section explains the key elements available that allow you to modify how online orders behave. Toast recommends reviewing the Online Orders section in tandem with the Takeout and Delivery Options to properly configure all aspects of Toast's online ordering system.
The Online Ordering sections can be found within the Other Setup section of Toast's back-end.*
Online Ordering Schedule
You have the ability to customize exactly when your customers can start and stop placing orders according to the hours of service you’ve configured for Online Ordering. To set hours of service for Online Ordering, you will need to select the Online Ordering Schedule option from Other Setup . Existing customers’ restaurant hours will automatically migrate over, setting the same hours for Online Ordering, by default. When onboarding new customers, Online Ordering Hours will need to be set.
The Online Ordering Schedule functions independently from the restaurant’s hours set in the POS back-end. To set or update hours, navigate to Set Online Ordering Hours and select Edit for the day you’d like to change.
Note: It is recommended to review both the restaurant and Online Ordering schedules to ensure the times are not conflicting with one another.
You can add time intervals, to accommodate for meal shifts, by selecting +Add Interval. Use the dropdown menus to select minutes and am/pm, and manually input hours, using 15 minute increments and a seven day schedule.
To apply the same hours to other days of the week, select the day(s) under Apply hours to, for any applicable days.
Schedules can also be edited to include days that are closed all day by selecting the Closed all day box. Of course, be sure to save your schedule when you're finished!
Schedule Overrides
This feature allows you to change your Online Ordering schedule to be independent of your restaurant’s standard hours of operation. With Schedule Overrides, you can set black out dates, limited hours, or extended hours to accommodate holidays, staff meetings, private parties, and more.
To customize your hours for Online Ordering, select +Add Override in the Schedule Overrides section of the Online Ordering Schedule page. A similar window, as seen when setting your Online Ordering Schedule, will appear. Times must be set in increments of 15 minutes. Be sure to Save and Publish your updates!
This feature allows you to change your Online Ordering schedule to be independent of your restaurant’s standard hours of operation. With Schedule Overrides, you can set black out dates, limited hours, or extended hours to accommodate holidays, staff meetings, private parties, and more.
To customize your hours for Online Ordering, select +Add Override in the Schedule Overrides section of the Online Ordering Schedule page. A similar window, as seen when setting your Online Ordering Schedule, will appear. Times must be set in increments of 15 minutes. Be sure to Save and Publish your updates!
Approval Mode Options
The Approval section is where you can set the behavior for incoming online orders and how they are received in Toast POS.
- Approve manually: This pushes all incoming orders into the Pending Orders Mode. All orders will need to be manually approved, before they order is submitted to the kitchen.
- Send orders directly to the kitchen: This pushes all incoming orders directly to the kitchen printer when it is ready to be prepared. This mode does not require you to manually approve or intervene with any online orders.
- This mode requires Order Auto Firing to be enabled at exactly one Toast device. See this article: Ensuring that Scheduled Orders and Online Orders Fire to the Kitchen Automatically
- Use Rules: This mode will use pre-set rules to determine if the order should be sent directly to the kitchen, require approval through the Pending Orders Mode or be automatically rejected.
- This mode requires Order Auto Firing to be enabled at exactly one Toast device. See this article: Ensuring that Scheduled Orders and Online Orders Fire to the Kitchen Automatically
Approval Rules
You will be able to configure the Approval Rules by selecting the Use Rules approval option.
You can choose to enable the following rules:
- Cash Threshold: Online cash orders over the specified trigger amount can be set to require manual approval or set to be automatically rejected.
- Useful for locations that don't allow their drivers to carry more than a specific amount of cash during their shift.
- Credit Minimum: Online credit card orders under the specified trigger amount can be set to require manual approval or set to be automatically rejected.
- This option may be useful for locations that do not accept small online orders paid with credit cards.
- Delivery Minimum: Use to automatically prevent any online orders from being placed unless they reach a minimum total.
- Applies to all cash and credit card orders, can be used alone or with the other two options.
Future Orders
If you'd like your customers to have the ability to schedule their online order for a future date or time, choose Yes, customers may schedule orders from the Online Ordering Scheduling Settings section of the Online Ordering Schedule page. Your customers will be able to order ahead by 14 days, by default.
A customized limit can be set in Max Future Scheduled Order Date (days)* by selecting Custom Date Range and entering the number of days you’d like your customers to be able to schedule orders out. For example, if you’d like to allow your customers to schedule orders up to a year in advance, you would enter 365 in the blank field.
Placing a Future Order
The guest will see a calendar option to choose the order date and a dropdown to choose the time of day.
By selecting No, all orders will be fulfilled as soon as possible, the customer will not see an option to choose a date or time--indicating that the order will be fulfilled ASAP.
Manual Order Throttling
During peak hours or a surprise rush, it may be necessary to slow down your online orders. Throttling orders will add a specified number of minutes to every order that comes through your online ordering website. First, it's important to configure exactly when your restaurant starts taking online orders and the time it takes to prepare orders. To do this, navigate to Takeout / Delivery in the Other Setup section of Toast's back-end.
During peak hours or a surprise rush, it may be necessary to slow down your online orders. Throttling orders will add a specified number of minutes to every order that comes through your online ordering website. First, it's important to configure exactly when your restaurant starts taking online orders and the time it takes to prepare orders. To do this, navigate to Takeout / Delivery in the Other Setup section of Toast's back-end.
Order Prep Time
The time that you set for Default Preparation Time effects what your customer will see on your online ordering website. For example, if your default delivery prep time is set for 90 minutes, it means that the time it takes to prepare and deliver the order will be an hour and a half total. On your online ordering website, the customer will be shown when the order should arrive before placing their order. Similarly, setting a prep time for takeout orders will show the customer when the order will be ready to be picked up.
The time that you set for Default Preparation Time effects what your customer will see on your online ordering website. For example, if your default delivery prep time is set for 90 minutes, it means that the time it takes to prepare and deliver the order will be an hour and a half total. On your online ordering website, the customer will be shown when the order should arrive before placing their order. Similarly, setting a prep time for takeout orders will show the customer when the order will be ready to be picked up.
Prep Time Thresholds
Prep Time Thresholds can be set for Online Orders based on the size of the order. If set, thresholds will override the default prep times set for Online Orders. For example, if you'd like online orders over $50 to have a prep time of 45 minutes, instead of the default 30 minute prep time for any order placed online, Prep Time Thresholds will allow you make these customizations.
To customize Prep Time Thresholds, begin by navigating to the Other Setup section of Toast's back-end. Select Prep/Delivery Times.
Prep Time Thresholds can be set for Online Orders based on the size of the order. If set, thresholds will override the default prep times set for Online Orders. For example, if you'd like online orders over $50 to have a prep time of 45 minutes, instead of the default 30 minute prep time for any order placed online, Prep Time Thresholds will allow you make these customizations.
To customize Prep Time Thresholds, begin by navigating to the Other Setup section of Toast's back-end. Select Prep/Delivery Times.
Select +Add Prep Time, found in the Online Ordering/Order API Prep Time section.
Now enter the minimum and maximum order totals along with the new prep time for the threshold. There is no limit on the number of thresholds you can create.
Note: Times must be set in 5 minute increments.
Order Throttling
During busy lunch rushes, you may want to give your kitchen staff extra time to fulfill online orders. Order throttling allows you to delay online orders from being sent to your kitchen staff for a specified amount of time. For example, if you set Delivery Order firing to be 15 minutes delayed, your kitchen staff will be notified that their orders are being throttled for 15 minutes and they will not receive orders until 15 minutes after the order was placed. The customer will only see the time it will take for the order to be ready for pick up or delivered, so they will not be aware that the restaurant is running slower than usual. This enables the customer to assess whether the pickup/delivery time will work for them before spending any time on building an order.
During busy lunch rushes, you may want to give your kitchen staff extra time to fulfill online orders. Order throttling allows you to delay online orders from being sent to your kitchen staff for a specified amount of time. For example, if you set Delivery Order firing to be 15 minutes delayed, your kitchen staff will be notified that their orders are being throttled for 15 minutes and they will not receive orders until 15 minutes after the order was placed. The customer will only see the time it will take for the order to be ready for pick up or delivered, so they will not be aware that the restaurant is running slower than usual. This enables the customer to assess whether the pickup/delivery time will work for them before spending any time on building an order.
To turn on Order Throttling from your device, select Throttle Online Orders from the Pending Orders screen. Select the delay time (in minutes) for both Online Takeout Delay and Online Delivery Delay. Once you're finished setting the times, select OK to save your changes.
On your device, your team will see the time that orders are being delayed directly from the Pending Orders screen.
Order Throttling can also be configured in Toast's back-end. Scroll to Online Order Throttling and set your desired delay times (in minutes) for both Takeout and Delivery.
Dining Options
This section allows you to configure the dining option behavior and reporting for online orders. This is useful if you have created custom dining options to account for different types of takeout or delivery methods.
In the example below, we want to make sure the online Take Out function is assigned to the Take Out dining option. We have already created a custom dining option for Take Out Call In to separate take out orders from online and by phone. This will appear under the sales summary for Dining Options to provide a better understanding of net sales and number of orders as separate forms of take out.
To learn more about custom dining options, view this article: Configuring Custom Dining Options
Payment Options
Choose which payment methods you want to accept for online orders from the following options:
- Accept credit card payments only.
- Accept cash payments only.
- Accept credit card and cash payments.
Note: you cannot disable both credit card and cash payments. At this time, only cash and credit card are accepted for online orders.
Server Selection Options
Online orders can either be assigned to a specific employee or they can be assigned by the order auto-firing tablet. If Assigned by auto-firing tablet is selected, the check will always be assigned to the next employee to enter their passcode and sign in to the order auto-firing device. Note: The orders will be assigned to the last employee to enter their passcode on the auto-firing device, even if that employee is now clocked out.
If the Assigned by auto-firing tablet setting in configured, recall that one and only one terminal should be configured to auto-fire orders. Choose the one terminal or handheld device that will auto-fire, and navigate to Device Setup and make sure that Order Auto-Fire is set to Yes. Make sure that this setting is set to No on all other devices or you will notice orders won't make it to the kitchen.
TOAST TIP: Create an employee to be used specifically for Online Orders and select them as the Online Order Server. This will automatically assign them all online orders, regardless of who logs into the auto-firing device.