Overview
Supported Products:
Admin Dashboard
App (Single-Brand)
App (Marketplace)
Web (Single-Brand)
Web (Marketplace)
Supported POS:
Toast
Feature Contents:
Why Build It?
Historically, prep times on Lunchbox ordering platforms have been set at the Location or Restaurant Group / Marketplace level. While simple to manage, this did not allow Restaurant Partners to display different prep times for a simple order with items that can be prepared quickly (e.g., one salad) and an even more complicated order with items that take time to cook (e.g., a medium burger + a grilled chicken sandwich with cheese).
The Item-Level Prep Times feature enables Restaurant Partners on applicable POS systems to set prep times at the item level so that a more accurate order ready time can be communicated to both guests and delivery partners (e.g., DoorDash Drive).
How Does it Work?
For Lunchbox Restaurant Partners on Toast, both Restaurant Group / Marketplace Level or Location Level prep times (set on Admin Dashboard), as well as Item-Level Prep Times (set on Toast), will be used to determine the total order prep time.
Order Prep Time = Restaurant Group / Marketplace or Location Level Prep Time + Max {Item-Level Prep Time(s)}
Please refer to the Use Cases section below to understand the different ways in which Restaurant Partners can use this feature based on this formula.
Estimate Increment and Order Throttling functionalities are not affected by the Item-Level Prep Time feature. For more information on Estimate Increment and Order Throttling, please visit Order Throttling and the Order Threshold and Prep Time Estimates pages.
Use Cases
There are two different ways in which Restaurant Partners can use the feature:
Method 1:
Set Item-Level Prep Times for a few items that take a long time to prepare:
If there are select items (e.g., steak, burger) on the menu that takes a longer time to prepare, the Restaurant Partner can:
Set the Restaurant Group / Marketplace or Location level prep time on the Admin Dashboard to the “regular” / baseline prep time.
Set the Item-Level Prep Time for the select items (e.g., steak, burger) on Toast to the difference between the item-specific prep time and the “regular” / baseline prep time.
When a guest places an order:
If the order contains item(s) with item-specific prep time(s), the order prep time = "regular" / baseline prep time + max {item-specfic prep time(s)}.
If the order does not contain any item with item-specific prep time the total order prep time = “regular” / baseline prep time.
Example: Let’s say that, at Bob’s Burger’s, a “regular” order takes 15 minutes to prepare, but burgers and cheeseburgers take 20 minutes and 25 minutes to prepare respectively.
The restaurant staff would:
Set the Restaurant Group or Location level prep time to be 15 minutes (”regular” / baseline prep time) on the Admin Dashboard.
Set the prep time for burgers to be item-specific prep time - “regular” / baseline prep time = 20 min - 15 min = 5 minutes = 300 seconds on Toast.
Set the prep time for cheeseburgers to be item-specific prep time - “regular” / baseline prep time = 25 min - 15 min = 10 minutes = 600 seconds on Toast.
When a guest places an order:
If the order contains a burger and a cheeseburger, order prep time = “regular” / baseline prep time + max {item-specific prep time(s)} = 15 min + max {5 min, 10 min} = 15 min + 10 min = 25 min would be quoted.
If the order contains a burger but not a cheese burger, order prep time = “regular” / baseline prep time + max {item-specific prep time(s)} = 15 min + max {5 min} = 15 min + 5 min = 20 min would be quoted.
If the order does not contain a cheeseburger, order prep time = “regular” / baseline prep time = 15 minutes would be quoted.
Method 2:
Set Item-Level Prep Times for all items on the menu:
If the prep times vary widely from item to item, the Restaurant Partner can:
Set the Restaurant Group / Marketplace or Location level prep time on the Admin Dashboard to 0.
Set the Item-Level Prep Time for the select items (e.g., steak, burger) on Toast to be the item-specific prep time.
When a guest places an order:
Order prep time = max {item-specfic prep time(s)}.
Example: Let’s say that, at Bob’s Burger’s, items have the following prep items: cheeseburger 25 minutes, burger 20 minutes, salads 10 minutes, and fries 5 minutes.
The restaurant staff would:
Set the Restaurant Group or Location level prep time to be 0 minutes on the Admin Dashboard.
Set the following item-specific prep times on Toast:
Cheeseburger = 25 min = 1500 seconds.
Burger = 20 min = 1200 seconds.
Salads = 10 min = 600 seconds.
Fries = 5 min = 300 seconds.
When a guest places an order, order prep time = max {item-specific prep time(s)}:
If the order contains a cheese burger, burger, and fries, order prep time = max {25 min, 20 min, 5 min} = 25 min.
Limitations
POS: This feature is currently supported for Toast only.
Restaurant Experience
Configuration
Use Case 1: Set Item-Level Prep Time for Select Items
Admin Dashboard Configuration
On the Settings > Settings page, set the Restaurant Group or Marketplace level prep time to be the “regular” / baseline prep time for the restaurant group or marketplace
On each of the Locations pages, set the prep time to be the “regular” / baseline prep time for the location.
NOTE: Location-level prep times will override any Restaurant Group or Marketplace level prep times when calculating the ready times for that location.
Toast Configuration
Following the instructions on this Toast support page, set the prep time for the select item(s) to be the difference between the item-specific prep time and the “regular” / baseline prep time.
The value(s) must be entered in seconds.
Use Case 2: Set Item-Level Prep Time for All Items
Admin Dashboard Configuration
On the Settings > Settings page, set the Restaurant Group or Marketplace level prep time to be 0.
On each of the Locations pages, set the prep time to be 0.
Toast Configuration
Following the instructions on this Toast support page, set the prep time for each item to be the item-specific prep time.
The value(s) must be entered in seconds.