Customize Menu Item and Modifier Names for POS and KDS

Dernière mise à jour : 8 avr. 2026, 10 h 12

Question

What's the difference between Name, POS Name, and Kitchen Name for menu items and modifiers?

Réponse

You may find it helpful to change the way menu item and modifier names appear on in-store POS devices or kitchen tickets to improve clarity and efficiency for your staff. These changes will all be made on your Item Details page. To learn more, see Create and Manage Menu Items. Below is a description of how the different name fields function and where they are reflected in Toast:


Name: the "official" name of the menu component that will be used throughout back-end reporting. If no other name fields are populated, this is also the name that will appear on the POS, kitchen tickets, and guest receipts. However, this is the name that always appears in your Online Ordering menus.

 

POS Nickname: a shortened/abbreviated name that will appear when using a front-of-house POS device and can act as a visual aid to increase speed when placing orders. For example, if the actual menu item name is "California Chicken Sandwich," a POS name of "CHX SAND" could be entered to minimize the amount of text that appears on the POS menu button.

 

Kitchen Nickname: the name as it will appear to kitchen staff on printed kitchen tickets and/or kitchen display screens. Similar to POS Name, this field can be used to abbreviate or change the way the name appears to your kitchen staff for improved clarity/efficiency.

 

Name: Pork Belly Guacamole. POS Nickname: Pork Belly Guac. Kitchen Nickname: PBG


Note: If a menu item or modifier appears differently when printed on a ticket compared to what appears on your POS, it may be because it's referencing another menu item with a different name. Open up the menu item or modifier details page. If you see an item reference with a different name, you'll either need to change the name of the item reference to match, or create a new item/modifier that doesn't have the item reference.

Informations supplémentaires

Menu items with Roman and Chinese characters (traditional or simplified) will automatically separate on the KDS screen and printed tickets, so Roman characters appear on one line and Chinese characters appear on another. For the best results, group Roman and Chinese characters together, and don't add any special characters.

 

Good examples:

  • Shrimp Dumplings 水晶虾饺
  • 水晶虾饺 Shrimp Dumplings


Bad examples:

  • 水晶虾饺 Shrimp Dumplings 水晶虾饺
  • Shrimp Dumplings / 水晶虾饺
  • Shrimp Dumplings (水晶虾饺)