Digital Menu Update Checklist

Pull the last 30-day sales mix from Toast, Square, or Aloha. Flag items below 1% mix as 86 candidates and items running over theoretical food cost as repricing candidates. The exec chef and GM should review together before committing the change list.

Walk the prep list and par sheet with the exec chef and sous. Confirm new items have a tested recipe card, plate cost, and station assignment. Discontinued items need a use-up plan for existing inventory to avoid waste.

Target plate cost is typically 28–32% for full-service, 25–30% for fast-casual. Pull current invoice pricing from MarginEdge or R365 — protein and produce volatility usually drive the biggest variance from last quarter's recipe cost.

Name the protein source, cooking method, and notable ingredients. Avoid unverifiable claims like "locally sourced" or "organic" unless you can document the supplier. FDA menu-labeling rules treat these as actionable claims.

Cover the Big 9: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, sesame. The allergen-aware manager (PCFP or AllerTrain certified) signs off. States like MA, IL, MI, NY, and RI require this review on file.

FDA menu labeling applies to chains with 20+ locations doing substantially the same menu — calories must appear on the menu and menu board. Independents are exempt federally but several cities (NYC, Philadelphia, King County WA) impose their own thresholds.

Calories on the menu, full written disclosure (sodium, sugars, sat fat, etc.) available on request. Post the PDF on the website and keep a printed copy at the host stand. Inspectors will ask for it.

"Wild-caught", "grass-fed", "house-made", "gluten-free" — each is a regulated or actionable claim. Pull the supplier spec sheet or kitchen prep doc for any item making such a claim. Gluten-free in particular must meet FDA's 20ppm threshold and be plated without cross-contact.

In Toast, Square, or Aloha: build the item, assign the menu group, attach modifiers, set printer routing (cold line vs hot line vs bar), and map the tax rate. Modifier inheritance is the most common mistake — a new sandwich without the bread-swap modifier group will hit the line missing options.

Confirm tickets fire to the correct station — salad to garde manger, entrée to grill or sauté, dessert to pastry. Test from the POS by sending a comped order through; verify each printer fires the right line items before going live.

Push the changes to DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub, and your direct online ordering (Toast Online Ordering, ChowNow, Square Online). Third-party platforms often have a 24–48 hour propagation lag and may not honor every modifier — verify each platform after publish, not just the master.

Replace the QR-linked PDF or web menu. Walk the dining room and scan every table tent with two different phones to confirm the new menu loads. Old cached PDFs on the CDN are a frequent source of stale-pricing guest complaints.

Open a training-mode check, ring every new item with every modifier path, and confirm the price, tax, and station routing. Void out at the end. This catches missing modifiers and wrong tax mappings before the dinner rush does.

Walk a three-way diff: POS item screen, printed menu, online ordering price. Mismatches are the single most common guest-complaint trigger after a menu change. Document the variance count before sign-off.

Do not go live with an unresolved price mismatch. The GM owns the call to hold the launch, run a temporary comp policy on the affected items, or revert. Note the decision in the run for the audit trail.

Load the online menu on iOS Safari, Android Chrome, and a desktop browser. Verify images load, modifiers render, and the cart math works end-to-end. Self-order kiosks (Toast Kiosk, Square Kiosk) need a separate publish cycle.

Plate each new item for the full team. Servers cannot upsell or answer guest questions on an item they have not tasted. The exec chef walks ingredients, prep method, allergen risks, and the suggested pairing.

For every new item, name the allergens present and the approved substitution path (gluten-free bun, dairy-free sauce, etc.). Allergen tickets get dedicated tools, dedicated surface, and hand-changed gloves — the line must hear this on day one, not learn it from a complaint.

Short verbal quiz at pre-shift: top three ingredients, allergens, price, suggested pairing. A server who can't answer cleanly shadows a senior server on the floor that shift instead of taking tables solo.

Queue Instagram, Facebook, and the email blast for launch day. Lead with photography of the new items — not a price list. Tag local suppliers if the supplier relationship is genuine and documentable.

Replace the menu link or PDF on Google Business Profile, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and OpenTable / Resy / SevenRooms. These are the listings guests actually search before booking; a stale menu here drives complaint volume on launch night.

Pull every old printed menu from the host stand, server stations, takeout counter, and bar. Old menus reappearing during service is the most preventable cause of price disputes — count them in and out.

GM final review: POS matches print matches online, staff trained, allergens signed off, marketing scheduled. Capture the go-live decision and any deferred items for the next cycle.