Configure Automated and Expediter Course Firing

Toast can be configured to operate with automated course firing or expediter course firing. Automated course firing automatically fires courses, while expediter course firing gives control to the kitchen and helps keep track of orders as they are sent into the kitchen. 

The features in this article require a Kitchen Display Screen.

In this Article: 

• Turn On Course Pacing
• Automated Course Firing Overview
  • Auto-Fire Upon Fulfillment
  • Timed Course Firing
  • Override Capabilities
  • Held Tickets
• Turn Off Course Pacing
• Expediter Course Firing Overview
• Include Held Tickets in All Day Mode

Turn On Course Pacing

To access these features, course pacing must be turned on in Toast Web.

Course pacing and server item firing can't be enabled at the same time. When enabling course pacing, make sure to turn off the Individually Send and Hold Items setting on the Front of house page. To learn more, see our Toast Central article: .

1. In Toast Web, navigate to Kitchen > Pacing > Meal pacing.
2. For the Course Pacing setting, select the checkbox for Enable course pacing. Additional settings will appear on the page.
3. For the Sending Courses setting, select Send all courses to kitchen immediately.

Once that option is selected, the Firing Courses setting will appear, with the option to select Automate course firing or Expediter fires courses individually. Read on to learn about the differences, and how to configure your restaurant to use either option.

Note: When course pacing is used with your KDS, tickets will always be separated into individual tickets per course. There is no way to use course pacing and have all courses on one ticket at this time. 

Automated Course Firing Overview

If you select Automate course firing for the Firing Courses setting, courses are fired automatically instead of having servers choose to send or hold them. The expediter can also be given override controls of what is firing when - this will be discussed more in the  section of this article. There are multiple ways to configure automated course firing. It can be done by scheduling courses to fire after a certain amount of time, or it can be done sequentially through the fulfillment of a prior course. Check out the sections below to learn about each one. 

 Auto-Fire Upon Fulfillment 

You can set courses to fire once the course before it has been fulfilled. The first course will automatically fire to the kitchen when it's sent by the server. From there, the next course won't fire until the course before it's completed. For example, an appetizer of chicken wings and an entree of a burger are both sent to the kitchen at the same time. The appetizer of chicken wings fires automatically and the entree is held. The line cook fulfills the ticket of chicken wings at the prep station, and the ticket turns green on the expediter screen. The expediter fulfills the ticket. Only then does the burger automatically fire. To turn this feature on in Toast Web, you'll have to select Automate course firing for the Firing Courses setting. You'll then see the Automated Firing setting appear on the page, and you'll have two options to pick from: select either When previous course is fulfilled by all prep stations or When previous course is fulfilled by the expediter. An Optional delay between courses setting will also appear when this option is selected. Here, you can add an additional delay beyond the actual fulfillment of the course by either the expediter or all prep stations. This delay will also need to be configured in intervals of seconds. It's important to note that this additional delay will be applied to all courses. 

Save and publish any changes.

Note: With the automated course firing setting setting, if an item in a consecutive held course is marked as complete at its KDS station, this will cause the unfired course to fire automatically, overriding the When previous course is fulfilled by the expediter setting.


 

Timed Course Firing 

With this feature enabled, a timed delay between courses dictates when a course is fired, removing the need for a server or expediter to manually fire the next dish. This is configured in Toast Web, and the time intervals between courses are set in seconds.
 

1. First, you'll need to create courses. In Toast Web, navigate to This can be done by navigating to Kitchen > Pacing > Courses. Here you can create your specific courses, such as Appetizers, Entrees, and Dessert.
2. Then, set the delay for timed course firing on each course you have created. Navigate to Kitchen > Pacing > Meal pacing.
3. Select Automate course firing for the Firing Courses setting to bring up the Automated Firing setting. 
4. Select On a timed schedule.
5. A Course Firing Schedule table will appear with your courses listed. Here, you'll be able to set the intervals (in seconds, so 480 seconds would equate to 8 minutes) in which you'd like your courses to fire after one another.
   
   The time configured in the course row is the time delay after that specific course is fired. For example, if you have your Appetizer row set to be delayed by 300 seconds, the next course will fire 300 seconds after the Appetizer course.
   It's assumed that the first course should fire immediately. This will auto-fire the first course and begin the countdown to the next course firing.
   
   
6. Save and publish your changes. 

Override Capabilities 

In addition to these auto-fire configurations, there's an override option for the expediter to take control. This is perfect for when things may not be going according to plan and some manual changes need to be made in the kitchen. For example, say a guest has an emergency and suddenly needs all their food immediately, mid-meal. Or perhaps a group of guests are in a rush and want their appetizers and entrees to come out as soon as possible. With this feature enabled, the expediter can override any automation and fire a single item whenever necessary. To turn this feature on, navigate to the Kitchen > Pacing > Meal pacing and select Allow expediter to fire a course ahead of its time for the Expediter Override setting. Save and publish your changes. If you want to be able to fire individual items ahead instead of courses, you'll need to enable the Individual Item Fulfillment setting. To learn more, check out the Individual Item Fulfillment section of this Toast Central article: .

Held Tickets

In Toast Web, you can navigate to Kitchen > Pacing > Meal pacing and choose how you'd like to display your held tickets:
 

• Show at both expediter and prep stations
• Show at expediter only

It's possible to fulfill items from a future course that has yet to be fired. Note that if one part of a future course is fulfilled (whether at a prep station or an expo), all the times in that course will be fired so that the entire course is worked on at the same time.

Note: To enable held tickets on your Kitchen Display, you must select Show at both expediter and prep stations for the Held Tickets setting, and select the checkbox next to Include held items in all day view and production item counts for the All day view with held items setting. 

Turn Off Course Pacing

To disable course pacing in Toast, follow these steps:

1. In Toast Web, navigate to Kitchen > Pacing > Meal pacing.
2. Uncheck the box for Enable Course Pacing.
3. Save and publish your change.

Expediter Course Firing Overview

Giving course firing control to the expediter can help manage the back of house. Normally, when a server hits send on a course, the pacing is taken out of the expediter's hands. With this feature enabled, the expediter will be able to manually fire courses at will. A server will still send the order to the kitchen, but the courses will automatically have a Hold status. The expediter will do the actual firing of the course, having more control over the kitchen workflow. 

To enable this feature, and then select Expediter fires courses individually for the Firing Courses setting. Save and publish your changes. 

Include Held Tickets in All Day Mode

By default, any held tickets are not included in All Day Mode. However, you can easily change your settings so tickets that are held via Automated and Expediter Course Firing are included in All Day Mode in addition to production item count (if enabled). Note that this feature will only be available when the KDS module is enabled and will not include any items marked as "hold" on the POS device. 
 

1. .
2. For the Held Tickets setting, select Show at both expediter and prep stations.
3. The option for All day view with held items will show up. Select Include held items in all day view and production item counts.
4. Save and publish your changes.