Manage Your Menu Visibility Settings

Last updated: May 5, 2026, 1:09 PM

Learn how to control which menu is used for in-store terminals, kiosk, online ordering, and/or online ordering partners in a few steps.

In this Article:

 

Quick answer

To control where a menu, group, item, or modifier appears, log in to Toast Web and update its Channel visibility settings. You can edit visibility in three places — Menu manager, Menu builder, or Advanced properties — and the changes take effect once you select Save and Publish all changes. If visibility looks correct but a menu or item still isn't appearing, see Troubleshoot menus or items not appearing below.

 

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About channel visibility

 

Channel visibility controls where your menus appear. You can set it at the menu, menu group, menu item, or modifier level. The available channels are:

  • POS — in-restaurant orders placed on a Toast terminal.
  • Kiosk, Toast Order and Pay — in-restaurant orders placed on a Toast Self-Ordering Kiosk or Toast Mobile Order & Pay®. Menus cannot differ between these two products.
  • Toast Online Ordering, Toast Takeout app — online orders placed on your Toast Online Ordering site or the Toast Takeout app. Menus cannot differ between these two products. [Verify whether current Toast Web label is "Toast Takeout app" or "Local by Toast app"]
  • Customer invoices — menus shown on customer-facing invoices.
  • Online ordering partners — orders placed through integrated third-party partners (DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, and others).
  • Toast Ecommerce — when enabled, this menu appears on your Toast Ecommerce page.
  • Websites View-Only — when enabled, this menu appears on your Toast Website (view only, not orderable).

If none of the channels are selected, the menu is only visible in Toast Web (your back-end).

 

Note: Channel visibility controls where menus appear. To control when menus appear (days and times), see Set menu availability instead.

 

Important: Visibility follows menu hierarchy. If a parent menu or menu group is hidden from a channel, every group, item, and modifier below it is also hidden from that channel — even if you select that channel on the child item.

 

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Before you begin

  • Required platform: Toast Web
  • Required permissions: Menu management permissions for your Toast Web user account
  • Required products: The visibility options shown depend on the products your restaurant has enabled (for example, you only see Toast Ecommerce if you have Toast Ecommerce)
  • Multilocation Management (MLM): Restaurants on MLM can target specific locations or location groups for each online ordering partner

 

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Choose where to update visibility

Three places in Toast Web let you update channel visibility. Pick the one that matches your goal:

  • If you want to update one menu, group, or item at a time → Menu manager or Menu builder.
  • If you want to bulk-edit visibility across many menus, groups, or items at once → Advanced properties.
  • If you want to control visibility per third-party partner (for example, show a menu on DoorDash but not Grubhub) → Configure partner-specific visibility.

 

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Update visibility in Menu manager

  1. In Toast Web, navigate to Menus > Menu management > Menu manager.
  2. Select the menu, group, item, or modifier you'd like to adjust. The settings panel appears on the right side of the screen.
  3. Scroll down to the Channel visibility section and select the channels where you want the menu or item to be visible. Available channels are listed in About channel visibility above.
  4. Select Save, then select Publish all changes.

 

Expected outcome: The menu, group, item, or modifier appears on the channels you selected within a few minutes after publishing. Online ordering partners may take longer to reflect the change.

 

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Update visibility in Menu builder

The Menu builder is a separate view in Toast Web with its own visibility controls. For full step-by-step instructions, see Set menu visibility in the Menu builder.

At a high level:

  1. In Toast Web, navigate to Menus > Menu management > Menu builder.
  2. Find the menu, group, or item, then use the three-dot menu and select Edit.
  3. Scroll down to the Channel visibility section and toggle channels on or off.
  4. Select Save and Publish.

 

Expected outcome: Same as Menu manager — the entity appears on the selected channels after publishing.

 

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Update visibility in Advanced properties

Use Advanced properties when you want to bulk-edit visibility for many menus, groups, or items at the same time.

 

  1. In Toast Web, navigate to Menus > Bulk management > Advanced properties.
  2. From the Show/Hide drop-down in the upper-right of the screen, select Visible To.
  3. For each row, select or clear the boxes next to the channels you want this menu, group, or item to appear on. Channels available here are:
    • In-store orders: POS — visible on a Toast terminal. The POS option must be selected to enable the Kiosk option.
    • In-store orders: Kiosk, Order & Pay, and Menu & Pay — visible on a Toast Self-Ordering Kiosk and Toast Mobile Order & Pay®.
    • Online orders: Toast — visible on Toast's online ordering site.
    • Online orders: Ordering partners — visible on Toast partner online ordering sites you've integrated with. Below this setting, a banner directs you to the menus experience or third-party order page to adjust visibility for individual partners.
  4. Select Save, then Publish all changes. You'll be asked to confirm your edits.

 

Expected outcome: The selected menus, groups, or items appear on the channels you've enabled within a few minutes.

 

Important: When configuring visibility for modifier groups in Advanced properties, the Toast and Menu & Pay options must be selected or deselected together. If you check or uncheck only one of these and select Save, the system aligns both settings automatically on refresh. This may look like the system is reverting your changes, but it's working as designed.

  • If either Toast or Menu & Pay is selected, both will be enabled after saving.
  • If you want to disable visibility, both Toast and Menu & Pay must be unchecked before saving.

 

Note: For modifier groups to appear on Online Orders: Toast, they must also be visible to In-store orders: POS.

 

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Configure partner-specific visibility

Partner-specific visibility lets you set different menus for different third-party ordering partners — for example, one menu visible only to DoorDash and a different menu visible only to Grubhub. This is useful when you want to:

  • Adjust prices for a specific ordering partner (for example, raise prices on Uber Eats to offset commissions).
  • Offer different items on different partner integrations (for example, hide an appetizer menu from Grubhub).

Partner-specific visibility is currently available for direct online ordering integrations (DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats) and several other integration partners. For partners not yet on the new configuration, you can still select or clear their checkbox, but the third-party menu will not change. Reach out to the partner for an update on migration status.

 

Follow these steps to configure menu visibility for specific online ordering partner integrations:

  1. In Toast Web, navigate to Menus > Menu management > Menu manager. Confirm you're viewing the Full menu tab.
  2. Select the menu you want to adjust. The menu settings panel appears on the right side of the screen.
  3. Scroll down to the Channel visibility section and toggle Online ordering partners to the On position. Connected partners with partner-specific visibility appear in a list.
  4. Select the online ordering partners that should show this menu.
    • For restaurants using Toast Multilocation Management (MLM), use the location picker to configure partner visibility for your desired locations.
  5. Select Save, then Publish all changes.

 

Expected outcome: The menu appears only on the partner channels you selected. Partner sync time varies; allow a few minutes to propagate.

 

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Troubleshoot menus or items not appearing

If a menu, group, item, or modifier still isn't appearing where you expect, work through these checks in order.

  • If you just changed visibility settings → Confirm you selected Save and then Publish all changes. Visibility doesn't take effect until changes are published.
  • If the parent menu or group isn't visible to the channel → Children inherit visibility. Open the parent menu or group and confirm the channel is selected on the parent.
  • If a modifier group isn't appearing on Toast Online Ordering → Confirm the modifier group is also visible to In-store orders: POS. Modifier groups must be visible to POS to be visible to Toast online ordering. [Suggested approach – requires validation: confirm this dependency still applies in current Toast Web release]
  • If a modifier group's checkbox keeps reverting in Advanced properties → In Advanced properties, Toast and Menu & Pay must be selected or deselected together. The system aligns both on save.
  • If items are still missing on a Toast terminal after publishing → Resync the device. See Resync all data on your devices.
  • If your POS shows "LOADING MENUS..." → Return to your menus in Toast Web and confirm the menu is enabled and that menu availability (Time Specific Settings) isn't blocking it. If that doesn't fix it, resync the device.
  • If multiple menus or items have disappeared at once or are missing across devices → See Get help with disappearing menus or menu items for the full troubleshooting workflow.

If you've worked through these checks and the issue persists, see Before you contact Customer Care below.

 

Before you contact Customer Care

Have the following ready:

  • Which menu, group, item, or modifier is missing, and on which channel (POS, kiosk, Toast Online Ordering, specific partner)
  • A screenshot of the channel visibility settings for the affected entity in Toast Web
  • Whether you've published changes (and the time you last published)
  • Whether the issue is on one device or all devices, one location or all locations
  • Whether your restaurant uses Toast Multilocation Management (MLM)
  • Steps you've already tried (resync, check parent visibility, etc.)

 

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FAQ

Where do I find channel visibility settings in Toast Web?

In Toast Web, navigate to Menus > Menu management > Menu manager, then select the menu, group, item, or modifier you want to update. The Channel visibility section appears in the settings panel on the right side of the screen. You can also access channel visibility from the Menu builder or Advanced properties — see Choose where to update visibility above.

 

Can I bulk-edit channel visibility for many menus or items at once?

Yes. In Toast Web, navigate to Menus > Bulk management > Advanced properties, open the Show/Hide drop-down, and select Visible To. You can then check or clear channel boxes across many entities in one view. See Update visibility in Advanced properties above for full steps.

 

Why does a menu still appear on the POS even after I unchecked POS in channel visibility?

The most common causes are:

  • Changes haven't been published — select Publish all changes in Toast Web.
  • The Toast terminal hasn't received the latest data — resync the device using the three-dot menu > Resync ALL Data.
  • A parent menu or menu group is still visible to POS, and that visibility overrides the unchecked child — open the parent and uncheck POS there as well.

 

What's the difference between Toast Online Ordering and Websites View-Only?

Toast Online Ordering makes the menu orderable on your Toast Online Ordering site (guests can place orders).

Websites View-Only displays the menu on your Toast Website as a view-only menu — guests can see the menu but cannot place orders from it. Use Websites View-Only when you want a public-facing menu on your website without enabling online orders.

You can select both, only one, or neither. Selecting both means the same menu shows on both surfaces, with ordering only enabled on Toast Online Ordering.

 

If I'm using a branded app or Toast Takeout, which channel visibility do I use?

Select Toast Online Ordering, Toast Takeout app in channel visibility. Menus cannot differ between Toast Online Ordering and the Toast Takeout app — both use the same channel setting. [Verify whether current Toast Web label is "Toast Takeout app" or "Local by Toast app"]

 

Why am I able to select POS only on some modifier groups but not others?

Modifier group visibility is constrained by the menu hierarchy and product configuration. If a parent menu or menu group is not visible to certain channels, the modifier group inherits those constraints. Some channels (such as Kiosk) also require POS to be enabled first. If you cannot select a channel for a specific modifier group, check the parent's visibility settings and the dependencies described in About channel visibility above.

 

Can I show a menu only on specific terminals (not all)?

Yes — use the hidden menu strategy. Set the menu's channel visibility so it's hidden by default, then re-enable it on the specific device. See Configure hidden menus for full steps.

 

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