Designing the menu is easier if both the menu and the POS features are fully understood. Please review the following details and refer to them as the lay out of the menu is decided. ===== Categories: ===== At the top level restaurant menu's are comprised of categories and subcategories. The immediate idea by most users is to input all the same categories that are listed on the menu. If these categories are structured well, this may work well for the POS, but it's important to realize there are 12 main categories, and infinite subcategories. Menu Categories organize subcategories and menu items. There are 12 main categories available and 3 to 5 columns of items. These items are also 8 to 12 rows. So there's a great number of items that can be displayed per page. Because the menu is usually designed from the menu categories on the written menu, count the items in the category. Then choose to either consolidate the categories if there are a small number of items, or choose to add sub categories to support a large menu. ===== Sub Categories: ===== Sub categories provide the flexibility of the menu. Also, they may be repeated in the across categories and sub categories in the menu to maintain consistency. For example, in many drink menu's there are mixer subcategories in each type of alcohol subcategory; and in food categories there are the same food modifiers in different categories, dinner, lunch etc. ===== Menu Items: ===== Besides sub categories and categories there are menu items. There are two types of items to consider, main items, and modifiers. ==== Main Menu Items: ==== These items are the entrees, drinks such as steak, coffee, beer. Main items require just four features be filled, an item name, a print location, a price, and tax setting. They may have multiple sizes, but if they are going to be inventoried, each size should be entered as a separate item. The exception to this is if recipes are used. Recipes are a method to calculate food usage and are not covered in the initial setup, however they should be considered during first setup if the business will be using them. ==== Modifier Menu Items: ==== Modifier items are items like mayo, add tomato, etc. Modifiers are the second kind of item. Because of this there are several options for modifiers in the menu setup. The menu you are using might not require them, but they should be understood so as to not cause confusion in setup and provide opportunity for growth in the future. Modifiers such as add mayo, or dressing choice are usually not displayed on the main categories. These are placed in sub categories. Be sure to write down all of the possible modifiers, count them, then input the appropriate sub categories for each category. To maintain a design consistency and to help your staff, it's recommended that the word "mods" be placed on the end of the sub category name, such as: Food Mods. === When an item is a modifier, is is assigned to another item. It then has several features: === * It prints to the same printer as the main item. * It may take on a modifier price that corresponds to the main item price. * It may appear differently on the screen, such as smaller print. * It can pre-Pend other menu items, for example: No-Tomatoes * It can pre-pend and change the price of another item, Such as Xtra-Tomatoes +1.00 or multiple by a value. * It is deleted when the main item is deleted. * It is a required component of a drink or some other item, for example a top shelf drink requires a top shelf tequila. === Different kind of modifiers === Price Categories are the first option of modifiers. Each item may have multiple prices, some of them are the same for many items. If your menu has many items with the same price, consider that you should organize your menu with price categories in mind. To find out more, click here or go to item pricing in Restaurant Menu. A combination of the two features above, price categories and modifiers, yields another type of item. This item is used as a modifier sometimes, and a main item other times. This can be accomplished three ways: 1. Building sub categories and marking them as modifier categories. 2. Adding more than one price line in a price category (price lines will be described later), each line can be marked as a product or modifier. The system will determine when the item is a modifier or product. 3. Prompt modifiers, these are described next. The next section is a second level of modifiers. There are two types, prompt modifiers and forced modifiers. Both have similar properties and are setup nearly the same. The forced modifiers require that a specific number of modifiers be entered, or the main item will be deleted if the user tries to escape from modifiers. Prompt modifiers and forced modifiers request the user choose from one to eight pages, of one to twenty four items a piece. These prompts can a variety of options for example: drinks, sandwiches, entrees or choosing multiple courses of items with subsets of modifiers. ==== Prompt Modifiers: ==== Prompt modifiers will apply to multiple items, or groups of items. So walk through the menu and list out what kind of prompt modifiers are needed. It's important to at least outline what groups will be needed, and list out the modifiers associated with them. === Forced Modifiers: === Forced modifiers are more rare except for bars, or somewhere that would require modifiers be added to the main item. === Prompt Limits: === Limits on prompt modifiers are also available. Each page may have a count applied to it, if more than the item count is attempted to be entered, the first entered item is replaced with the new item. This is used for combo meals usually. For example, where the user gets a choice of two out of three items. === Additional Features: === These features are not required in all menu's, however they may apply to the menu you are working on. Bar tax: item's can be marked as bar taxed items, these items will include the tax in the price when a bar order is made. Button Color: Item color can be changed from the menu layout after the item has been entered into the system. Inventory Count: Entered after purchase orders are made or from the inventory section. Open Priced Item: Almost all menu's have this kind of item. After pressing this, the user is prompted for the price of the item. ===== Conclusion: ===== Now that the the menu system is understood, Go to the Restaurant Menu Help section.