Menu Builder

The Menu Builder is your central hub for designing and maintaining your restaurant menu. Unlike managing categories, products, and modifiers separately across different screens, the Menu Builder brings them all into one place with a three-panel drag-and-drop interface — so you see your entire menu layout at a glance and can make changes instantly without navigating between pages.

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Three-Panel Layout Overview

The Menu Builder uses a full-height three-panel design to keep you focused while building:

• Panel 1 (Left — Categories): Your complete category list. Click a category to populate Panel 2 with its products.
• Panel 2 (Middle — Products): Products from the selected category. Click a product to open its detailed editor in Panel 3.
• Panel 3 (Right — Product Detail): A slide-in editor for the selected product — change its name, price, image, modifiers, or variants without leaving the builder. Close it by clicking the X or selecting a different product.

Why this matters: You can review your menu’s entire structure in one workflow. Top-selling categories on top? Move them up by dragging. Price looks wrong for a delivery order? Pick the location and order mode in the Context Selector bar (see below), then click the product and edit the price inline — you’ll see the strikethrough update live.

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Context Selector Bar

At the top of the Menu Builder, you’ll see a Context Selector with dropdowns for Location and Order Mode. This preview tool shows you how your menu appears in a specific sales context — for example, what prices customers see if ordering for delivery, or which items are hidden if this location is closed. How it works:

1. Leave both dropdowns blank (default) to see your global menu as defined.
2. Pick a location and/or order mode to apply overrides — the panels update live.
3. Categories and products show badges:
   • Red badge “Hidden in context”: The item is globally Active, but an override makes it unavailable in this context.
   • Yellow badge “Shown in context”: The item is globally Inactive, but an override shows it here.
   • Strikethrough price: An override sets a different price than the global one.

Different from the Products page: The Products page’s Context Selector is for bulk-editing overrides. Here, it’s a live preview — you’re not editing overrides in the Menu Builder, just seeing what they look like. If you need to create or modify an override, go to Products → Pricing & Availability tab. Refresh button: Click the refresh icon to re-fetch overrides if you recently changed them elsewhere.

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Categories Panel (Left)

Your categories are listed in the left panel. Each category shows:

• Avatar: A small image (if uploaded) or the category’s first letter in a colored box.
• Name: The category name as it appears on the POS.
• Status dot: A small circle indicating its active state:
  • No dot (or dot of context color): Active globally or in the selected context.
  • Red dot: Inactive globally (unless overridden to active by the context).
  • Color dot matching context: Name or availability overridden in the selected context.

Drag to reorder: Grab the six-dot handle on the left of any category and drag it up or down. The order persists immediately — no Save button needed. The reordering applies globally (or per-context if you selected one). Edit/Delete on hover: Hover over a category row to see pencil (Edit) and trash (Delete) icons. Editing opens a small dialog where you can change the category’s code, name, description, sort order, and active status. Deleting a category does not delete its products — they just lose their category assignment and will need to be reassigned. Add category button: At the bottom of the left panel, click Add category to create a new one. A dialog will open for you to enter the code, name, optional description, and active status.

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Products Panel (Middle)

The middle panel shows all products in the selected category. If no category is selected, the panel is empty — pick one from the left. Each product card displays:

• Avatar: Product image (if uploaded) or its first letter.
• Name: The product name; shows a strikethrough of the original name if an override is active.
• Price: The selling price in RM. If a context override applies, the override price is shown in brand color, and the original price is struck through.
• Availability badge:
  • “Hidden” badge (gray): The product has the Hide in Order POS behavior enabled — it exists in your system but won’t appear in normal POS order flow (useful for items you only want staff to ring up on request).
  • “Hidden in context” badge (red): The product is active globally but unavailable in the selected context.
  • “Shown in context” badge (yellow): The product is inactive globally but shown in the selected context.

Gray visual: Products with Hide in Order enabled appear slightly faded/grayed out as a visual reminder they’re suppressed. Drag to reorder within the category: Use the grip handle to drag products up or down within this category. The new order applies immediately. Edit/Delete on hover: Hover over a product card for Edit and Delete buttons. Edit opens a quick-edit dialog. Delete removes the product permanently (cannot be undone). If you want to keep the product but move it to a different category, edit it and change the Category field instead. Add product button: At the bottom of the panel, click Add product to create a new item in the currently selected category. A dialog opens where you enter the name, price, SKU, description, and POS behaviors (Force Quantity, Force Price, Hide in Order). The product is inserted with a default sort order and can be dragged to reposition immediately after creation. “Hidden from order” banner: If any products in the category have Hide in Order enabled, a yellow banner appears at the top of the product list explaining that those items are shown in gray below — this is a quick reminder for you when reviewing the layout.

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Product Detail Slide-In (Right)

Click any product card to open the Product Detail Panel on the right. This is a read/edit interface with three tabs — think of it as everything from the full product edit page, but accessible without leaving the Menu Builder.

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Details Tab

Edit the product’s core information:

• Image: Upload or change the product image. Click the upload box to select a PNG/JPG file.
• Name: Product name as shown on the POS.
• Selling price (RM): The base price. If you change it here, it updates globally — to set a different price for a specific location or order mode, go to Products → Pricing & Availability instead.
• SKU / Code: Internal product code (e.g., CLAT-002), used for inventory and reports.
• Category: Pick which category this product belongs to. Moving it here doesn’t require a separate save — it updates when you click the Save changes button.
• Description: Optional description shown on the POS (if your POS layout includes it).
• Active toggle: Turn this off to hide the product globally on the POS.
• POS Behaviour section:
  • Force Quantity: If ON, the cashier must enter a quantity before adding this product to an order (useful for items like “Gift Cards” or “Custom Order”).
  • Force Price: If ON, the cashier must enter a price before adding (useful for items where the customer decides the amount, like “Donation”).
  • Hide in Order: If ON, the product won’t appear in normal order flow on the POS — staff can only add it via special access (useful for discontinued items you want to keep in the system for historical reporting, or items you only sell via special request).

Save changes button: When you’ve made edits, click this to persist them. A spinner shows while saving.

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Modifiers Tab

Attach and manage modifier groups for this product (e.g., Size, Toppings, Add-ons, Cooking Level). Attached modifier groups: Listed as expandable rows. Click the chevron to expand and see individual modifiers within each group (e.g., “Small 0–1 selections” expands to show individual sizes). Each modifier row shows its name, price (if > 0), and On/Off status. Edit modifier group: Hover over the group header and click the pencil icon to edit the group’s name, description, min/max selections, and active status. Delete / Detach modifier group: Click the X icon to detach the group from this product. The group itself is not deleted — it stays in your Modifier library and can be attached to other products. Detaching does not remove the group’s modifiers. Modifiers within a group: Hover over a modifier row to edit or delete it inline. These changes apply to the modifier itself (across all products), not just this product. Attach existing group button: Click Attach existing group to search and link a modifier group you’ve already created. A modal opens with a searchable list of unattached groups. Create new group button: Click Create new group to define a new modifier group and attach it in one step. A dialog opens where you enter the group name, description, min/max selections, sort order, and active status. Once created, it’s attached to this product.

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Variants Tab

Manage product variants — different versions of this product (e.g., sizes, colors, flavors). The interface here reuses the same variants editor from the full Products page, so you have the same options: create variants from scratch, or link existing products as variants. This avoids duplicating products when you have closely-related items like “Small Coffee” and “Large Coffee.”

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Drag-and-Drop Ordering

Both categories (left panel) and products (middle panel) support drag-and-drop reordering:

1. Grab the handle: Each row has a six-dot icon (⋮⋮) on the far left. Click and hold to start dragging.
2. Drag: Move your mouse up or down. The row follows, and other rows shift out of the way.
3. Release: Drop the row into its new position. The order persists automatically to the backend — no Save button needed.
4. Visual feedback: The row becomes semi-transparent (50% opacity) while dragging.

Context-specific reordering: If you’ve selected a Location and Order Mode in the Context Selector, the sort order you set applies to that specific context. Different locations can have different category/product orders. If you leave Context Selector blank, you’re reordering the global menu.

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Inline CRUD Operations

All create/edit/delete operations use small dialogs or the slide-in detail panel — you never need to navigate away from the Menu Builder:

• Add category/product: Click the “Add” button in the relevant panel. A form dialog opens.
• Edit category/product: Click the pencil icon on hover. A form dialog opens with current values pre-filled.
• Delete category/product: Click the trash icon on hover. A confirm dialog asks for confirmation before permanent deletion.
• Modifier groups and modifiers: Edited and deleted inline within the Product Detail panel’s Modifiers tab — no dialog nav needed.

This is especially useful when you’re reviewing your menu layout and spot a typo or need to tweak a price — just click, edit, save, and move on.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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