Last updated: Dec 17, 2025, 10:59 AM
Default modifier options are often used to apply a "standard" modifier selection or set of ingredients to a menu item. For example, if all sandwiches at your restaurant come with a side of chips by default, you can assign this modifier option as the "standard" while still allowing guests to choose an alternative. If they choose to deviate from the standard option, the kitchen ticket will outline the change so it's clear the order is not the usual pairing.
On the UI options page (Front of house > Order screen setup > UI options), you can choose how to set the Show default modifiers? setting. Show default modifiers? Select Yes to always show default modifiers on the order, or No to only show them if they are removed (e.g. "NO tomato"). This only applies to default modifier groups where more than one modifier can be selected. Default modifiers in groups where only one can be selected will always be shown.
For example, let's say a burger at your restaurant comes with lettuce, onion, and tomato as a standard. You can create a modifier group for your burger that contains all of your burger toppings and select the lettuce, onion, and tomato options as "default." By default, every time a burger is ordered, lettuce, onion, and tomato will not appear on the kitchen ticket unless a guest omits one of the defaulted items (e.g. "NO Tomato"). If you've selected Yes for the Show default modifiers? setting, your kitchen ticket will show all default modifiers.
Note: If you're using a third-party application to help manage your inventory system, default modifiers may not work as expected, and/or settings may need to be configured for it to work. Please contact your third-party application provider for more information.
To learn more about creating and managing modifiers, please refer to this article:
To create a default modifier option in Toast Web, follow these steps:
The default modifier group settings can be overridden at the menu group level or the item level if needed. For example, let's say you have a Salad Dressing modifier group. You can set Ranch as the default modifier for that modifier group, which will apply as the default anywhere that you add that Salad Dressing modifier group. If you have a Caesar Salad menu item and you want the default salad dressing for that item to be different, you can override the default modifier on the Caesar Salad item details page:
This is how default modifiers will be displayed on kitchen tickets:
When guests select an item on your Toast Online Ordering page, the default modifier will automatically be selected in the list of modifier options.
At any time, the customer can choose a different modifier by deselecting the default modifier and selecting another option.