Otter + Toast Integration Guide

Integration Overview

What is a POS integration between Otter and Toast POS?

A POS integration is when you connect your online channels and delivery platforms with your Toast POS, via Otter. It creates real-time and direct communication between the delivery platforms and Toast, removing most manual inputs and actions required to synchronize those systems.

What is the necessity of integrating your Toast POS with Otter?

When online food orders from Delivery platforms represent a significant part of the business of a restaurant, they start feeling multiple operational pain points, that all find answers and solutions with a POS integration.

Otter’s point-of-sale integration allows orders from your delivery partners to flow directly into your point of sale. This integration has numerous benefits including:

• Automatically synchronize the Menu from Toast POS to your delivery channels, with no manual actions
• Sending all orders to flow directly into your Toast KDS seamlessly
• Sending all orders to print using Toast POS printer
• Eliminating the manual entry of delivery platform orders into the POS
• Improving the quality of the data by reducing errors from manual entry

In conclusion, an integration with Toast POS can save time and money, on a daily basis, and make your business more successful.

How does the Otter & Toast integration work?

	Step 1: Menu Sync A POS integration with Toast starts by a “Menu Sync” where Otter reads the menu in Toast POS and then links the items in Toast to the items published to the delivery platforms.
	Step 2: Order Injection A POS integration with Otter allows customers to get Online Food Ordering platform orders sent directly to their POS. This means that if you are POS integrated, when you receive an online food order through Otter, the food order will automatically be sent to your Toast POS and be processed by the POS as any other order.

How to Connect

Adding Otter User in Toast

The first step to integrating your Otter account with Toast is to add an Otter user. Follow the guide below to learn how to add an Otter user and connect Otter to your Toast account.

Step	Process	Additional Information
1	Navigate to your Toast Home Dashboard.
2	Click on Integrations.
3	Click on Browse & purchase integrations.
4	Type "Otter" in the search bar.
5	Click on Add Now.
6	Click on Confirm.
7	Click on Integrations.
8	Click on Configure integrations.
9	Confirm that Otter appears on the list.
10	Click on Employees in the left-side menu.
11	Under the Employee Management section, click on Employees.
12	Click on Add New Employee.
13	Toggle "Invite to create account" to Yes.
14	Type "Otter" in the First Name field.
15	Type "Integrations" in the Last Name field.
16	Type "integrations@tryotter.com" in the Email Address field.
17	Click on Add.
18	Find Otter Integrations on the Employee list and click on Edit.
19	Check General Manager as Job Title.
20	Make sure the following permissions are checked: Restaurant Admin: Sales Reports Edit Full Menu Web Setup Kitchen / Dining Room Setup Payment Setup Publishing
21	Click on Save.
22	You should see the user "Otter Integrations" saved successfully!

If you don’t have an Otter’s account, you can request a free demo here.

For current customers, in case of doubts, reach out to your Otter POS onboarding specialist.

What if I previously worked with another POS integration provider? (e.g. Chowly, It's a Checkmate, Deliverect, OLO)

1. Reach out to the Prior POS integration Provider to remove integrations from all delivery partners. They cannot just be disconnected, they need to be removed or the delivery partners will not let us connect. Please set a specific time to disconnect/remove the Prior POS Integrator and we can immediately launch the Otter integration.
2. Connect with your Delivery Partners to set the “tablet order protocol”. The Prior POS Provider often has you change the order protocol so we’ll need to revert it back to the tablet. The Delivery Partners should be able to confirm/get this done quickly.
3. Similarly, connect with your Delivery Partners to allow us menu edit access on all Delivery Partners.

To confirm, there is no downtime in terms of accepting orders if you follow these steps, and you can have Order Manager running on the Otter tablet to aggregate those throughout the process. Still, we cannot link/publish to your Delivery Partners until the above steps are followed.

Menu Management

Menu Best Practices

Before initiating a POS integration with Otter, it's essential to ensure the usability and quality of the Menu in Toast POS.

Best practices include:

• Add all categories that you would like to have on your delivery channels (UberEats, Doordash, etc.) in the POS.
• Add all items/item variations/modifiers that do not already exist in Toast Precisely as you want the guest to see them on delivery channels.
• Review and clean the names, descriptions and prices to make sure they are ready to be published to the delivery platforms.

Otter will be synchronizing with the delivery platforms' menus so that they will reflect how they are in Toast, giving you the ability to completely control your guests’ experience directly from Toast POS

Step	Process	Additional Information
1	You will navigate into the edit menus section from the dashboard. Click “Add new menu” and title the menu “Otter Menu”. If you already have a customer-facing menu built in Toast, you can deep copy that menu here.
2	Now scroll to groups and click on Add and then Copy Existing Groups.
3	You’ll select all categories (groups in Toast) that are included in the Otter menu and also make sure to check the “Make a deep copy” box in the bottom left. This will create copies of the items and all modifiers so that you can edit them for your online menu without changing them in any other menus. Selecting Deep Copy will create a copy of the selected Menu Groups and any items, subgroups, modifier groups, and modifiers it contains. Any changes made to these copies will not impact the originals.
4	Now update any items that need to be updated. All item names, descriptions, and prices should be cleaned up here as this information will all be pulled through to the delivery platform. Also, be sure to check all guidelines (described below) are followed and unsupported features are not being utilized.
5	Do you intend to use the Toast KDS/Printer or an Otter Printer? If an Otter printer - no action is needed. If Toast printer - ensure that this menu is printing to the correct station. Navigate to the Otter menu page and select appropriate prep station
6	Then, we’ll go to Kitchen Setup from the dashboard and make sure to turn on “Print Guest Details” under printer tickets so that the customer name and address are printed on the tickets. Save and Publish.
The important thing to note about building this Otter menu in Toast is that the structure needs to be supported by all of the delivery partners. For that reason, there are a few guidelines that should be followed: Use Base Pricing only for all items. No double nested modifiers (modifier within a modifier) I.e. if a chicken slider is the item, and there is a size modifier for 1, 2 or 3 pieces. We can’t then add a size specific modifier to that selection. We would need to create items for 1 slider, 2 sliders and 3 sliders and create modifier groups for each of those items as applicable. Do not use subcategories. If you have subgroups these should generally be created on the group level for the purposes of this integration. No negative modifiers. I.e. if you have a sandwich with bacon, there cannot be a modifier to remove bacon and save $1 off the price of the sandwich
7	Finally, we’ll make the menu available for online ordering, please follow these steps below: Log in to Toast Web and navigate to Menus > Menu management > Edit menus. Select the menu you would like to adjust, for example, Otter Menu. Scroll down to Properties in the Advanced Properties section and select where you would like to make the menu available in the Visible To section. Online orders: Toast - The menu is visible on your Toast online ordering site. Online orders: Ordering Partners - The menu is visible on Toast Partner online ordering sites that you have integrated with.
You can get more help with your Toast Menu in the Toast Support Center or contact Otter's Customer Support.

Tips to a Perfect Menu Structure

Setting up Menu Auto-Sync with Toast POS

Menu Auto-Sync with Toast POS is the best way to ensure a reliable POS integration with minimal maintenance on the long run. It is a best practice used by most Otter customers to manage their Menus in Toast POS, and automate the update of all the other menus in their Delivery Platforms.

Step	Process	Additional Information
1	Open your Otter Dashboard, if you don’t this access, please contact the Otter's Customer Support.
2	Go to Otter Menus app, and select your menu.
3	Click on the Settings icon in the top-right corner.
4	Click on the Menu Sync tab enable the "Automatic updates from POS Menu" toggle.
5	The automatic menu publish setting will be available only once you configure the Automatic updates from the POS Menu. Configure the settings by selecting the information you wish Otter to update automatically from the POS.
When Menu Auto-Sync is enabled, it will run every 6 hours, and will ensure the Menus are kept Synced. Check more details in this article.

NOTE: If you do not automate the menu publishing, Otter will only reflect the updates from the POS on the Otter menu. That means any new or deleted items won't be sent to the delivery platforms automatically. This might impact order processing through the POS.

Use the Otter SSMM to manage your Menu

Self Serve Menu Management (SSMM) is an Otter feature that allows you to create, edit, update, manage and publish menus from Otter’s Business Manager tool.

You can find here all the helpful guides about the tool and its features.

Order Management

For these next steps, please, contact your Onboarding Specialist or the Otter Support team to enable the Order Injection.

What is required for the Order Injection to work perfectly?

An “Order injection” to your Toast POS can only happen if the menu is “Synced”, meaning that all Menu items you have listed on Otter must be the same Menu items you have listed on your Toast POS.

Please, follow these guides to ensure your menus are Synced with Toast POS:

1. Enable Menu Auto-Sync
2. Trigger a manual Menu Sync in Update from POS

Integration FAQs

Why is my menu updating without any action from me?

Why is my item in Toast POS not importing to Otter?

How should I set up my payment options?

In order to turn on the auto-close/auto-tender feature, we will need your team to log in to Toast using this link. For privacy reasons, we do not have access to your login credentials.

Step	Process	Additional Information
1	Within your Toast account, please go into the integrations@tryotter.com account under the Active Employees section. Within the integrations@tryotter.com account, please go to the Access Permissions setting. Toggle from Inherit to Override and check the box. Per the image, make sure the Payments Setup permission has been checked off.
2	From there, once you've finished modifying the settings, select Submit. Please let us know that this has been completed as we will check to see if you have created payments for each delivery partner. If you have, we will be able to map those payment types to the corresponding orders/tickets. If not, please go to Other Payment Options in the Payments section in Toast.
3	Once there, click add and create a Payment option with the name of each delivery platform that you use. For Require Manager Approval, select No.
4	The rest is up to us, we will then map those payment types to the corresponding orders/tickets and we will automatically tender and close on your behalf, so you or your staff will no longer need to!

What if I have different prices between Otter and Toast POS?

How to check if my Otter Menu is correctly Synced and linked to my Toast POS Menu?

Follow the next steps if you are already up and running with your Toast POS integration, if you’re new to POS integration, you can also contact Otter Support to set you up.

Step	Process	Additional Information
1	Select your Menu in the App list, then enter in your menu.
2	Click on Manage POS Links.
3	In “Manage POS Links”, review the “Links summary” section at the top. If all 3 boxes indicate that there are 0 unlinked items, 0 unlinked modifier groups and 0 unlinked modifiers, it means the Otter menu is correctly Synced with Toast POS.
4	If any of the boxes indicates a number of unlinked items or modifier groups or modifiers, it means the Otter menu is not correctly synced with Toast POS. Unlinked items can result in order injections failures and missed orders.

How can I reach out to Toast support if I have an issue?

How should I build my Otter menu?

How to fix printing issues?

What happens if an order is not injected?

If orders are auto-accepted in Otter, does the order need to be acknowledged in the POS?

What if an order is canceled by the customer?

How do scheduled orders work?

Will it show which delivery partner the order is from?

If Otter loses connection to my point of sale, will my delivery accounts be taken offline?

How are tips accounted for?

How is sales tax accounted for?

Can I still use Otter if I have different menus for my online delivery and my in-house restaurant?

If you need additional help or information, you can contact support via the following:

• Chat - Our live agents are available 24/7 to help you through your Otter device. Tap the chat button on the top right corner of the home screen.
• SMS/Text or Telephone - Send us a text or give us a call anytime at 1-888-681-8837 for prompt service from our support experts.