Set Menu Availability

In this Article:

• Menu Availability Overview
• Set Menu Availability (Using Menu Manager)
• Set Menu Availability (Using Menu Builder)
• Menu Availability Best Practices

Menu Availability Overview

Use the menu availability feature to set times for menus to appear or not appear from your Toast Online Ordering site or POS (Point of Sale) device. This feature allows you to stop selling breakfast items after 11:00 a.m., create a lunch special menu for Mondays and Tuesdays, and much more!

Note: This option is only available for menus, not menu groups or individual items. In order to restrict individual items to a specific time, a new menu must be created for those items. Once a new menu is created, follow the steps below to restrict the menu's availability either using the Edit menus or Menu builder feature in Toast Web. An alternative method to schedule individual items or specials involves creating deep copies of subcategories or specials and assigning separate availability settings to these copies. This approach ensures flexibility for item-level scheduling in scenarios where individual menu configurations are essential.

While menu availability allows you to set parameters for days and times available, menu visibility allows you to dictate where menu items are visible for ordering (e.g. POS, kiosks, Toast Online Ordering, etc.). To learn more about menu visibility, see .

Set Menu Availability (Using Menu Manager)

To create a menu availability schedule using the menu manager, follow the steps below:
 

1. In , navigate to Menus > Menu management > Menu manager.
2. Select the name of the menu for which you want to create an availability schedule.
3. A settings panel will appear on the right side of the screen. In the Availability section, select Specific days and time. A day/time table will appear.
4. Select the pencil icon next to the day/time table. From here, you can select the appropriate Day(s) available and Time available in the pop-up window.
5. Select Save when you're finished making changes.
6. Select Publish all changes.

Note: If there's a time change in your region, such as the start or end of Daylight Savings Time or British Summer Time, menu availability will automatically adjust to reflect the updated local time.

Set Menu Availability (Using Menu Builder)

By default, the menu availability setting is set to always, meaning the menu is available during all hours that the restaurant is open. If you specify a custom schedule for a menu, a calendar icon appears next to the menu's name to indicate that a custom schedule is in effect.

Follow the steps below and learn how to override the default schedule set to always available and create a custom schedule for a menu:
 

1. Navigate to the menu builder (Menus > Menu management > Menu builder, or by selecting Menu builder from the Quick actions section of your Toast Web homepage).
2. Next to the name of the menu you'd like to change availability for, select the three dot (⋮) overflow menu icon to the right of the menu's name and then select Edit.
3. Scroll down to the Availability section of the menu details page. Note: Availability settings are only configurable on the menu level. You will not see this section when you're editing menu groups.
4. For the When is this menu available? setting, select Specific days and time.
5. A Day(s)/Time table will appear below this setting. Select the pencil icon to the right of that table.
6. By default, all days are selected. Select a specific day to remove it from the Day(s) available.
7. By default, the menu or menu group will be available at all times on the days selected. To edit the time that this menu will be available, select the checkbox next to Available at all times to remove the check mark. 
8. Start and End time settings will appear below the Time available setting. Enter your desired times for the days you've selected. Select Save on the pop-up window when you're finished.
9. At the top of the page, select Save to finish editing, then publish your changes to push them to your POS and/or Online Ordering page.

Notes: 

• Custom schedules can only be set for menus. A custom schedule cannot be created or set for a group or specific items. Additionally, at the current moment, only one time period can be set per menu.
• If there is a time change in your region, such as the start or end of Daylight Savings Time or British Summer Time, menu availability will automatically adjust to reflect the updated local time.
• Toast currently does not support scheduling updates in advance, requiring any schedule changes to be done manually at the desired start time.
• Hiding menus for online ordering will also affect their availability for local orders, so take caution when making adjustments.

Menu Availability Best Practices

• Consider duplicating the menu to create separate availability configurations in scenarios like different schedules for weekdays and weekends. For example, a lunch menu ending at 2:30 p.m. on weekdays and 3:00 p.m. on weekends can be managed through separate versions. Remember to archive unused versions to keep your menu editor uncluttered. These strategies also apply to daily specials or unique menu offerings where distinct schedules are required.
• Consider adding a small buffer at the end of any menu availability schedule. This will give your staff some more time to wrap up any last-minute orders before the menu becomes unavailable on the POS. For example, setting your breakfast menu from 8:00 a.m. - 11:10 a.m., when breakfast ends at 11:00 a.m.
• If you have a menu that needs to be available during different time ranges and different days of the week, consider copying the menu (shallow copy) and creating a second menu availability schedule. For example, Happy Hour is 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Monday and Wednesdays. See this Toast Central article to learn more: .
• Use the Toast Online Ordering spotlight feature to remind guests of when certain menus are available. For example, the spotlight could say "Breakfast available until 11:00 a.m. daily" as a banner message. To learn more, check out this Toast Central article: .
• If you'd like to restrict individual items to a specific time, you'll need to create a separate menu for those items and follow the steps above to restrict the entire menu.
• Synchronize availability adjustments across third-party platforms like DoorDash or Uber Eats to maintain consistency for customers. Always publish after making changes to ensure updates are applied everywhere.