Menus

Use this page to set up the items you sell, their prices and pictures, and how they are grouped for the register and reports.

Who can do this: corporate administrators, concept administrators, franchisee administrators, franchisee business managers and store owners manage menu items, departments, categories and modifiers. Store managers can also turn items on and off and set prices for their store in Store Menu.

How a menu is put together

• A menu item is something you sell. You create it once, usually for the whole brand.
• Each store then turns the item on for itself and can set its own price. That happens in Store Menu.
• Every item has a department and a report category. The department is where it rings on the register. The category is the line it reports on. See Departments and report categories.
• Modifiers are the choices added to an item, such as a size or a topping.

Changes reach the register within a few minutes.

Open the menu pages

Every Fran-Trak setup includes the menu pages. In the top menu, click CloudMenu, then the page you want: Store Menu, Out of Stock, Menu Items, Departments, Modifiers or Modifier Groups. If your company has mobile ordering, that menu is called Mobile Ordering instead.

If you are setting up a new register, the Getting Started steps also link to Manage Menu Items, Manage Departments and Store Menu. See Getting Started.

Find a menu item

The list of items is on the right of Manage Menu Items. On a narrow screen it is a bar at the bottom; tap it to open the list.

1. Choose a group in the drop-down above the list, such as your brand or one store. Or type part of a name in Search Term and click the search button.
2. Find the item in the list.
3. Click Edit.

The item opens in the form. Its name shows at the top.

Add a menu item

1. On Manage Menu Items, click New if a different item is open.
2. On the Basics tab, fill in:
   • Canonical Item Name: the item's main name.
   • Department Name: where it rings on the register.
   • Report Category: what kind of money it is. Leave it on Unclassified only if you do not know yet.
   • Regular Price: the normal price, such as 4.99.
   • Available for Store Menus: choose Available so stores can turn it on.
   • Available for Store App Ordering: choose Available if it can be sold through your ordering app.
   • Used By: who the item belongs to. Choose Franchisor for the whole brand. Then choose the matching name under Organization.
3. Fill in the other fields you need. They are described below.
4. Click Create Menu Item.

You see "The transaction completed successfully." The form clears, ready for the next item.

Tip

The register shows the Friendly Item Name if the item has one. Otherwise it shows the Canonical Item Name. You set the friendly name on the Marketing & Nutrition tab.

Note

An item is not on a store's register until the store turns it on. See Turn items on for a store.

Change or delete a menu item

1. Find the item and click Edit.
2. Make your changes on any tab.
3. Click Update Menu Item.

To delete it, click Delete Menu Item, then click Delete to confirm.

If you leave an item with unsaved changes, the portal asks "Abandon Changes?". Click No to stay and save.

Fields on the Basics tab

• Tax Class: Decides which of the store's tax lines apply. Most items should stay on Inherit from category / department. Choose a class only when this item is an exception, for example Non-Taxable. The other classes are Standard, Prepared Food, Grocery, Alcohol, Tobacco and Sugary Beverage.

• Minimum Age: Makes the register ask the cashier to check ID. Choose 18 or older or 21 or older. Leave No age check for everything that is not alcohol, tobacco, vape or lottery. If you do not see this field, your account does not have it yet.

• Product Cost: What one of these costs you to make or buy. Waste and margin figures use it.

• Barcode: The number under the barcode on the item, up to 13 digits. The register finds the item by it when it is scanned.

• PLU: A short lookup number, up to 11 digits. Use it when the item has no barcode.

• Expires In: For prepared food: how long it keeps once it is made. See Set how long an item keeps.

Note

You may also see a Microsale Details tab. It appears only for stores that use an older point of sale. Leave it alone unless Fran-Trak support asks you to change it.

Set how long an item keeps

The Expires In field takes a number and a unit:

Type	Means
30m	30 minutes
4h	4 hours
1.5h	90 minutes
3d	3 days

Leave it blank if the item does not expire. A number with no unit is not accepted. The next time you open the item, the portal shows the time in the largest whole unit. For example, 120m shows as 2h.

Add a picture to an item

The picture shows on the item's button on the register and in your ordering app. Save the item before you add a picture.

1. Find the item and click Edit.
2. Open the Marketing & Nutrition tab.
3. Under Menu Image, click Choose image. Or drag a picture onto the box.
4. Pick a PNG or JPG file, up to 25 MB.

The picture uploads at once. You do not need to click Update Menu Item for it. When it is done, you see Saved.

• To change the picture, click Replace image.
• To take it off, click Remove, then Yes, remove it.

Note

A new picture can take a few minutes to show everywhere.

The Marketing & Nutrition tab also holds the Item Description, Ingredients, Allergens and nutrition facts. Your ordering app uses these.

Turn items on for a store

Each store chooses which items it sells and can set its own prices.

Who can do this: store managers and everyone above them.

1. In the top menu, open Store Menu.
2. In Store, choose the store.
3. On the Menu Items tab, find the item. Use Search Term to narrow the list.
4. Tick In Store to sell it at this store. Untick it to stop.

Each tick saves at once. There is no save button.

Ran out for now?

Do not untick In Store for something that is only out for a while. Use Out of stock (86) instead. It also takes the item off your app, website and delivery apps, and brings it back exactly as it was.

To tick or untick a whole column, click All or None above it. The portal asks you to confirm. This saves every row and cannot be undone.

Set a store's prices

On the Menu Items tab of Store Menu, each item has three prices:

• Store Price: the price when the item is rung up in the store.
• App Price: the price in your mobile app.
• 3POS Price: the price for third-party online ordering services.

Type a new price and click or tab out of the box. It saves when you leave the box.

The register uses the Store Price. If that is blank, it uses the App Price. If that is blank too, it uses the item's Regular Price.

You can also ask an AI assistant to change a store's price. See Menu prices and out of stock.

Hide a department at one store

Some stores do not carry a whole department, such as a commissary.

1. On Store Menu, choose the store.
2. Click Departments.
3. Untick each department this store does not carry.
4. Click Save.

Those departments and their items disappear from this store's registers. Mobile ordering is not changed.

Copy one store's menu to another

1. On Store Menu, choose the store you want to change.
2. Click Clone Menu.
3. In Copy From Store, choose the store to copy.
4. Choose For App, With Options, Copy Store Availability? and Replace POS Screens?.
5. Click Submit.

For a register store, choose No App, Just Store Availability in For App and Yes in Copy Store Availability?. This copies which items and modifiers are on. Items the store already has keep their own Store Price. Only items new to the store take the copied store's price. When it is done, you see "Menu Cloning Complete."

Manage departments

Departments are where items ring: the tab on the register and the printer they go to.

1. In the top menu, open Departments.
2. Stay on the Departments tab.
3. To add one, click Add Department and type its name.
4. To rename one, change its name in the list. Every item that uses the old name moves to the new one.
5. Set each department's Tax Class and Active (Yes or No).
6. If your registers print price barcodes for the store's own front register, type the department's Front Register Code: the 5-digit item number the front register maps it to. Leave it blank to use the tablet's default item code. See below.
7. To change the order, drag a row by the handle on its left.
8. Click Save Departments.

Front register codes

Some registers only build the order. They print a price barcode on each label and on the receipt, and the customer pays at the store's own front register, which scans the barcode. The barcode carries an item number and the price.

With one item number for the whole tablet, every sale rings at the front register as one item, taxed one way. With a Front Register Code on each department, each department rings as its own item there, so hot food and cold food can be taxed differently and the front register's reports show deli sales by department.

• The code is exactly 5 digits. Ask whoever runs the front register which item numbers to use. They set up one item per code, with its tax rule and price "from the barcode".
• A department with no code uses the tablet's default item code, set on the tablet under Tools, then Checkout mode.
• A receipt with items from more than one department prints one barcode per department, each labelled with the department name. The front register cashier scans each one.

To delete a department, click the red x on its row and confirm. You can only delete a department that no item uses.

The Items number on each row shows how many items use it. Click it to see them.

Manage report categories

Report categories are the lines your sales reports total by. There is one list for the whole brand.

1. On Departments, open the Categories tab.
2. The first eight are the standard categories every business starts with. Add your own beside them.
3. To add one, click Add Category and type its name.
4. Set its Tax Class. Inherit means items take their department's tax class.
5. To rename one, change its name. Every item that uses it moves to the new name. Older sales keep the old name in reports.
6. Click Save Categories.

You cannot name a category "Unclassified". That name is reserved for items with no category.

How an item gets its tax class

The register uses the first of these that is set:

1. The item's own Tax Class.
2. Its category's tax class.
3. Its department's tax class.
4. Standard.

Find and fix Unclassified items

An item with no report category reports as Unclassified.

1. On Departments, open the Categories tab. The number beside the tab name is how many items are unclassified.
2. On the yellow Unclassified row, click the number in the Items column.
3. For each item, choose a category in the drop-down. It saves as soon as you choose.
4. Click Close when you are done.

To change anything else about an item, click Edit on its row. The item opens in Manage Menu Items in a new tab.

See departments and categories side by side

The Departments × Categories tab counts the items in each department and category. Read a row to see what kinds of money a register tab holds. Read a column to see which tabs a report line gathers. Click any number to see the items behind it.

Modifiers

Modifiers are the choices added to an item, such as a size, a topping or "no onions".

• A modifier group is the question, such as "Choose a size".
• A modifier is one answer, such as "Large".

Set up modifiers in Getting Started

Use the Modifiers step in Getting Started to create your modifiers. It reads the choices from your menu or suggests them, groups them, and attaches them to your items. You can reopen Getting Started at any time to add more. See Set up modifiers.

Advanced: the Modifier Groups and Modifiers pages

The Modifier Groups and Modifiers pages are for advanced changes that Getting Started does not cover. They have many required fields from older register systems, so use them only when you need to.

• Manage groups on Modifier Groups.
• Manage single answers on Modifiers. Each modifier belongs to a group, chosen in Modifier Category.

Attach a modifier group to an item

1. Find the item and click Edit.
2. Open the Modifiers tab.
3. Choose a Modifier Group.
4. Set Min and Max: the fewest and most choices the cashier can pick. Leave both at 0 for no limit.
5. To add another group, click Add Another.
6. Click Update Menu Item.

Price modifiers for a store

On Store Menu, the Modifiers tab lists each modifier for the chosen store.

• Tick In Store to offer it on the register.
• Type its Store Price.

Warning

The register charges a modifier's Store Price for that store. If that is blank, it charges the App Price. If both are blank, the register charges nothing.

Group items into menu sections

If your company has mobile ordering, Menu Sections groups items in your ordering app, such as "Breakfast" or "Drinks".

1. Open Menu Sections.
2. Fill in Menu Section Name, Menu Section Subtitle, Mobile App, Active and Used By.
3. Click Create Menu Section.
4. Drag the sections into the order you want, then click Save.

To put an item in a section, open the item and choose its Menu Section on the Basics tab, under Report Category.

To reorder existing sections, click Order Existing Menu Sections.

Your ordering app can group items by department instead, so you do not need to set up sections. Your departments then appear in the app in the order you set on Departments. Menu Sections and the Menu Section field are then hidden. To switch, contact Fran-Trak support.