Order Throttling lets you cap how many orders or items your kitchen accepts through online ordering in each 15-minute window. Online ordering stays open, but the flow becomes predictable during a rush.
Where to set it
You set Order Throttling in Settings › Prep time › Kitchen Overrides on your Owner Dashboard, tablet, or app.
Cap by orders or by items
By orders: a hard cap on the number of orders per 15-minute slot. One order counts as one, no matter how many items it has.
By items: a cap on total items per slot. If one order goes over, the extra items roll into the next slot, so no order is blocked at checkout.
You can exclude specific items or categories from the item count in the Menu Editor, for example pre-made drinks or desserts.
What guests see
Before any slot fills, guests see your standard ASAP time.
Once a slot fills, guests see a "busier than usual" message, and the ASAP time moves out by 15 minutes for each full slot.
Guests can still order. Their order is queued to the next open slot and shows on your tablet as a scheduled order.
⚠️ Throttle capacity counts POS and marketplace orders too (DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub). Those orders are never blocked, but they use up slots, so size your cap against your total kitchen volume, not just online orders.
Good to know
After the busy window ends, normal ASAP times return automatically.
Throttling and a prep-time override can run in the same Kitchen Overrides schedule, but schedules can't overlap.
Video walkthrough
Prefer to watch? This short walkthrough covers how Order Throttling works.