What Toast means by a digital menu
We checked Toast’s own site in September 2026. Its plan comparison lists “Digital menus, offline mode, mobile payments” among the point of sale features, and “Toast Mobile Order & Pay” as its own line. Toast describes Mobile Order & Pay as a tool that “lets guests place orders and pay from their own phones,” with items “immediately sent to the kitchen.” On menu changes it says: “86 an item from anywhere or test new pricing without wasting time or money printing new menus.”
So the Toast QR menu is an ordering screen built from the menu in your POS. That is a real strength. The menu guests order from is the menu the kitchen cooks from, with modifiers and prices that ring correctly.
Toast and Gaslamp, side by side
| Row | Toast | Gaslamp |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Starter Kit: from $0 a month, one location, up to 2 terminals, new customers. Point of Sale: from $69 a month. Build Your Own: custom. Mobile Order & Pay on its own: Not listed. | $19 a month, or $190 a year. |
| What the QR does | Guests order and pay from their phones; orders go to the kitchen. | Opens a hosted menu to read. No ordering, no payments. |
| Menu edits | In the POS; Toast says menus update in real time. | In a phone editor; guests see it about thirty seconds after you save. |
| Printed menu | 17 free PowerPoint templates, exported to PDF for a print shop. MustHaveMenus is listed as a partner for print menus from Toast data. | Eight designs, print-ready PDF on paid plans, from the same edit as the phone menu. |
| Printable QR pieces | Not listed. | Table tent (4 × 6), window sign (letter), counter card (3 × 5), five code styles. |
| Needs a POS | Yes, it is part of the Toast POS. | No. It works next to any POS, or none. |
Where Toast wins
- Ordering and paying at the table. Gaslamp does neither. If you want guests to order a second round without flagging anyone down, that is Toast’s job.
- One menu for the kitchen and the guest. The QR menu comes from the POS, so an 86 in the POS is an 86 on the phone. With Gaslamp you change both.
- It may already be paid for. If you are on Toast, its digital menu features sit inside a system you already run. Adding another tool is another login.
Where Gaslamp wins
- The printed menu. Toast hands you PowerPoint files to design yourself. Gaslamp sets your menu in one of eight designs and gives you a print-ready PDF that matches the phone.
- A menu to read, not a checkout. Plenty of dining rooms want a server to take the order. A Gaslamp QR opens the menu, with dietary tags and photos, and stops there.
- No POS required. Food trucks, pop-ups, bars on another system, and anyone mid-contract elsewhere can have a designed print and QR menu for $19 a month.
- QR pieces ready to print. Table tents, window signs, and counter cards come with the code already on them.
Four questions that settle it
- Are you on Toast already? If yes, turn on what you have before buying anything. If no, buying a POS to get a QR menu is the long way round.
- Should the code take orders, or show the menu? Ordering means a POS. Showing the menu does not, and a read-only menu is simpler for guests who only want to look.
- Who designs the paper? Toast’s templates are PowerPoint files, so someone on your team lays them out and keeps them current. If nobody wants that job, a menu tool that sets the design for you is the fix.
- How often does the printed menu change? If it is quarterly, a PowerPoint menu and a print shop will do. If it is weekly, you want the print file to come from the same edit as the phone menu, so the two never drift.
Running both
Some Toast restaurants will want both: Toast for ordering, Gaslamp for the printed menu and a read-only QR menu at the host stand or in the window. Be honest with yourself about the cost of that. The two do not sync, so a price change is two edits: one in Toast, one in Gaslamp. If that sounds like a chore you will skip, pick one. Our price update guide walks through each spot a price shows up, so nothing gets missed.
What Gaslamp does not do
- No POS, ordering, payments, or kitchen tickets, and no Toast integration.
- No scheduled or time-of-day menus. Lunch and dinner are two separate menus, each with its own code.
- Up to three labeled prices per item, from $1 to $9,999. Modifiers go in the description.
- No scan analytics numbers.
The verdict
If you run Toast and want guests to order and pay from the table, Toast’s menu is the right answer, and we would not talk you out of it. If you want a designed printed menu and a QR menu guests can read, without buying or changing a POS, that is what Gaslamp is for. It costs $19 a month after a 30-day trial with no card, and you can open the demo editor on your phone tonight, change a price, and see the menu follow before you decide anything. More options are in our menu software roundup.