Order Throttling caps the number of orders or items your kitchen accepts per 15-minute window. Guests still place orders normally, they just see a longer ASAP time when slots are full.
How It Works
Once a 15 minute slot fills, guests see a "busier than usual" notice and a longer ASAP time. Each full slot adds 15 minutes. When the window clears, normal times return automatically. Guests can still place ASAP orders, they queue to the next open slot and arrive as scheduled orders.
ℹ️ Catering orders don't count toward your cap and won't be throttled.
Owner POS orders do count toward your throttle cap, but the POS won't block you from ringing up orders.
Choosing a Throttle Type
You can throttle by orders or by items. Pick the option that best matches how your kitchen measures capacity.
⚠️ Only top-level items count toward the cap. Modifiers and add-ons don't count.
Type | Description | Example |
Throttle by orders | This limits how many orders can be placed for each 15-minute slot. Each order counts as 1, no matter how many items are in it. | Your limit is 10 orders. A guest places an order with 100 items. That still counts as 1 order. |
Throttle by items | This limits how many items your kitchen can take on per 15-minute slot. Large orders are still accepted at checkout, but they may use up item capacity from future slots. | Your limit is 10 items per slot. A guest places an ASAP order with 40 items. The order is still placed as ASAP, but it uses 40 items of capacity, which fills the current slot and the next 3 slots. Other guests may see later available times until that capacity opens up again. |
Setting Up Order Throttling
Order Throttling is available in the Owner Dashboard, Owner Tablet or Owner App. The steps are the same in each.
1. Go to Settings
2. Click Prep Time
3. Click Kitchen Overrides
4. Choose your throttle type: By Orders or By Items.
5. Set your cap number and pick the days and time range.
6. Save your changes.
⚠️ If you already have a prep time override set for the same time range, you can't add a separate throttle for it. Add the throttle to that existing override instead. You'll see an error if the times conflict.
Excluding Items or Categories
Some items don't affect kitchen load, like pre-made drinks or desserts.
You can exclude these items or entire categories from the throttle count in the Menu Editor. All items are included by default, you need to set exclusions manually.
Items in an excluded category are excluded automatically, even if the item itself isn't marked.
ℹ️ Exclusions also apply to Large Order Overrides. If you have those set up, double-check your configuration after adding exclusions.