Manage Your Takeout and Delivery Schedule

In this article, you'll learn all of the ways you can customize your Toast Online Ordering schedule to meet the needs of your restaurant. To review the basics of setting your online ordering hours (including how to set up delivery hours for different days of the week), review the Set Your Online Ordering Hours section of this Toast Central article, Get Started With Online Ordering.
 

In this Article: 

• Schedule Overrides
• Order Quote Time
• Adjust Order Cut-Off Time
  • What is Prep Time?
• Schedule Future Orders
• Minimum Lead Time
• Manage Order Volume (Delay/Snooze)
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Additional Resources

Schedule Overrides

This feature allows you to change your open online ordering schedule temporarily for a selected date or date range. With overrides, you can adjust your open online ordering hours, or close your restaurant to online ordering. Overrides do not impact your standard business hours. 

To add a schedule override, follow the steps below or watch this video:

1. Log in to Toast Web and navigate to Takeout & delivery > Online ordering hours section on the page.
2. Select + Add override.
   
   
    
3. From here, you can customize your hours on specific days. For example, if you want to close early on Thanksgiving, you can add an override to make these adjustments. Times must be set in 15-minute increments.
   1. You can add an optional description for reference purposes. This description will be guest-facing.
   2. Note: Overrides are applied by dining option, which is set up in Toast Web . For example, if an override is set for Takeout & Third-party delivery, the override will be set for pickup (including curbside), Toast Delivery Services, and third-party integrations (Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub). It will not be automatically set for First-party Delivery and must be completed manually.
   3. You can also set multiple intervals for one day by selecting + Add interval, and specifying whether the override applies to Takeout & Third-party delivery, First-party delivery, or both. If you don’t offer first-party delivery, this option will not be available.
   4. Once you’ve finished setting up the overrides for the selected date, select Add. 
      
      
4. The override will appear on the list below the Overrides section. You can easily remove the override by selecting the trash icon or edit it by selecting the pencil icon.
5. Save and Publish all changes!

Order Quote Time

Order quote time is the estimated time it will take to prep orders. Quote times are used to tell a guest how long their order will take and to control order firing to the kitchen. This can be customized to meet your restaurant’s needs.

To learn about quote time strategies and how to set it up for your restaurant, you can log in to Toast’s back-end and view this or check out our Toast Central article on .


 

Adjust Order Cut-Off Time

Toast allows you to customize the cut-off time for your guests to place an online order. 

From the Takeout & delivery > Online ordering hours section in Toast Web, you can choose when guests can no longer place online orders for the day.

The options are:

• Allow guests to place orders until your restaurant's closing time minus
• Allow guests to place orders until your restaurant’s closing time

When changing your order cut-off time, make sure to select Publish all changes at the top of the Takeout & delivery page.

Both configurations only apply to ASAP orders and not scheduled orders.

Below are some examples of the different configurations you can set to customize the cut-off time for your restaurant to receive online orders.
 

What is Prep Time?

Prep time = Quote time + Lead time

• Quote time is the time you can add to takeout and delivery orders (learn more in this Toast Central article: ).
• Lead time = the largest value between either the delay or lead time. 
  • Delays are configured on a Toast device or in Toast Web. Learn more in this Toast Central article: .
  •  settings are configured  in Toast Web.

Note: Both the quote time and lead time you configure here in Toast Web do not affect orders placed through your third-party ordering integrations such as DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats. These third-party ordering partners themselves respectively calculate the expected ready/delivery time that shows on orders through their platforms. If you’re experiencing impractical ready/delivery times on these types of orders with respect to time needed to prepare them, please contact the respective partner’s support channels for help: ; ; .

Schedule Future Orders

Toast allows you to give your guests the option to schedule orders ahead of time. You can determine how far in advance guests can schedule, set limits at the restaurant or location level, and set specific limits for Online Ordering. Learn how to set up and use the feature in this Toast Central article on . 

Minimum Lead Time

Minimum lead time allows you to specify how soon your restaurant will accept an online order for takeout and delivery. This feature is intended for restaurants that use Toast’s Online Ordering for catering or other formats where all items on your menu require advance notice.

For example, let’s say your restaurant has a Delivery Minimum Lead Time of 6 hours. If a guest wants a delivery order at 4:00 p.m., the earliest they can place it is 10:00 a.m. 

To manage your minimum lead time settings:
 

1. Navigate to Takeout & delivery > Availability > Online Ordering, and scroll down to the Online Ordering Schedule Settings section.
2. For the Enable Scheduling section, select Yes, guests may schedule future orders.
   
   
    
3. Once you select the option to enable future orders, a new section named Minimum Lead Time Settings will appear. Scroll down to that section and enter your desired lead time for online takeout orders and online delivery orders in the corresponding fields. 
   
   
   
   
   1. If prep times are set up, they will be factored in when calculating the first available fulfillment time. Fulfillment time is the calculated time that the kitchen will fulfill (complete) an order.
   2. For example, let’s say the takeout minimum lead time for your restaurant is 6 hours, the order has a 30 minute prep time, and the restaurant opens at 9:00 a.m. To calculate the fulfillment time, we’d add minimum lead time and prep time, 6 hours + 30 minutes, resulting in a fulfillment time of 3:30 p.m. However, if the restaurant is closed then the order would automatically bump the fulfillment time to the next day.
4. Save your changes once you’re finished!

Manage Order Volume (Delay/Snooze)

We know a day in the restaurant life is never the same, and sometimes you experience surprise rushes or things go crazy during peak business hours. If you need to slow down orders during busy hours or when the kitchen is overwhelmed, you can use the Online Ordering dashboard to add delays to quoted time and snooze incoming orders. 

You can add delays or snooze in two different places: on a Toast device, or from Toast Web. Learn more about both of those options in this Toast Central article: .


 

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my online takeout and delivery availability end too soon?

• You can review from earlier in this article to check your selected order cut-off setting.
• You can review from earlier in this article to understand how prep time is calculated and make adjustments as needed.
• You can review how to check and adjust your Online Ordering schedule by referencing the Set Your Online Ordering Hours section of this Toast Central article, .

My guests can only schedule future orders through Toast Online Ordering. Why can’t they order ASAP?

Is there a way to make menu items appear at a specific time of day?

Are there menu item prep times factored into the quoted time for Online Ordering?

When attempting to set my restaurant's Online Ordering hours, it looks like the option for Takeout and Delivery isn't displayed. What should I do?

An online order was placed for a time when the restaurant is closed. How do I stop this?

Why does my Online Ordering page say "Online Ordering is Currently Unavailable," or that my restaurant is closed?

Our various managers should have the ability to turn online and third-party orders off, but they cannot. How do I fix this?

If you would like an employee to be able to toggle Toast online ordering and third-party ordering on and off, be sure you have Permission 6.6 Restaurant Operations Setup enabled for them. If you would like all employees of a certain job to have this permission, be sure to enable this at the Jobs level.

I’m receiving an error when I try to sync my business hours with my third-party ordering platform / my platform says my location is closed even though my hours are set correctly. What should I do?

If you’re seeing an error when attempting to sync your business hours with a third-party ordering platform like DoorDash, Grubhub, or Uber Eats, or they inaccurately claim your location is closed, attempt a resync. You can perform a resync by making a minor change to your menu, such as adding an asterisk to the name of an item, and then selecting Save and Publish all changes. Once your resync is successful and your business hours are reflected properly, you can return to your third-party ordering menu, revert your small change, and save and publish all changes again.

Additional Resources