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Menu Management

Version: v1.1
Last Updated: May 30, 2026

Partner App Menu Path​

Menu Management → Menus / Menu Categories / Menu Items / Option Groups / Option Items

Required Access​

  • restaurant.menu.manage (manager or owner role)

Understanding the Menu Structure​

Your menu is organised in layers:

Menu
  └── Category (e.g. "Grills", "Drinks", "Sides")
        └── Menu Item (e.g. "Grilled Tilapia")
              └── Option Group (e.g. "Choose a sauce")
                    └── Option Item (e.g. "Pepper sauce", "Tomato sauce")

Categories give customers a way to browse. Option groups let customers customise their order (required or optional choices, min/max selections).

Creating a Category​

  1. Go to Menu Management → Menu Categories
  2. Click Add category
  3. Fill in:
    • Name — customer-facing label (e.g. "Main dishes")
    • Description — optional; appears below the category heading
    • Sort order — controls the display order; lower numbers appear first
  4. Click Save

📸 Screenshot: Menu Management — category list with Add category button
📸 Screenshot: Add/edit category form

Adding a Menu Item​

  1. Go to Menu Management → Menu Items
  2. Click Add item
  3. Fill in:
    • Name — short and descriptive (e.g. "Jollof rice with chicken")
    • Category — select which category it belongs to
    • Price — in your default currency (enter in major units, e.g. 45 for GHS 45.00)
    • Description — optional; shown on the item detail page
    • Dietary / allergen flags — tick any that apply (e.g. vegetarian, contains nuts, halal)
    • Image — see image guidelines below
  4. Set Availability to Available
  5. Click Save

📸 Screenshot: Add/edit menu item form with all fields
📸 Screenshot: Dietary flags selection

Image guidelines​

  • Recommended size: 800 × 600 px or larger (4:3 ratio)
  • Format: JPG or PNG, max 5 MB
  • Style: real photograph of the actual dish; no placeholder or stock images
  • Images that don't meet these guidelines may be removed during a menu review

Managing Variants and Option Groups​

Use option groups when a customer must or can customise an item (size, sauce, extras).

  1. Go to Menu Management → Option Groups
  2. Click Add option group
  3. Fill in:
    • Name — e.g. "Choose your sauce"
    • Minimum selections — 0 = optional; 1 or more = required
    • Maximum selections — how many options the customer can pick
  4. Save, then go to Option Items and add each choice under that group (name + any price modifier)
  5. Return to the menu item and link the option group under its Option groups section

📸 Screenshot: Option group form with min/max settings
📸 Screenshot: Linking an option group to a menu item

Setting Item Availability​

Mark a single item unavailable​

  1. Find the item in Menu Management → Menu Items
  2. Click the item to open it
  3. Toggle Availability to Unavailable
  4. Save

The item disappears from the customer storefront immediately. Use this when an ingredient runs out mid-day.

Re-enable the item​

Toggle Availability back to Available and save.

📸 Screenshot: Item availability toggle in item detail view

Pause the entire menu (close for the day)​

If you need to stop accepting orders entirely (end of day, staff emergency):

  1. Go to Settings → Hours
  2. Set today's hours to Closed or reduce the closing time to now
  3. Save

Orders already placed before closing are not affected. New orders cannot be placed while the restaurant is outside its active hours.

Managing Opening Hours​

  1. Go to Settings → Hours
  2. For each day of the week, set the opening and closing time, or toggle the day to Closed
  3. Click Save hours

Changes take effect immediately. Customers cannot place orders outside your set hours.

Holiday overrides: To close on a specific date without changing your regular schedule, add a one-off override for that date.

📸 Screenshot: Opening hours weekly scheduler
📸 Screenshot: Holiday override date picker

Scheduling Daily Specials or Limited Availability​

If an item is only available on certain days, use the item's Available on setting (if present) or simply toggle availability manually each day. A future enhancement to add scheduled availability windows is planned — check with your account manager.

How Menu Changes Take Effect​

Menu updates (prices, names, availability, new items) take effect immediately after saving — there is no cache delay. Customers browsing at the moment you save will see the updated menu on their next page load or refresh.

The one exception is opening hours: if you change your closing time to a time that has already passed, the restaurant will appear closed immediately and no new orders can be placed until the next scheduled opening time.

Common Mistakes​

ProblemLikely causeFix
Item not visible to customersAvailability is set to Unavailable, or restaurant is outside active hoursCheck availability toggle and current hours
Item showing but price is blankPrice field was left emptyEdit item and enter a valid price
Image not showing on storefrontFile too large or wrong formatRe-upload as JPG/PNG under 5 MB
Save fails with validation errorRequired field is missing (name, category, or price)Complete all required fields and retry
Option group not appearingGroup was not linked to the itemOpen the item and add the option group under its settings