Set Menu Visibility in the Menu Builder

Last updated: Jun 1, 2026, 1:57 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.

Use the Menu builder in Toast Web to set channel visibility for a menu, menu group, or menu item — controlling whether it appears on POS, Kiosk, Toast Online Ordering, the Local by Toast app, or online ordering partners.

 

In this Article:

 

Before You Begin

Applies to: Toast Web (Menu builder)

 

Permissions needed:

  • 4.5 Edit Full Menu
  • 6.4 Publishing

 

What you'll accomplish: Show or hide a specific menu, menu group, or menu item from each ordering channel (POS, Kiosk, and Toast Order and Pay, Toast Online Ordering, and Local by Toast app, and online ordering partners) by editing its Channel visibility settings in the Menu builder.

 

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Quick Answer

To set channel visibility in the Menu builder:

  1. In Toast Web, navigate to Menus > Menu management > Menu builder.
  2. Find the menu, menu group, or menu item you want to update, select the three-dot menu, and select Edit.
  3. Scroll to the Channel visibility section and set each channel to On or Off.
  4. Select Save, then publish your changes.

 

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

 

The Menu builder is one of three places you can edit channel visibility. To set visibility from the Menu manager or to bulk-edit visibility across many entities in Advanced properties, see Manage Your Menu Visibility Settings.

 

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About Channel Visibility

Each menu, menu group, or menu item has a visibility setting under the Channel visibility section within the Menu builder. The channels where a menu is visible are also where the menu is available for ordering. The Menu builder channels are:

  • POS — in-restaurant orders placed on a Toast terminal.
  • Kiosk, Toast Order and Pay — in-restaurant orders placed on a kiosk, using Toast Mobile Order and Pay®, or with digital menus. This option may not list Kiosk if your restaurant does not use them.
  • Toast Online Ordering, Local by Toast app — online orders placed on your Toast Online Ordering site or on Local by Toast (formerly known as the Toast Takeout app).
  • Online ordering partners — orders placed on online ordering sites integrated with Toast (for example, Uber Eats, DoorDash, or Grubhub). When this is set to On, additional options appear that let you control visibility for individual partners.

 

Note: 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.

 

If you need the full list of channels available in Toast Web (including Customer invoices, Toast Ecommerce, and Websites View-Only, which appear in Menu manager and Advanced properties), see Manage Your Menu Visibility Settings.

 

Note: Channel visibility controls where a menu appears. To control when a menu appears (days and times), see Set Menu Availability.

 

Note: If you're a Toast Websites user and need to designate menus for your website's view-only menu, follow the steps described in the View-Only Menu for Websites section of Optimize Toast Websites.

 

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Set Channel Visibility for a Menu

To set visibility on the menu level using the Menu builder:

  1. In Toast Web, navigate to Menus > Menu management > Menu builder.
  2. Find the menu you want to adjust in the list on the left-hand side of the Menu builder screen, select the three-dot menu next to its name, and select Edit.
  3. Scroll down to the Channel visibility section on the menu details page. Use the toggles to select which order sources should have this menu visible. When a channel is set to On, the menu is visible on that channel to restaurant employees and guests.

 

Channel Visibility Toggles

 

  1. At the top of the page, select Save, then publish all changes.

 

Expected outcome: The menu appears on (or disappears from) the channels you selected within a few minutes after publishing. Online ordering partners may take longer to reflect the change.

 

Note: Restaurants using Toast Multilocation Management (MLM) can also select specific locations or location groups for which a menu should be visible to each online ordering partner.

 

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Set Channel Visibility for a Menu Group

A menu group is a section inside a menu (for example, "Appetizers" or "Sides"). Menu group visibility is set the same way as menu visibility:

  1. In Toast Web, navigate to Menus > Menu management > Menu builder.
  2. Expand the menu that contains the group, find the menu group, select the three-dot menu, and select Edit.
  3. Scroll to the Channel visibility section and set each channel to On or Off for this menu group.
  4. At the top of the page, select Save, then publish all changes.

 

Expected outcome: The menu group, and every item inside it, appears on (or disappears from) the channels you selected within a few minutes after publishing.

 

Note: If the parent menu is hidden from a channel, the menu group will remain hidden on that channel even if you select the channel on the group itself. Confirm the parent menu's Channel visibility is also set as you expect.

 

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Set Channel Visibility for a Menu Item

In some situations, you may want to edit the visibility of one specific menu item without affecting the rest of its menu group.

  1. In the Menu builder, navigate to the item you want to adjust and select the item to open the item details page.

 

Brussel Sprouts Honey Item

 

  1. Scroll to the Channel visibility section and select your desired channels.
  2. At the top of the page, select Save, then publish all changes.

 

Expected outcome: The menu item appears on (or disappears from) the channels you selected within a few minutes after publishing.

 

Note: Unlike tax rates and prep stations, Channel visibility does not let you link or unlink a menu group's or item's configuration to its parent menu or menu group. If a menu item or modifier group belongs to a menu or menu group that is hidden from a channel, the item or modifier group is also hidden from that channel.

 

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Configure Visibility for a Specific Online Ordering Partner

When you set Online ordering partners to On in the Channel visibility section, additional options appear on the Third-party ordering page. Configuring partner-specific visibility lets you control which partners can see this menu individually — for example, showing the menu on DoorDash but not on Grubhub. To set visibility to specific third-party partners, navigate to Takeout & Delivery > Third-party ordering > Menu settings.

 

This partner-specific visibility feature is currently available for select direct online ordering partners (including DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats) as well as several other integration partners. Toast is working to include all online ordering partners soon.

 

Note: Restaurants using Toast Multilocation Management (MLM) can use the location picker to configure partner visibility for specific locations or location groups.

 

For the full step-by-step procedure to configure partner-specific visibility — including selecting individual partners from the list that appears — see the "Configure partner-specific visibility" section of Manage Your Menu Visibility Settings.

 

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If a Menu, Group, or Item Still Does Not Appear

If you set Channel visibility correctly in the Menu builder but the menu, group, or item still does not appear (or still appears) on the channel you expect, work through these checks in order:

  • Confirm changes are published. Visibility changes do not take effect until you publish them. In Toast Web, check the publishing status at the top of the page and publish any pending changes.
  • Confirm parent visibility. Hierarchy is inherited downward — a hidden parent hides its children. Open the parent menu or menu group and confirm the channel is selected.
  • Wait for partner sync. Online ordering partners (DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, and others) can take longer than your Toast Online Ordering site to reflect a visibility change.
  • Resync your POS device. If items are missing on a Toast terminal after publishing, resync the device using the three-dot overflow menu > Resync ALL Data.

 

For the full troubleshooting workflow — including cache clearing on the POS, menu version checks for Toast Multilocation Management, and what to gather before contacting Customer Care — see Manage Your Menu Visibility Settings and Get Help With Disappearing Menus or Menu Items.

 

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Frequently Asked Questions

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

A menu may still appear on the POS after you uncheck POS in Channel visibility for one of three reasons: changes have not been published, the Toast terminal has not received the latest data, or a parent menu or menu group is still visible to POS and that visibility overrides the unchecked child. Publish all changes in Toast Web, resync the terminal with Resync ALL Data from the three-dot overflow menu, and open the parent menu and parent menu group to confirm POS is also unchecked there.

 

If I turn off visibility for a menu, do I need to turn it off for each menu group in that menu?

No — if you set a channel to Off on a parent menu, every menu group, item, and modifier inside it is also hidden from that channel. Visibility follows the menu hierarchy downward. You only need to set the channel to Off on the parent menu.

 

Can I hide a menu on specific terminals only?

Yes — use the hidden menu strategy. In Channel visibility in the Menu builder (or Advanced properties), set POS to Off for the menu so it is hidden by default on all terminals, then re-enable it only on the specific device or devices that should show it. For the device-side steps to re-enable a hidden menu, see Configure Hidden Menus.

 

How do I make my menus visible on the Local by Toast app?

To make a menu visible on the Local by Toast app, select Toast Online Ordering, Local by Toast app as one of the channels in Channel visibility. The Local by Toast app uses the same channel settings as Toast Online Ordering — menus cannot differ between them. If your menus are visible to this channel but still do not appear on the Local by Toast app, see Manage Menu Visibility for Toast Local.

 

What's the difference between menu availability and menu visibility?

Menu availability controls when a menu appears (days and times). Menu visibility (this article) controls where a menu appears (channels — POS, Kiosk, Toast Online Ordering, online ordering partners). They are configured separately. For availability, see Set Menu Availability.

 

Why does my modifier group not appear on Toast Online Ordering even though its channel visibility is selected?

For a modifier group to appear on Toast Online Ordering or an online ordering partner, the modifier group must also be visible to POS (in-store orders). Open the modifier group, confirm POS is selected in Channel visibility in addition to Toast Online Ordering, Local by Toast app, and Online ordering partners, then save and publish.

 

How do I fix the "We Need You To Update Your Menu Visibility" error in the DoorDash setup checklist?

To fix the "We Need You To Update Your Menu Visibility" error in DoorDash setup, your menu needs to be visible to Online ordering partners in Channel visibility, and the menu must be added to your DoorDash settings in Toast Web under Takeout & Delivery > DoorDash Settings > DoorDash Menus. For the full step-by-step fix, see How do I fix the "We Need You To Update Your Menu Visibility" error in the DoorDash setup checklist?

 

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