86'd
Restaurant slang for an item that has run out and is no longer available to order. Servers communicate this to the kitchen and customers; on a digital menu, the operator marks the item as sold out so it stops appearing as available.
Why this matters for restaurants: Origin theories vary — some link "86" to a 1930s soup kitchen slang, others to bar code-words for refusing service — but for modern operators the term means "kill this item from the menu, right now." Printed menus can't 86 — customers still see the item and order it. Servers then have to explain the disappointment, slowing service.
Digital menus close the gap: a single toggle in the dashboard removes the item from the customer-facing menu immediately. The 86 list also drives reorder planning — items that 86 frequently are either menu bestsellers (lift price?) or underprep'd (improve mise en place?).
See 86'd in Action
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