Setting Up Your Menu

Your menu is the storefront. A clear, well-photographed menu lifts orders and average-ticket size more than almost anything else you can do.

The structure

Three layers:

1. Categories. Big groups: Appetizers, Burgers, Drinks.
2. Items. A single thing a customer buys: BBQ Bacon Burger.
3. Modifiers. Choices and add-ons attached to an item: cheese, no onion, extra patty.

Modifiers get their own article — see Adding Item Modifiers and Photos.

Best practices

• 6 to 10 categories is the sweet spot. Customers freeze when there are too many.
• Order categories by what sells. Best sellers first. Sides and drinks last.
• Order items inside a category the same way. Most popular at the top.
• Use short, real names. "Spicy Chicken Sandwich" beats "House Sammie #4".

Adding a category

1. Open Menu.
2. Click + New Category.
3. Name it (Appetizers, Mains, Drinks).
4. Pick a display order. Drag-and-drop works too.
5. Save.

To temporarily hide a whole category — say, breakfast after 11 AM — toggle Show Category off. Items inside it stop appearing online until you turn it back on.

Adding an item

1. Open the category, click + New Item.
2. Fill in:
3. Name — short and clear
4. Description — one or two sentences, ingredient highlights, allergens
5. Price — base price, before any modifier upcharge
6. Photo — square, 1080×1080
7. Tax category — usually "Standard" for food, "Zero-rated" for some grocery items
8. Save.

Pricing tips

• Round to the nearest dollar or 95 cents. $12.95 reads cheaper than $13.00.
• Use modifier upcharges, not separate items. "Add bacon $2.00" beats listing a "Bacon Burger" and a "No-Bacon Burger".
• Set delivery prices higher than dine-in, if needed. Open the item, click Pricing, and add a delivery-only adjustment to cover packaging.

Hiding an item without deleting it

You sold out of the special. You do not want to lose the photo and description.

1. Open the item.
2. Toggle Out of Stock.

The item shows as greyed out and unselectable on your ordering page. Toggle it back on when stock returns.

Translations

If you serve a community that orders in another language:

1. Open Settings → Languages, turn on the language.
2. In each item, the description field will show a translation tab. Fill it in.

Customers pick their language from a flag in the top corner of the ordering page.

Sync with Clover

If you signed up through Clover, your menu changes flow both ways. Edit a price in OrderFriendly and Clover updates in the background. Edit it in Clover and OrderFriendly updates within a minute.

If you want to keep them separate — for example, online prices higher than in-store — open Settings → Menu Sync and set sync to Off. From then on, edits stay where you make them.

Common mistakes

• All caps names. READS LIKE YELLING. Use Title Case.
• Stock photos. Customers can tell. A bad real photo beats a beautiful stock photo every time.
• No descriptions. "Caesar Salad" is fine in person. Online, customers want to know what is on it.
• Forgetting drinks. Drinks are the easiest upsell on a menu. Always have a category.