Glossary

The closing cash balance of a cash drawer. The actual closeout cash is determined by manually counting the cash in a drawer. This amount is entered and recorded in the Toast POS system.

The actual total cash deposit entered in the Toast POS system.

The total count of an item that needs to be sent out from the kitchen across several orders. Used to clarify and prioritize workflow in the kitchen. Example: the grill cook asks, "Chef, can you give me an all day." The chef replies, "You’ve got 8 strip steaks and 3 ribeyes all day."

The Toast KDS device offers an All Day View option to make calculating counts easier and more accurate for cooks and expediters. For more information, see About all day view.

The process that a server or food runner goes through when a dine-in order does not have a destination defined correctly on the ticket. To find the table, the server must repeatedly ask guests at other tables if they have ordered the items that need to be delivered.

The Toast platform automatically captures all uncaptured credit card payments at the end of a business day (usually 4 AM local time). Auto-capturing ensures that all credit card payments are deposited into your bank account.

The IRS term for service charges that the Toast platform identifies as gratuities. The restaurant determines the amount of the charge and collects it for distribution to the employee who owns the guest check.

When a new active cash drawer replaces a recently-closed cash drawer. If the drawer is set to automatic reset, the starting balance of the cash drawer is set to the configured starting balance automatically.

Background payments occur when a Toast POS device cannot complete a payment authorization at the time of the card transaction due to connectivity problems or system issues, such as the POS device being offline or the POS failing to send authorization requests to a payment processor. These transactions are securely stored in the background until connectivity is restored. Once connectivity is restored, the transactions are forwarded to the payment processor to complete the authorization.

The reamining amount to pay on a check after taxes, discounts, and credits. If a payment is being split, the balance due can also be the additional payment needed to close the check.

The areas of the restaurant that guests do not typically see or interact with. Can include the kitchen, food prep and storage areas, and office space, with staff that might include the head chef or kitchen manager, line cooks, prep cooks, bussers, and dishwashers.

The server for the bar, responsible for fulfilling drink orders placed by servers as well as taking orders from and serving their own guests.

Blind cash drawer access is tied to employee permission Cash Drawers (Blind) and grants the employee access to view and manage cash drawers on the Toast POS system. While managing cash drawers, the balance of each cash drawer is hidden to employees with this permission. If the employee is closing a cash drawer, they have to enter an actual closing cash balance without knowledge of the expected closing cash balance.

Buy One Get One, a type of discount or promotional offer. For more information, see BOGO discounts. See also Buy item and Get item.

Also referred to as the closeout hour, this is the time of the day that marks the end of one business day and begins another. Toast support sets the business day cutoff for your restaurant to an hour from midnight to noon (inclusive). This setting reflects the time in your restaurant's own time zone.

The person who clears empty plates between courses and when guests have left the table.

The menu item or items that qualify an order for a BOGO discount. For example, in a BOGO discount that gives a free cup of coffee with the purchase of a doughnut, the doughnut is the buy item. See also Get item and BOGO.

When a payment is captured, a previously authorized transaction is sent to the card issuer, and the cardholder (guest) account is charged for the transaction amount.

Tracks the cash collected by the restaurant from an employee during the employee's shift review. This correlates with the Cash in hand the employee owes the restaurant.

The Cash Drawer History report provides an overview of all cash activity at a single restaurant on a single day.

An employee may lock themselves to a cash drawer for the duration of a shift. The cash drawer is assigned to that employee and only they can take payments and deposit cash into that drawer. No other employees can access that cash drawer unless they have employee permission Cash Drawer Lockdown (Override). An employee who is locked down to a cash drawer must also close the cash drawer as a part of their shift review in order to clock out. For more information, see Cash drawer lockdown.

The Cash Drawer Overview report tracks cash drawer balances, cash drawer discrepancies, deposits, and deposit discrepancies across multiple restaurants on a single day.

Cash drawers can be in one of three states: active, open, or closed. For more information, see Cash drawer states.

Removes cash from an active or open cash drawer. The cash is usually transferred to a different location, such as a safe in a back office and is tracked against the restaurant's cash balance. The Cash Drop amount cannot exceed the cash drawer's current balance.

Puts cash into an active or open cash drawer.

Any cash payments taken by an employee and placed into a cash drawer. The shift review for a given employee will report this amount as a way to account for the cash payments an employee has taken, but does not owe the restaurant as the restaurant already possesses the cash within one of their cash drawers.

Any cash payments taken by an employee that is kept separately in their own cash bank. The shift review for a given employee will report this amount as cash that is owed to the restaurant as it is the restaurant's money that the employee was holding onto in the duration of their shift.

Removes cash from an active or open cash drawer.

A financial provision, also known as tip withholding, that lets restaurant managers reclaim a percentage of employee credit card tips to cover the cost of credit card processing fees.

Restaurant managers can enable this feature using the Employees > Payroll management > Tip withholding page in Toast Web. Once enabled, they can specify the Tip Withholding Percentage. For more information, see Tip Withholding.

An order that has been fully paid for, including any tips, and closed by the server. For more information, see Tracking the order state. See also Paid order.

See also Business day cutoff time.

To give a menu item away for free, typically done by the owner or manager. Complimentary items are used to smooth over problems or to gain favor from a VIP.

A guest.

A type of promotion that guests can redeem for a future purchase. Example: a guest has an excessive wait for a reserved table and then receives the wrong order. You give them an immediate discount on their meal, and also give them credit toward their next visit.

You can add customer credit (also called guest credit or store credit) to a guest's online record on a Toast POS device. Customer credits are deducted from net sales when they are redeemed. For more information, see Guest credit overview.

The method used to deliver an order to a guest. Examples: Dine In, Takeout, or Delivery.

A Toast KDS device can be configured to show orders based on the specified dining option. For more information, see Verify device setup.

The printed order ticket that the server gives to the kitchen to tell the cooks what to prepare and when.

The restaurant market segment that has 50 or more sites, also called "doors" or "units", such as a restaurant chain.

The expected closing cash balance of a cash drawer calculated by the Toast POS system based on cash drawer activity such as taking cash payments, collecting cash, paying tips for shift review, and cash drops.

The expected total cash deposit based on the actual closeout cash balances entered and any cash that is held by the restaurant.

The person who manages the way food comes out of the kitchen and is served to guests. Often the head chef or kitchen manager.

For the Toast platform, an expediter is a Toast KDS device or kitchen printer that displays or prints all of the orders for a specified set of prep stations. Example: a restaurant has three prep stations: Bar, Grill/Fry, and Middle. The head chef uses a KDS device to manage the kitchen, so food orders routed to the Grill/Fry and Middle prep station screens are also sent to the expediter screen. For more information, see Using a KDS expediter screen.

A type of restaurant that offers counter service of moderately priced food from a limited menu, typically with more upscale surroundings and ingredients than a QSR. Examples: café, deli, concessions, food truck, or corporate cafeteria.

To start cooking or preparing an order or part of an order.

The front of the restaurant or areas that guests see. Can include the bar, dining room, and waiting area, with staff that might include a host, servers, cashiers, bartenders, and managers.

Full cash drawer access is tied to employee permission Cash Drawers (Full) and grants the employee access to view and manage cash drawers on the Toast POS system. Employees with this permission can see the cash drawer balance for all drawers, unlike users with the Cash Drawers (Blind) permission. If employees are granted both permissions, the Cash Drawers (Full) permission overrides the Cash Drawers (Blind) permission.

A type of restaurant with table service. Examples: fine dining, casual dining, diner, bar, or nightclub.

The menu item or items that have a reduced price in a BOGO discount. For example, in a BOGO discount that gives a free cup of coffee with the purchase of a doughnut, the cup of coffee is the get item. See also Buy item and BOGO.

A type of service charge that is determined by the restaurant and included in a guest's bill. After collection by the restaurant, gratuities are paid out to the employee (typically a server, bartender, or delivery driver) responsible for the check. Example: the restaurant adds an 18% gratuity to the bill for parties of six or more people dining in. For more information, see Service charge overview. See also Auto-gratuity and Tip.

In Toast reports, gross sales is computed as net sales + discounts. Gross sales identifies the value of restaurant (non-gratuity) services and items sold before deductions are taken.

A category. Example: for Toast POS menu configuration, a menu group is a section within a menu. For example, the lunch menu has a sandwiches group.

A digital screen attached to a Toast POS device that displays guest order information, such as menu items, applicable modifiers, prices, and total transaction amount.

An option on ordering screens on a Toast POS device. Servers select Hold to retain guest order information without sending the order to the prep station(s). Example: the last person in a party to order needs more time to decide, so the server holds the orders taken from the rest of the party.

The person who greets and seats guests and manages FOH seating and reservations.

The process to get a restaurant using the Toast platform live.

To be extremely busy. Example (BOH): the kitchen has a very small grill and a dozen orders for steak come in. Example (FOH): a server has two parties of 10 seated in their section at the same time.

A modifier that is prepared and served separately from its associated item, and can affect how long the item takes to prepare. Example: a steak can be ordered with a side salad, which can be served before, after, or at the same time as the steak. The side salad is an independent modifier. For more information, see Prep times for independent modifiers.

Inheritance is a way to apply the same configuration settings to groups of related items. Menu groups, employee jobs, and enterprise restaurant groups are examples of groups in the Toast platform that use inheritance to make configuring the items that they contain more efficient and consistent. Inherited settings can be changed for individual items as needed.

Example: you set up a menu group named Salad and set the prep station for that group to Cold. Each menu item that you add to the Salads group automatically inherits the Cold prep station setting.

A modifier that is essential to the completeness of its associated item, and can affect how long the time takes to prepare. Example: a burger can be ordered cooked to various temperatures. The meat temperature (rare, medium rare, medium, etc.), is an integral modifier. For more information, see Prep times for integral modifiers.

The software that displays a list of orders on one or more Toast POS devices, typically a tablet that is wall-mounted, and is optimized for use by cooks, expediters, and bartenders. The KDS device can either replace or be used with printed order tickets. For more information, see How orders are routed to KDS devices.

To speed up the process of getting orders to the kitchen by using a handheld device to take orders in the middle of the line at a QSR. Example: when the line for the drive-through window reaches a certain number of cars, a cashier walks up to cars to take orders with a Toast POS device.

The staff member who works at a prep station in the kitchen.

When a new active cash drawer replaces a recently-closed cash drawer. If the drawer is set to manual reset, the employee is prompted to enter a starting balance for the cash drawer.

Money that a credit card processor provides to a business that accepts credit card payments. The credit card processor withholds a percentage of future credit card payments to repay the cash advance.

The restaurant market segment that has from 11 to 50 individual sites, also called "doors" or "units".

Modifiers, which are organized in modifier groups, represent options that modify a menu item when that item is ordered. Example: for a burger that can be ordered with different types of cheeses and at various temperatures, you could have two modifier groups, Cheese and Temp. The Cheese modifier group contains modifiers for the types of cheeses such as American, Cheddar, and Swiss. The Temp modifier group contains meat temperature modifiers such as rare, medium rare, medium, and so on.

A collection of modifiers. Modifier groups allow you to organize your modifiers into logical groups on the Toast POS app's ordering screens.

An alternate term for modifier.

In Toast reports, net sales is computed as prices paid by guests for items sold plus the sum of all non-gratuity service charges paid to the restaurant.

Net sales identifies business income after deductions have been taken (discounts, customer credit redemptions, loyalty program redemptions). It excludes amounts collected from guests that must be paid to other entities (taxes, auto-gratuity service charges, credit card tips) and returns (voided or deleted checks and items). Net sales also excludes payments made by guests for deferred sales items (gift cards, house account payments).

For menu items that do not require any BOH effort to prepare, such as retail goods or self-serve coffee, you do not need to print or display kitchen tickets at a prep station. Those menu items can be routed to a virtual "No Print" prep station that does not have an associated kitchen printer.

For more information, see Route items to a virtual prep station.

A device-level configuration option that prevents kitchen tickets from printing if the Toast KDS device at that prep station was also used to place the order. For more information, see Configure a device to not print its own tickets.

Payments that are taken while the Toast device is experiencing a network disruption or Toast outage resulting in Offline mode. Payments taken during Offline mode are authorized and processed once connectivity is restored.

Used when asking the kitchen staff to prepare something as quickly as possible.

A POS option used for items not included in a menu, such as corkage fees, room rentals, and etc. For more information about open items, see Creating an Open Item or Open Priced Menu Item.

An order that has been entered into the Toast platform but has not been paid for yet. See also Paid order.

On a Toast POS device, the ⋮ icon that appears in the upper corner of every screen. Tap the ⋮ icon to list any additional options available on that screen.

A pending hold placed on a cardholder's account in the transaction amount. If an authorization is not settled within seven days of the authorization date, the hold is removed and the held funds are released back to the cardholder's account.

An order that has been paid for but has not been closed by the server. This is the state an order is in when a server has run a guest's credit card for the amount owed, but has not yet added the tip amount in and closed the order. For more information, see Tracking the order state.

Removes cash from an active or open cash drawer. You can configure reasons in Toast Web to explain pay outs.

A point of sale system is the hardware, software, and support that manages sales transactions, including itemization, credit card processing, and receipt printing.

The area in the kitchen where a certain type of food is prepared. Examples: grill, wood oven, fry, or salad.

For Toast POS system configuration, a prep station identifies the location of a Toast KDS device or kitchen printer that displays or prints orders for menu items. Example: salad items are routed to the Cold prep station, and items with grilled chicken are routed to the Grill prep station. Menus can be configured to route a salad order that includes grilled chicken to both of these prep stations so that both cooks can work on the order in parallel. For more information, see How orders are routed to KDS devices.

An ingredient or component that is used by multiple menu items or modifiers. You can set up production items in the Toast platform on a KDS device to help line cooks and expediters monitor how many of that ingredient or component need to be prepared to fulfill current orders. For more information, see About production items.

To sell a particular menu item. Example: "I've got four salmon left and they expire tomorrow. Push them."

A type of restaurant that serves a limited, low cost menu at a counter or drive-through window.

A stationary check holder that suspends printed order tickets in the kitchen. The Toast KDS device can replace the rail in a kitchen.

An income-generating part of the front of house in a restaurant, such as a dining room, bar, or private function area.

The first step of the process to replace faulty Toast hardware if the device is malfunctioning and cannot be fixed using recommended troubleshooting methods. The Toast Customer Care team issues RMAs after investigating the problem. For more information, see Replacing Faulty Hardware.

For a guest who is dining in, their seat identifies their physical location at a table in the restaurant or bar. Seats are typically numbered to assure servers can efficiently deliver items to the guests who ordered them.

For table service orders, servers can include each guest's seat number. For more information about how to configure this option, see ???.

An option on ordering screens on a Toast POS device. Servers select Send to notify the kitchen to begin preparing an order or part of an order.

Waiter or waitress.

A fee determined by the restaurant and included in a guest's bill. In the Toast POS system, a service charge can either be paid to the restaurant and included in net sales as a non-gratuity service charge, or paid to the employee (such as a server, bartender, or driver) on the check as a gratuity. For more information, see Service charge overview. See also Gratuity.

A completed transaction that has been authorized, captured, and deposited to your bank account.

This is the process of FOH restaurant employees ending their shift. Shift review ensures that all checks are closed, cash held by the server to make change is returned to the restaurant, and tips and gratuities are given to the employee. A report is printed and signed by the employee and the manager on duty.

The restaurant market segment that has from 1 to 10 restaurant sites, also called "doors" or "units", such as an independent restaurant.

The amount of cash assigned to a cash drawer when it is created.

In the FOH, the section of the floor that is assigned to a server. In the BOH, a prep station. Stations keep a restaurant running smoothly, and are configured based on budget, space, menu, and as needed.

An option on ordering screens on a Toast POS device. Servers select Stay to send an order to the kitchen without closing the ordering screen. Example: a server uses a handheld device to take drink orders for a large party and selects Stay after each guest orders. The bar begins making drinks for the table before the entire party has ordered.

An identification code, usually alphanumeric, for a product that allows it to be tracked for inventory purposes.

The balance of a check prior to applying any credits, discounts, or taxes.

An amount in addition to the bill that is determined by the guest and paid to the server or delivery driver. The server or driver is responsible for any taxes owed. Example: a guest leaves a tip of 20% for good service. See also Gratuity.

Tracks the cash paid out from the restaurant to an employee during the employee's shift review. This is correlated with any non-cash tips owed to the employee in the form of cash if the restaurant has elected to pay out non-cash tips at the end of day instead of paying them out through payroll.

The restaurant administration site at toasttab.com/restaurants/admin, which can be accessed from either a web browser or the Toast POS device (from the home screen, select Setup > Other Setup). For more information, see Using Toast Web.

A tablet or handheld device that runs the Toast POS app.

On a Toast POS device, the page that provides access to features other than the device's primary mode. The access permissions assigned to the current user determine the set of features that are available on this page. For more information, see Access Toast POS device setup.

The Toast point of sale (POS) product, which includes the Toast POS app, Toast restaurant hardware, Toast Web, and other restaurant workflow functionality. For more information, see Toast platform overview.

The number of seats at a table. Example: 4 top or 6 top. A table with two seats is typically called a deuce.

The sales cycle for a table, from guest seating to payment, leaving, and resetting for the next guest.

A back-of-house KDS workflow in which orders fulfilled on prep station screens go to a sequence of two expediter screens to finalize and then serve or deliver to guests. For more information, see Using a KDS expediter screen.

An authorization placed on a cardholder’s account. This hold remains in a pending state until the payment is captured, and can expire if the payment is not captured within seven days of the payment authorization date.

To suggest a higher priced item without saying that it is higher priced. Example: a guest orders a glass of red wine with their steak, and the server suggests the cabernet at $15 per glass rather than just serving the house red at $6 per glass.

A circular, spinning check holder that suspends printed order tickets in the kitchen. The Toast KDS device can replace the wheel in a kitchen.

See also Expediter (Expo).

A one-day sales summary that appears when you select Close Out Day on the home screen of a Toast POS device. This is a report for the entire business day. It can be customized to show the relevant information you wish to see at the end of a business day such as net sales, discounts and voids, and cash balance. The report can be customized on the Front of house > Order screen setup > UI options page in Toast Web. Monitoring the Z report during the day does not interfere with the automated close out process that the Toast POS system completes every night.

To take an item off of the menu. Example: the kitchen runs out of fish for the evening's salmon special, so the servers are told to "86" that item.