What is a Nested Modifier?
Nested modifiers (also called “submodifiers”) can be setup in Toast to assist when you have modifier options in your menu that require a follow-up choice to place an order. This means that you can have multiple levels of modifiers on a menu item.
Some examples of this could include:
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A pizza where the customer can select a modifier of “Left Side” and then can select what should be on the left side (like “Pepperoni”)
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A menu item that has a side option such as a “Side Salad” and you can choose what dressing to add to the salad (like “Ranch”)
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A hot dog that has multiple sets of topping options such as “Classic toppings”, “Chicago style”, etc. where you can choose to remove items from the preselected toppings (like “No Cheese”)
If the nested modifiers feature is not turned on in MarginEdge then we don’t capture that data and you will only see the main modifier name in the PMIX data. This can result in some unhelpful modifiers like “Left Side” where it doesn’t specify what was on the left side.
More information on this topic from Toast: Toast Central
What does this look like when enabled in MarginEdge?
There are two ways you can use nested modifiers.
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If you want to map your main modifier separately from the nested modifier then jump to the “Pick 2 or Combination Meals” section.
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Example: A customer selects a “Pick 2” deal where they pick a 1/2 sandwich and a 1/2 soup. When they select a sandwich (main modifier) they can also pick the bread for the sandwich (nested modifier). The sandwich would be a separate line on the PMIX Mapping page from the bread.
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Continue reading if you don’t want the main modifier separated from the nested modifier.
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Example: A customer selects a pizza where they want to customize the left half of the pizza with pepperoni and the right half with onion. “Left side” would be the main modifier and “Pepperoni” would be the nested modifier. You would see one line called “Left Side - Pepperoni” on the PMIX Mapping page.
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*Note: This integration only captures one level of nested modifiers. If your nested modifiers have nested modifiers then those will not appear in MarginEdge.
We process modifiers from Toast by creating a line on the PMIX mapping page for each main modifier and nested modifier combination.
For example:
In the above example, a pizzeria sells pizzas where half of the pizza can have pepperoni and the other half can have something else. They’d select “Left Side” first and then select the nested modifier. The rows we’d create from the nested modifiers would look something like this:
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Left Side - Pepperoni
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Left Side - Green Pepper
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Left Side - Mushroom
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Right Side - Onion
If there are no nested modifiers selected for the modifier then you would just see the main modifier. Example: If just a Side Salad is ordered with no dressing selected (aka the nested modifier) then you’d just see “Side Salad” on the PMIX Mapping page.
If a nested modifier is always selected for a modifier then we do not create a row for the main modifier. Example: There will never be a row just labeled “Left Side” because there’s always a nested modifier selected (and because you don’t need to map “Left Side” to anything). If you want your main modifier to have a row separate from the rows with it’s nested modifiers then see the below section on Pick 2 or Combination Meals.
Pick 2 or Combination Meal Settings
For Pick 2 or combination meals, the nested modifiers work a little differently.
Example scenario:
A customer selects a “Pick 2” deal where they pick a 1/2 sandwich and a 1/2 soup. When they select a sandwich they pick the bread for the sandwich and then can further modify that sandwich.
Menu item: Pick 2
Main modifier: 1/2 Chicken Mozzarella sandwich
Nested modifiers: Ciabatta bread, No red onion
This is how the nested modifiers would come appear with the default nested modifier settings:
This allows us to map the nested modifiers (like the bread options), but doesn’t allow us to map the sandwich itself.
In order to map the main modifier (the sandwich) we need a separate line for just the sandwich (separate from the modifier+nested modifier combinations). Something like the following:
That way you can map the sandwich and also map all the nested modifiers (like the bread).
How to enable separate main modifier lines from the nested modifier line
Within MarginEdge, go to Setup > Point of Sale > Edit Configuration (for Toast).
There is a checkbox labeled “Allow separate mappings for submodifiers from their parent modifier?”.
Once this is checked (and Saved!) we will start creating separate rows for the main modifier items.
Example:
Going from this:
To this:
How can we enable the nested modifiers feature in MarginEdge?
This feature is enabled by default for all new customers from April 2024 onwards. To preserve mappings for existing customers at the time of release, this feature was not auto-enabled.
If you’re not seeing nested modifiers in MarginEdge, and you’d like them enabled for your location(s), then please reach out to help@marginedge.com and let them know you’d like this turned on for your locations.
Please let us know if you need the advanced (Pick 2/combination meals) setting enabled.
Things to note:
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If you don’t have nested modifiers setup within Toast then we will not see them in MarginEdge. More information on how to set this up in Toast can be found here:
Toast Central
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We only capture one level of nested modifiers. If your nested modifiers have nested modifiers then those will not appear in MarginEdge.
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When this feature is turned on in MarginEdge you will likely have new lines (that include the nested modifiers) that will need to be mapped. This means your percentage of total sales mapped might change.