Thanks for reaching out with this feedback!
I shared this feedback with the team, and this was their reply
Yes—it’s possible to stop “no-prep” items from blocking the kitchen, but it’s not typically done via “auto-fulfillment.” The clean Toast-native pattern is to route those items so they don’t land on prep-station KDS queues in the first place.
Best-practice fix: route no-prep items to Expediter only
Toast prep stations have a specific mode for exactly this use case:
• Expediter only= item skips prep stations and goes straight to expo
(recommended for things like bottled drinks, pre-packaged sauces—same idea as chips, soups that aren’t cooked-to-order, runner-only items)
That way:
- kitchen stations aren’t blocked waiting on runners
- expo/runner can still see the item on the expediter screen/ticket
This is especially important if you’re using Sequenced Prep to Expo Fulfillment (which prevents expo fulfillment until all prep stations are complete). Toast even calls out that in that setup you should configure an expo-only prep station for items that do not require preparation.
Alternate options (depending on your workflow)
- If you truly want these items off KDS entirely: you can remove their prep station assignment so they don’t route to kitchen devices (but you’ll want to make sure they still show where runners need them—often expo).
- If runners need to “mark delivered” separately: Two-level fulfillment + Runner Fulfillment can help runners mark items as delivered on the KDS, but it’s still manual (not auto-fulfill).
Robert Anderson, Community Manager
Toast
