Prepare to Operate in Offline Mode During Service Disruptions or Outages

In this Article:

• Your POS in Offline Mode
• Review Payment Settings & Permissions
  
  • Background Processing for Card Payments
  • Assign Offline/Background Card Processing Permissions
  • Risks of Taking Card Payments During Disruptions
• Verify Your Network and Internet Connection Setup
• Optional: Create an “Offline” Dining Option
• Set Up Kiosk Authorization for Offline Mode

Your POS in Offline Mode

Offline Mode kicks in automatically when your Toast devices lose connection to the internet, local network, or our cloud servers. Our built-in offline resilience provides the invisible support needed to keep the kitchen firing and payments secure, regardless of network interruptions. After 40 seconds offline, you'll see a banner at the top of your screen explaining what's happening and what you can still do.

This article covers some setup and configurations you can review beforehand to ensure your payment processing and order taking workflows function the way you want when your device is operating offline.

To check the status of all Toast systems and subscribe to real-time SMS or email alerts, see status.toasttab.com.

For general information about what you can expect during an outage, see Use Toast in Offline Mode.

To learn more about what you can do once your POS is back online, see Recover and Get Back Online After an Outage or Disruption.

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Review Payment Settings & Permissions for Offline Mode

Background Processing for Card Payments

There are two options for managing credit and debit card payments during an outage or disruption: 

• Take payments in the background and process them when you’re back online - this is the default, recommended setting.
• Do not take any card payments at all.

Toast highly recommends leaving background card payments enabled to keep your business operational in the event that you enter Offline Mode. Follow the instructions below to review your setup (this requires the 6.3 Payments Setup permission). 

Note: You must enable background processing for card payments while your POS is fully operational. You cannot adjust this setting while your device is in Offline Mode.

1. In , navigate to Payments > Payment methods > Payment options. Scroll down to the Credit section.
2. Select your desired setting for Card authorization during payment disruptions.
   
   • Continue accepting card payments without waiting for authorization (recommended)
     
     We know how important it is to maintain seamless operations for your guests. This default option will ensure that card transactions will still be accepted during Offline Mode and stored in the background on your device - your guests won’t notice anything different! Once you’re back online, transactions will be submitted for card network authorization. 
     
     Learn more about the risks .
   • Do not accept card payments (wait until authorization is available) - Use this setting if you’re okay with operating cash-only during an outage. You will not be able to take any card payments while your device is in Offline Mode.
3. If you selected Continue accepting card payments without waiting for authorization (recommended), consider configuring the following:
   
   • (Optional) transaction limit: In Offline Mode, managers must override any individual transaction over this limit.
   • Skip authorization at all times on the POS, regardless of disruptions?: If speed of processing payments is important (i.e. busy bar), you can choose to take all payments without waiting for authorization on your POS. There is a risk cards could be declined after guests leave.
4. Save and publish any changes.

Watch a walkthrough of enabling background credit card processing for Offline Mode functionality.

Assign Offline/Background Card Processing Permissions

The 1.15 Offline/Background Credit Card Processing permission allows users to take offline credit and debit card payments that exceed the transaction limit set in Toast Web. We recommend assigning this permission to any job (generally, managers) that involves taking payments or managing other employees who take payments.

1. In Toast Web, navigate to Employees > Employee management > Jobs.
2. Select the job that should be able to approve offline card payments of any value.
3. Scroll down to the Default User Permissions section and ensure the 1.15 Offline/Background Credit Card Processing permission is enabled.
4. Save and publish any changes you've made. 
5. Repeat steps 1-4 for any other jobs that should be enabled with this permission.

If necessary, you can add or remove this permission for a specific individual by navigating to that employee’s profile and selecting Override for 1.15 Offline/Background Credit Card Processing (learn more: ).

Risks of Taking Card Payments During Disruptions

There are risks associated with taking payments during an outage or disruption because the payments can’t be authorized until the network connection is restored. This means that it’s possible for a payment taken during a disruption to be denied when your system goes back online. 

• You’re responsible for any declined, expired, or disputed payments while operating during Offline Mode.
• It’s best practice to verify the cardholder's name and card expiration date, especially when you’re in Offline Mode.
  
  • If you’d like, you can create a custom dining option to collect customer names and phone numbers when you’re taking orders in Offline Mode. That way, if a customer’s card payment declines once your system comes back online, you have a way to contact them for payment. See more below. 
• Toast doesn’t recommend manually recording card numbers and later entering them in as a Card Not Present (CNP) transaction. If it’s necessary, remember you must have the CVV number to retroactively process payments. You’re also required to protect the cardholder's data to remain PCI compliant (learn more: ).
• Payment authorizations may no longer be valid if too much time has elapsed (as determined by the card networks) from the time the transaction occurred, as early as 24 hours after the transaction date in some cases. Toast recommends that restaurants resolve any network connectivity issues that may interfere with capturing payments as soon as possible to prevent this. After this period, the authorization may expire, causing the payment to be declined, resulting in a loss to the business unless it is able to recoup the amount from the guest.
  
  • Using a cellular backup connection can help prevent declined payments due to expired authorizations.

If this is a concern for you, you can set a transaction limit for payments taken while offline, or disable card authorizations during payment disruptions altogether.

Verify Your Network and Internet Connection Setup

Review the settings and setup recommendations below to reduce the chance of a disruption to your network or internet connection:
 

1. Make sure your terminals are configured to only use Ethernet or Wi-Fi. If your Toast terminals are configured to use both Ethernet and Wi-Fi, they may experience connectivity issues. To prevent this, we recommend turning off Wi-Fi on all terminals. 
2. Ensure all devices are connected to the Toast secure network. If your device is connected to your network via an Ethernet or USB-C cable, make sure the device's Network Settings are set to Ethernet. For wireless devices, make sure you're connected to the _Toast network via Wi-Fi. For detailed instructions on checking these settings, view our article. 
3. Review your network setup and wireless access point placement. Watch our video to review the internet, power, and cabling requirements. Also, watch our video to ensure your wireless access points are properly set up to support your Toast Go® handheld devices. 
4. Check your internet speed. Toast recommends an internet speed of 15 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload. Use  to test your network's download and upload speed. Read the article for more information. 
5. Consider a cellular backup solution. Toast recommends using a cellular backup solution to avoid declined payments because of expired authorizations. Please speak with your IT professional or a networking consultant for further information.
6. Forget other networks on all handheld devices. If your Toast Go® handheld devices have been connected to other Wi-Fi networks in the past, they may try to reconnect to those networks when they're moved around multiple service areas. To prevent this from happening and interrupting service, we recommend forgetting other networks on your devices. Follow our article for detailed instructions. 

Optional: Create an “Offline” Dining Option

Toast provides you with the flexibility to configure custom dining options and adjust how they behave and what customer information they collect on your Toast device. This option can come in handy in Offline Mode, as you have the ability to collect customer contact information you may need in the event of a service disruption. 

For example, you can configure a new dining option called, “Dine In - Offline Mode”, and choose the Delivery behavior (to collect name and phone number) or the Takeout behavior (to collect name, phone number, and address). Then, you can choose this dining option when your restaurant is in Offline Mode to obtain customer information and contact them in the event that their credit card denies the payment when the system comes back online. To learn more, see .

Set Up Kiosk Authorization for Offline Mode

If your business uses Toast Self-Ordering Kiosks, creating a “Kiosk Server” user profile will allow for the device to automatically log back in and pick up where it left off in the event that your kiosk goes offline. You will not need to manually log back in to the kiosk should it experience a system crash or lose connection. The kiosk will assign all checks and kiosk-specific audit operations to this user.

Note: If you use the Toast Kitchen Display System (KDS), your kiosk terminal should be on the same network as your KDS devices. This will allow your kiosk to continue sending tickets to the KDS in the event that your devices enter Offline Mode during an outage or service disruption.

1. In Toast Web, navigate to Employees > Employee management > Employees.
2. Select + Add New Employee.
3. Enter the following required fields:
   
   • For Invite to create account, ensure the setting is toggled to No.
   • First Name: Enter "Kiosk" in this field
   • Last Name: Enter "Server" in this field
   • Passcode: Enter a numerical passcode in this field
   • Note: An actual person is not tied to this employee profile, so you don't need to enter any information in the remaining fields.
4. Select Add to finish adding the employee.
5. Navigate to Front of house > Mobile dining solutions > Kiosk setup.
6. Scroll down to the Kiosk server section. Use the drop-down to select "Server, Kiosk" (the employee profile you just created).
7. Save and publish your changes.

If your restaurant has tipping enabled and you've configured kiosk authorization using the steps above, there is no need to perform a shift review for this kiosk-specific user.