Toast Retail: Learn Common Terms

Below is a list of terms and acronyms you might come across while using Toast Retail.

Toast Retail Term	Definition	Notes
Alternate package	Another way to sell the same item. For example, you might sell wine by the bottle as well as by the glass.	In Toast Retail, you can designate a source item that you will receive from suppliers (e.g. a case of wine), and sales of the alternate packages (e.g. bottles, glasses) will be accurately reflected in your inventory calculations.
Barcode, SKU Also known as product ID, UPC, or EAN	A numeric code used to identify a product. Barcodes are usually 12 or 13 digits. Embedded barcodes have 1-5 digits and hold dynamic information such as the weight or price of an item.	“Barcode” and “SKU” are interchangeable in Toast. However, a price look-up (PLU) code (generally for produce) is a different identifier that has its own field on the item details page.
Base cost	The item’s initial cost, not including any adjustments.	-
Bundle	Groups of items sold together at a specific price point, often in a shared container or with special preparation instructions (e.g. gift baskets, charcuterie boards, beer flights).	-
Category group, category, subcategory	A category group is the highest level of organization in your retail item library, where you can group similar products/items together. A category group can contain one or more categories within it as the second level of organization. Finally, subcategory is the optional third level of organization. If you’re using one of the menu editing tools in Toast Web: You’ll see these levels represented as menus, menu groups, and subgroups. All of your retail items will show in your menu editor, but only those menus that are selected in Toast Retail will show up in your item library. To control which menus and items appear in your Toast Retail item library, navigate to Retail > Item management > Categories and select Manage.	For example, you might have three general category groups: Apparel & Accessories Health & Beauty Food & Beverages Within the Apparel & Accessories category group, you might have the following categories: Women’s Clothing Men’s Clothing Accessories Within the Accessories category, you might have the following subcategories: Jewelry Purses Eyewear
Check	The group of items that your guest is purchasing (sometimes referred to as an “order”).	-
Dining option	Dining options serve as order fulfillment workflows. These are generally more important for restaurants, but might be useful if you want to offer delivery or phone orders. Dining options are configured on the Kitchen > Dining options > Dining options page in Toast Web	Retail customers typically only need an “In-Store Purchase” dining option, which is used for orders taken at the POS. You might also need a “Phone Order” or “Pick Up” dining option if you offer that to your guests. This order type should have the Takeout dining behavior attached to it – this is what will prompt you to add a guest’s phone number to the order on a POS. Learn more: .
Front of house	The Front of house section of Toast Web is where all of the POS settings and configurations are managed.	-
Inventory linking	Connecting inventory counts of items that are sold in different quantities () or grouped together ().	-
Inventory transfers (cross-location)	For businesses with more than one location using Toast Retail, you can move inventory from store to store.	Toast Multilocation Management (MLM) is not required to use cross-location inventory transfers. This feature is for customers operating more than one Toast account with the Toast Retail module. There is no concept of an inventory transfer within a single Toast Retail back-end.
Kitchen	The Kitchen section of Toast Web is where kitchen ticket settings are configured.	This is not where receipt settings are configured - those settings can be found in the Payments section.
Landed cost	The cost of an item including adjustments like taxes, fees, and discounts.	This is the default calculation in the Sales & COGS report in Toast Retail.
Option set template	A grouping of item that helps you describe variations consistently for easier searching and reporting. Option set templates define different attributes like color, size, or flavor that can be applied to multiple items.	For example, you might create a “Size” option set template with options like Small, Medium, and Large that can be used across all of your apparel items.
PAR max	The highest quantity of an item you want to have on hand to avoid overstocking. You can think of this value as your optimal quantity, or the total amount you would want to have in stock.	PAR stands for periodic automatic replacement.
PAR min	The lowest quantity of an item you want to have on hand before being notified of low stock.	PAR stands for periodic automatic replacement.
Server	The employee who handled the transaction (“cashier”).	-
Supplier	The company that you purchase your retail inventory from.	Other systems call this a vendor.
Takeout and delivery	The Takeout and delivery section of Toast Web is where you’ll configure your Toast Online Ordering settings.	-
Variation	A way to create multiple versions of the same item with different attributes like size, color, or flavor.	For example, if you sell a t-shirt, you can create variations for different sizes (Small, Medium, Large) or colors (Red, Blue, Green). Each variation becomes a separate item with its own button on the POS.