Get Started With Toast Tables

Toast Tables Overview.

Download the Toast Tables App

To run Toast Tables waitlist and reservations, you must download the Toast Tables app. The app can be installed on an Apple iPad or select Android tablets. The Toast Tables app can run on multiple tablets. Tablets will always sync with one another within 10 seconds or fewer.

Toast Tables on Tablets

Toast recommends running Toast Tables on an iPad running iOS 12 (or greater) for optimal performance. Toast has specifically tested and qualified the following Android devices (running Android 11 or later) as compatible with the Toast Tables app. The app may also work on other modern Android tablets running Android 11 or later, but they have not been tested.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy Tab A8

Toast Tables on Mobile Devices

Though it is recommended that Toast Tables run a tablet with the requirements above, you can also use mobile devices running iOS 17 or Android 14 or later (currently for home tab and more tab functionality only, not timeline or server tab functionality).

To download the app, search Toast Tables in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store on your device.

We'll get more into the app details at the bottom of this article. Before launching the Toast Tables app on your tablet, make sure you're set up properly in Toast Web. The next sections will cover setup configurations in Toast Web.

*If you have either purchased or upgraded within Toast Tables and would like to check on the status of your entitlement, please call Customer Care to assist.

Toast Tables General Settings

Let's review some general settings in Toast Tables. Start by navigating to Toast Tables in . You'll see four main tabs across the top of your page: Overview, Settings, Special Dates, and Reports. If you are setting up Toast Tables for the first time, you will begin with the Welcome to Toast Tables window. When you select Get started, you will begin the setup process to complete your Toast Tables Settings. Note that you can skip steps or return to them later to complete your setup.

At any point throughout your setup process, you can leverage Toast IQ for assistance by selecting the Get help with this step button.

Additionally, you can log in to Toast Web on a desktop or tablet, and to view a guided walkthrough.

Update Restaurant Profile for Toast Tables

Setting up your restaurant profile will add your restaurant information and branding to all guest-facing surfaces like guest confirmation pages, your online waitlist, and reservation pages. This page is where you can update:

Contact number
Contact email
Restaurant website URL
"About your restaurant"
Your restaurant cover photo

You'll also find links to the pages in Toast Web where you can update your restaurant name, location name, waitlist policy, and reservation policy.

Manage Toast Integrations for Toast Tables

The Toast Loyalty integration is only available to customers located in the U.S.

The Toast Integrations settings help connect your guests to other products that you may use with Toast (this is optional). These integrations include Start Order on POS (more on this below), Loyalty, and Digital Menus, where you can upload your own URL with a menu for guests to browse while waiting or before they arrive. You can toggle these integrations on or off at any time.

The Start Order on POS setting functions as a pseudo-server alert by opening an order for a server when a host seats a party.

When you toggle Start Order on POS to On, you must choose which dining option you want orders to be opened within (learn more: ). Once enabled, Start Order on POS will do the following:

It starts a held order on the POS for the assigned server when a host seats a booking in the Toast Tables app. Held orders appear as red on tables in the POS.
- Note: Servers should be instructed to be on the lookout for red tables and add items to these orders instead of starting new orders (learn more: ).
It requires a server to be assigned to a booking at the time of seating (learn more: ).
It adds guest information (name, phone, and party size) onto the order in the POS, and this will in turn feed the customer’s Guestbook (for U.S. customers only at this time. Learn more: ).

Set Host App Permissions

You can also add restrictions within Toast Tables by requiring a passcode from your employees to perform certain actions such as creating, editing, or canceling reservations. To turn on the passcode requirement, navigate to Toast Web > Toast Tables > Settings > General > Host App Permissions. Use the toggles to adjust your settings as desired. Setting a required passcode for certain actions ensure the employee who performs reservation actions will show up in reservation audit history for action tracking purposes.

Create Service Periods for Toast Tables

The Service Periods settings allow you to create custom time windows during different times of the day or days of the week, which can have specific settings applied to them. These represent the different times of service for which the restaurant will want to have different booking settings (e.g. Weekend Breakfast or Dinner). The things that can be customized by service period are turn times, table availability, table combinations, flow control, reservation increments, and online availability. For example, you may want to turn on reservations for dinner but not lunch, or customize turn times between different times of the day. If you just want the basic Waitlist functionality, feel free to skip this step.

Toast creates a default service period for all restaurants of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days per week, so you can easily begin to take reservations. We recommend updating booking hours to match your restaurant's needs.

For example, some restaurants want to have advanced control during dinner to ensure three seatings. They would likely create three different service periods just for dinner that might look something like this:

Dinner Seating 1: 5:00 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.
Dinner Seating 2: 6:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Dinner Seating 3: 7:45 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

If you want to update your hours or be closed for part of the day, update your service period(s) to reflect your desired time frames. For example, if you're closed for dinner that day, turn off your dinner service period in your special date. Or, if you want to close early for a given day, update the end of your last service period to reflect the last time you want to take reservations that day in your special date.

Dining Areas for Toast Tables

Dining Areas settings consist of one or more of your existing Services Areas configured within Toast, allowing guests/hosts using Toast Tables to select a particular part of your restaurant to book (e.g. Indoor or Outdoor). Settings like turn times, online availability, and special date settings can be customized by dining areas.

By default, Toast creates one dining area for every service area created for your POS; however, you can combine service areas into a single dining area by dragging and dropping them into the same dining area. You can rename or re-order dining areas to control how they appear to your host and guests. You can also hide dining areas using the toggle. This will hide them from other settings in Toast Tables as well as on the host application. Note that hiding them will not remove them from your POS.

You will see a preview of how guests and hosts will see dining areas when creating a booking based on your current settings.

Your service areas and tables are automatically imported into the Toast Tables app and . Any changes made in Toast Web may take up to one minute to appear in Toast Tables.

Set Up Table Capacities for Toast Tables

The Table Capacity setting simply allows you to set up how many people can sit at each of your tables. Toast suggests a flexible minimum/maximum based on the groups you will actually accommodate at each table (e.g. min 2, max 4) so that tables will be assigned properly to parties.

Create Combo Tables for Toast Tables

In Combo Tables, you can set up tables that you often push together or book together so that you can accommodate larger parties. This is because Toast Tables can't know who a table is situated for, or how many people can sit at each combo table without your restaurant's input. These tables will show up for hosts in the Toast Tables app to choose from and will be automatically assigned to reservations to maximize the party size that can sit at the table.

Select + Create Combo Tables, and then select your desired settings to build a combo of two or more existing tables.

You can set up each table to be available across different service periods (for example, you want to only combine these tables during brunch, but never at dinner). You can also choose to allow these tables to be bookable for online reservations or the online waitlist.

Remember: Your minimum and maximum party size for Waitlist & Reservations will also ensure parties of a size you are uncomfortable with will not be booked online. Learn more about how to configure these settings in the section .

You can also create manual combination tables for any reservation during the creation/editing of reservations by tapping Advanced table selection from the Toast Tables app or by selecting Manual table selection in the in Toast Web for managers. Toast recommends this practice for very large parties where a reservation is booking multiple tables (that are not being pushed together), for example.

Set Up Turn Times for Toast Tables

Turn Times settings are your average turn time based on the party size and service area. This is something you need to manually add, and can be adjusted if needed. If you’d like, you can make turn times different for different service periods (for example, you can configure Brunch seating to be shorter than Dinner for the same party size). If they're the same, simply add them once and copy them over.

Waitlist Settings in Toast Tables

Now, let's review the settings that are specific to Toast Tables - Waitlist. You'll find these settings under the left-hand navigation menu under Waitlist. Additionally, you can log in to Toast Web on a desktop or tablet, and to view a guided walkthrough.

Wait Time Estimator with Toast Tables

Under the Wait Time Estimator setting in Toast Tables, you can determine the values that play into the estimated wait time shown to guests in the Online Waitlist link given their place in line (average turn time, number of bookable tables, and a buffer time).

There are two options:

Manual Multiplier: uses a simple linear equation based on place in line. This is great for keeping your settings simple - you'll enter average turn time, number of bookable tables, and an optional buffer time. A preview will show you the estimated wait time for the guest that is first in line, fifth in line, etc., based on what you entered.
Smart Algorithm: a dynamic solution that is great if you seat every party in the app, and have customized your . Select this option in Toast Web to learn more.

Toast Tables Waitlist Policy

You can create a waitlist policy with Toast Tables. This cancellation policy is visible to a guest when they open the confirmation link or when they join the waitlist through the remote Join Online Waitlist link (if applicable).

Toast Tables Online Access

With Toast Tables, guests can join the waitlist online. To configure the Online Access settings for your waitlist, you'll need to first toggle it on at the top of the setting and select which service period you want your online waitlist to apply to.

Other options on this page include the ability to:

Disable online join if wait time exceeds a certain amount of time
Show guests an estimated wait time
Allow guests to join online if there is no wait
Integrate with online waitlist third-party integrations (like Google)
Limit online waitlist availability by service period and dining area

For more details on guests joining an online waitlist or booking an online reservation, check out .

Toast Tables Reservations Settings

Next, let's review the settings that are specific to Toast Tables - Reservations. You'll find these settings under the left-hand navigation menu under Reservations. Additionally, you can log in to Toast Web on a desktop or tablet, and to view a guided walkthrough.

Toast Tables Reservations Flow Control

Reservations Flow Control for Toast Tables allows you to limit the number of parties sat every 15 minutes or whatever reservation increment you have configured for that service period. Currently, this is a hard limit for online reservations, so time slots will appear unavailable as soon as this limit is reached. Hosts will also see how many covers are booked in a given time slot and will be warned if they try to book a party that will overbook or put you over your flow control limit.

Toast Tables Reservation Increments

With Toast Tables, each can have its own Reservation Increment. This applies to both guests booking online and hosts using the Toast Tables app, and gives you the ability to create slots that more accurately reflect when reservations should begin within your booking hours.

Toast Tables Reservation Policy

Here is where you have the option to add a policy that guests will see when booking their reservations. For instance: Do you only seat complete parties? Do you require certain party sizes to call the host? You'll want to outline these in your reservation policy if you have them.

Toast Table - Reservation Online Access

Toast Tables allows guests to make reservations online (learn more: ). You can place the link to your Online Reservations portal anywhere you’d like for guests to use. To configure Online Access settings for reservations, you need to first toggle it On at the top and select which service period you want your online reservation inventory to be on.

You can also set up here.

This section of the Reservations settings also contains the Online Reservation Inventory setting, which allows you to:

Select which service period(s) are bookable online.
Select what percentage of any dining area within that you want to be available for online reservations within the service period(s) you have chosen. For example, setting a percentage bookable to 0% will make that dining area unavailable for online bookings during that service period.
Remove any specific tables that you do not want to be available in your online inventory.

Special Dates in Toast Tables

To learn how to set up Special Dates or Block Reservations, check out the article

Set Up Reserve with Google with Toast Tables

Using the Reserve with Google integration with Toast Tables, you can reach more guests via Google Search and Google Maps with easy access to Reserve a Table or Join the Waitlist actions directly on your Google business profile. The Reserve with Google integration has two actions: Reserve a Table and Join Waitlist. Let's review both.

Reserve a table - This functionality is available to customers with the Online Reservations functionality turned on in Toast Web and in use. Learn more about setting this up (external link).

Note for Deposits: As of January, 2025, bookings with deposit rules applied are now fully supported in Reserve with Google. Toast Tables customers who formerly would have either not listed booking slots on Reserve With Google when deposits were applied, or would have waived the deposit in favor of listing on Reserve With Google, no longer have to choose between the two and can list their full bookings availability and collect their full intended amount of deposits.

You can turn on Online Reservations with Google in Toast Web under Toast Tables > Settings > Reservations > Online Access.

Note: It may take 24-48 hours for the Reserve a Table button to appear on your Google business profile after you toggle it on in Toast. Once your Toast Tables availability is shared, you'll see the button appear on your Google profile. When the button is clicked, Toast Tables appear as the booking partner. The availabilities mirror your online reservation configuration in Toast Tables.

Join waitlist - This functionality is available to customers with the Online Waitlist turned on in Toast Web and in use. Learn more about setting this up (external link).

Note: It may take 24-48 hours for the Join waitlist button to appear on your Google business profile after you toggle it on. When the button is clicked, Toast Tables appear as the booking partner. The list here will mirror your online waitlist configuration in Toast Tables (except Google), and will give a range of times with the lowest being the estimated wait time.

Bookings made via Google will be marked as such in the host app and denoted as the booking source in Toast Tables reports, as shown below.

If you see either another booking system, or Toast Tables and another booking system listed as the booking partnership, Toast suggests that you double-check that you don't have any inventory available online with another booking system. If you don't have inventory online anywhere else then you should be all set, this process is automated and the other booking system will eventually go away once more guests book your Toast Tables reservations through Google.

Note: Google limits restaurants to having only two action buttons on your Google My Business Profile. Therefore, if a restaurant has activated Order with Google integration in addition to Reserve with Google, you will be limited to two buttons: Order Online and Reserve a Table. When this happens, the Order Online button will include options for ordering delivery or takeout once selected, and the Reserve a Table button will include options for joining the waitlist in addition to making a reservation if you have an online waitlist.

Toast Tables Overview Tab

You can import, create, and manage Toast Tables reservations in Toast Web in the Overview tab.

Select the Create a reservation button, and from there, you can select the party size, date, and time. You can let it auto-assign to a table based on party size and existing reservations, or you can manually select a table number. Table numbers will be red if there is a predicted conflict; however, you can select any table and override the choice. You'll also need to add guest details, which you can do either by creating a new guest or looking up a phone number in the system if the guest is already registered with Toast Tables.

Multiple guests can exist for a single phone number, and hosts/managers may need to choose from the list of populated results.

Note: Hosts and managers cannot change guest information for guests with accounts, as guests will need to manage updating this within their account

Adding a new reservation will automatically text the guest a confirmation if you have your confirmation SMS turned on.

The Overview tab is also great for viewing and managing upcoming reservations.

You can select any upcoming reservation to view more details or to make changes to the reservation, including time, party size, table assignment, special requests, or occasions. You can edit the guest details or even change the reservation to a different guest.

As a manager, you can edit the turn time of a reservation you create in Toast Web. For example, you may have a large party that you know will stay longer than your normal turn time.

Navigate to the reservation in Toast Web and select Edit on the End time of the reservation time to add or remove time in the intervals provided (15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or +/- 5 minutes).

Be sure to Save any changes made.

Selecting View all times allows managers to select time slots that are technically not available based on their service period or table settings. This means a manager can create reservations at any time for a guest.

Note: This button functions with the same capabilities as the host app’s View all unavailable button.

To learn more about importing reservations, check out this Toast Central article: .

Toast Table Calendar Tab

Under the Calendar tab, managers will now be able to view special dates, reservations, and manage booking access from the Calendar Tab.

Toast Tables Reports Tab

Under the Reports tab, you can toggle on Daily Reservation Summary to receive an email on a daily basis with a summary of the next 14 days of reservations.

To learn about reports for Toast Tables, check out the article: .

Toast Tables Employee Permissions

Follow these instructions to make sure your employee has the correct permission enabled to use and/or the Toast Tables app..

In Toast Web, on the left pane menu, select Employees.
Search for the employee's name and select it to open the editing page.
Select Jobs and Permissions.
To use the app, make sure the box for permission 1.18 Log Into Booking App (Waitlist & Reservations) is checked. To configure Toast Tables settings, make sure 4.7 Configure Booking (Waitlist & Reservations) is checked. You may need to select Override in order to check the boxes.
Save and publish your changes.

Note: Generally, only managers and owners should be allowed to configure permissions in Toast Web.

Guest Communication With Toast Tables

To learn how to set up guest communications like SMS messaging, 2-Way SMS messaging, and emails to interact with and update your guests, check out the article

Note: Hosts and managers cannot change guest information for guests with accounts, as guests will need to manage updating this within their account.

Next Steps for Using Toast Tables

Once you've downloaded the Toast Tables app, log in using your Toast username and password. This is the same username and password used to log into Toast Web. Any employee who has access to log into Toast Web can log into the Toast Tables app. Note that the password will be saved for 30 days.

Multiple devices can use Toast Tables simultaneously. If your restaurant has multiple devices, they can all be logged in to the app at the same time.

If an employee is not able to access the Toast Tables app after a log-in attempt or does not have the ability to configure features in Toast Web, it may be due to them lacking the correct employee permissions to do so.

Please note that Toast Tables is currently not supported on Toast devices, so you'll need to use your own device . Contact Toast Customer Care for additional support.

Now that you're all set up with Toast Tables, it's time to learn how to use the Toast Tables app! Check out this Toast Central article, , for next steps.

Additional Resources

Get Started With Toast Tables

Toast Tables Overview