Set Stock Status and Update Inventory Count in the Menu Builder

Last updated: Mar 25, 2026, 1:51 PM

Question

  • How do I set the stock status for my menu item to show when an item is in stock, out of stock, or in limited stock?
  • How do I update the inventory for my menu items?
  • Is there a way to mark menu items "out of stock"?

Answer

To configure an item's stock status and update its inventory count, follow these steps:

 

  1. In Toast Web, navigate to the menu builder by selecting Menus Menu management > Menu builder, or by selecting Menu builder from the Quick actions section of your Toast Web homepage. 
  2. Select the name of the menu or menu group that has the item you wish to update from the left-hand side of the menu builder screen.
  3. On the items list, select the three-dot (...) overflow menu icon next to the item's name, then select Update Stock. Alternatively, you can select the item's name to open the item details page and edit the stock status by selecting the pencil icon underneath the Item name.
  4. Select your desired Stock Status
    1. In stock - The item is in stock and can be ordered by guests.
    2. Out of stock - Your guests can still see this menu item, but it will be marked "out of stock," and they cannot order it. For more information, see this Support Center article: 86 an Item on the POS or Toast Web.
    3. Limited stock - The menu item is in limited supply. When you select this option, you must also set a Quantity total that indicates how many units are currently available. Toast will automatically mark this item as "out of stock" when the last unit is sold.
    4. Note: Item counts only apply to an individual item. For instance, if you use lobster in a lobster roll and also in lobster mac and cheese, these counts will need to be set individually and will not update based off each other's item count. xtraCHEF can help you work around this situation. Contact support@xtrachef.com to inquire about xtraCHEF's Recipe and Inventory features.
  5. Select Save on the Update stock pop-up window. Stock changes that you make are immediately applied to your Toast Online Ordering site, and there is no need to publish them. The stock amount you set will appear in the General info section of the item details page in the menu builder.

 

You can also update inventory on your POS using Quick Edit mode or the Toast Now app. See these articles for more information:

Additional Information

Toast updates the stock amount when you initially open the menu item details page to reflect any units that have been sold since the stock amount was set. It also updates the stock amount any time you open the Update stock settings pop-up. However, the stock amount is not updated after the menu item details page is initially loaded. This means that if units of the menu item are sold while you're viewing the menu item details page, you won't see those changes to the stock amount until you refresh the menu item details page or open the Update stock settings pop-up again.