Step 4: Create Menu Items
After you've created a menu category for your online ordering site, you can begin adding menu items to each category.
What are Menu Items?
Menu items are the food or drink items that customers can order from your menu, such as Baked Ziti or Cobb Salad. In order to provide maximum flexibility, our system allows you to specify a variety of options for each menu item.
In your online ordering console, you can create a menu item by selecting "Restaurant Manager" from the main menu, and then selecting "Menu Items" under the "MENU SETTINGS" heading.
Then click the "+ Add a New Menu Item" button.
Menu Item Fields and Options
Let's walk through the details you'll need to provide for each menu item.
Here is what your customer will see, for reference:
Display Name
This is the name of the menu item that the customer will see.
URL Tag
This is what will appear as a part of your online ordering site's website address. For example:
order.onlineorderingurl.com/classic-pizza/order/dinner/appetizers/french-fries
NOTE: You might serve the same menu item, like french fries, in different menu categories - both appetizers and entrées - but the menu item pricing might be different. You can have duplicate display names for a menu item (i.e. "french fries"), but each URL tag must be unique. In this example, you could add the menu category to the URL tag, like this:
order.onlineorderingurl.com/classic-pizza/order/dinner/appetizers/french-fries-appetizers
order.onlineorderingurl.com/classic-pizza/order/dinner/entrees/french-fries-entrees
Icons
If the menu item is spicy, new to the menu, gluten-free, heart-healthy, or vegetarian, you could indicate this by selecting the corresponding icon.
Description
Add an optional description if you want to provide additional information about the menu item, such as accompanying side dishes, how the dish is prepared, or a list of ingredients.
Checkout Message
When a customer reaches their checkout confirmation screen, you have the option to display a message to the customer.
An example might be if a customer ordered a type of fish that might not be available. You could add "Halibut is subject to availability".
The image below shows our menu item form for a Classic Caesar Salad:
Minimum Preparation Time
This optional detail allows you to notify the customer how long you expect it will take to prepare the menu item or the required advance order time for that item. The default time is set at 0 for each menu item, so the system will automatically use the global prep time. If you don't need separate prep times for items, it is suggested that you leave this at the default and the system will use the global prep times.
In your global location settings, you can define a default average prep time for all orders, but if a specific menu item takes longer to prepare, you can indicate that here. This is a great feature for catering items, such as Party Trays that need a 24-hour prep time. The system will automatically use the longest amount of prep time between the global settings and the menu items settings for all the items in a cart.
Example: If your global time is set at 30 min for Pickup, but you have a Menu Item with a minimum prep time set at 4 hours and another Menu Item with a minimum prep time set at 24 hours, the entire order will have a minimum prep time of 24 hours. (The times are not combined, the system simply selects the longest time set)
Minimum Number Required to Order
You're able to set a minimum number of a menu item that needs to be ordered. If you don't specify this number, the default is 1.
By default, the minimum number will be calculated per-order. For example, if a Cupcake item with multiple choices has a minimum of 12 per-order, the customer must have at least 12 cupcakes of any variety in their cart before they can complete an order.
You can check the box for "calculate per-item instead of per-order", where a customer would be required to order the minimum amount of items before navigating to a new page. For example, if the minimum per-item order of the Cupcake item is 12, then the system would require the customer to order 12 cupcakes of the same flavor.
Maximum Number Available per Order
The default setting for this is a blank box. A good example of the use of this feature is to set a maximum allowed number available to order for items that are made in limited quantities, such as some bakery type items. You might make a specialty cupcake item that you will sell online and to walk-in customers. Therefore, you want to limit online orders to a maximum of 3 per order. You would input the number 3 in this box and the customer would only be able to add 3 of that item to their cart. (Note: This is not an inventory feature, the system would allow each order placed the ability to add the Max number to their cart.)
The image below shows the above features:
Category
Each menu item needs to be assigned to at least one menu category, or the item won't be visible to a customer. Menu items can be added to multiple menu categories.
If you want to create an item, but don't want to add it to a category, you can choose to leave all boxes unchecked and the item will appear as "uncategorized" on the "Menu Items" page. Uncategorized items show at the top of the "Menu Items" page and you can leave them there for later use or edit them as needed.
Item availability according to the Order Type
You can select whether an item is available for delivery, pick-up or dine-in. For example, if you have an in-house special, you could only select dine-in.
If you don't offer a certain type at all (e.g. delivery), it's not necessary to uncheck the type for every item. You can control the default settings for your entire online ordering site in your location settings. We suggest that you leave all the order types checked unless the item specifically is not available for that order type.
The image below shows the categories & order type availability features:
Item visibility for customers
This allows you to control whether a menu item is available for customers to order. You may choose to keep a menu item on your Online Ordering Console, but keep it hidden from customers.
Item visibility for employees
If you add employees to access your Online Ordering Console, you can hide certain menu items from them, if access to these items isn't necessary.
Disallow special instructions
By default, customers will see a box where they can make special requests below each separate item, like preparation instructions. If you don't want to allow the customer to make a request beyond what you offer through Add-Ons, select "Yes (instructions will NOT be allowed)".
Item can be ordered
You may want to display a menu item on the menu, but not allow a customer to order it. For example, if you offer an in-house special that isn't available for delivery or take-out, but you want to advertise the item.
Taxable
By default, all items are taxed. You can select to have certain items exempt from taxes.
Custom Tax Rate
Some locations require an additional tax on top of your regular tax. This is when you would use the Custom Tax Rate. You will only want to input the additional amount for that item, because all items will apply the Global Tax Rate from your restaurant location settings.
If there are lots of items that have different tax rates, then you might want to have the global tax rate as 0% and add the full Custom Tax Rate amount in the form for each individual menu item.
Show pizza options for this item
If the menu item is a pizza, you can select this option to allow customers to have separate toppings on the left side and right side of their pizza.
The image below shows the default settings for the above features. These are the normal settings for the majority of regular menu items.
Pricing
Each menu item must have a price to be visible to the customer. The menu "Price Name" is optional and is often used for different sizes of an item or a descriptor word that might need to show on the order sheet for the kitchen.
For example: You might have an item called "Spaghetti & Meatballs", which is an item that doesn't normally have different sizes. So, for the feature "Item only has a single price (per menu)" you can select "Yes", as shown in the image below. Then add the price of the "Spaghetti & Meatballs".
Each menu item can also have different prices for each menu time. For this instance you may need to select NO for the feature, "Item only has a single price (per menu)". But it is still optional, based on your needs.
For example: An item such as Eggplant Parmesan might be available for Lunch at a lower price and a smaller portion than at Dinner, therefore you might want a way to quickly let the kitchen know to fix the Lunch vs. Dinner portion by using a descriptor word, instead of having to decide based on the price of the item only.
The image below shows an example of how to set the pricing for this example:
Note: The order sheet provided to the restaurant will show the following information:
The Item Display Name (Price Name) and Price
example: Eggplant Parmesan (Lunch) $7.99
If you want the menu item to be available for customers to order in only one menu, list the name and price in that menu only. (Leave the information in the other menus completely blank) For example: you may serve Grilled Salmon only at dinner time. If you use price names for your other items, to be consistent you will want to use price names for all items or at least all items in the same category.
In the image below, you would leave the Lunch Menu boxes blank and then only add the price name and price to the Main Menu. You can also select YES to have a single price (no price name), and simply input the menu item price.
If you choose to select NO for the feature, "Item only has a single price (per menu)". Then you will need to add at least one Price Name and Price Value for that item to show on the menu. For Pizza items, usually, the names will be something like small, medium, or large. If the menu item only has one price or no sizes, you can simply put the display name again or select YES for the single price feature that removes the need for a Price Name.
The image below is an example of a Pizza item with multiple sizes in the Price Name boxes:
Image of this Menu Item
You have the option to upload 1 image of each menu item. This is an optional feature. Uploaded file images must be in JPEG or PNG format. You can also use a personally hosted URL link. The system will not display images from links such as Google Drive or other 3rd party hosted picture sites. If you add a 3rd party link and the picture doesn't appear on the customer side, then we don't support that specific kind of link.
The most critical piece to remember is to make sure and click "Save This Information" at the bottom of the menu item form. You don't want to lose all your hard work.
That's it! Next, you can create add-ons for your menu items.