Creating and updating a menu's items and modifiers in bulk – noon Food Restaurant Ops

After creating your restaurant and outlet, it's time to set up your menu. You can create your menu in two ways depending on your preference:

Add your menu items one at a time, directly on the Menu Maker on the Restaurant Management app.
Or you can add your menu items and modifiers in bulk on a google sheet and upload it to the Restaurant Management app.

If you choose the 2nd option, this guide covers all the steps you need to take to complete a successful listing of your menu using the bulk upload option.

Note: 
-The menu items bulk upload process allows to add only one menu at a time. 
-You can edit, request for approval, and publish your menu directly on the Menu app.

What is a menu?

An outlet can be linked to one menu at a time. A menu is constituted of several categories that you can tie to different schedules in order to run them at a specific time. You can create one or multiple menus in an outlet which you can choose to link to your outlet at your convenience. Examples of menus can be; "Everyday Menu", "Ramadan Menu", "Weekend Menu", etc.

I. Accessing the menu upload template

First, click here to access the menu upload template.
On the template, click File, then Make a copy to create a separate copy of the template in your Google Drive.
Then tick the box labelled "Share it with the same people" so that we can access it.

II. Understanding the template

The template features 4 tabs; Category, Item, Modifier, and Options. You'll need to add the details of your menu in each tab. Let's first understand what they mean:

Categories: are sections within a menu, such as "Breakfast", "Desserts", "Mains", "Combo Meals", "Drinks", etc. Categories allow you to layer your menu to provide clear segregation of items and optimize the customer browsing & search experience.
Item: is an individual component of a category, and it is referred to as one unit (even if composed of more than one element). It could be a food or beverage item, a combo meal, a meal box, a snack etc.
Modifier groups & modifier items: "modifier groups" contain different "modifier items" that belong to the same type, and which allow the customization of an item. For instance, "Sauces" is a modifier group, and it would contain "modifier items" such as "Mustard", "Mayonnaise", etc. A customer could customize a burger (item) with extra cheese (modifier item).

Important notes:
-All the red fields of the template are mandatory and must be filled.
-The text format of each field must be respected (e.g. numeric for "price", "calories").
-Schedules can only be set directly on the app. If the Schedule_code column is left empty,
this category will be available for customers throughout the operating hours of the outlet.

While adding your menu details, it's important to use and respect the below codes that are used to identify and link your menu information throughout the template:

Category_code: C1, C2, etc to identify each category
Item_code: I1, I2, etc to identify each item
Modifier_group_code: M1, M2 etc to identify each modifier group
Modifier_item_code: O1, O2 etc to identify each modifier item.

III. Adding Menu details to the template

1. Adding categories:

Start filling out your template by adding your menu categories in the Category tab. Below are the definitions of the table fields:

Field	Explanation	Required?
category_code	A unique code that will help map your menu items to a category. Please follow the format provided in the sheet (C1, C2, C3...etc)	Yes
name_en	Category’s name in English	Yes
name_ar	Category’s name in Arabic	Yes
average_prep_time_minutes	Category’s average preparation time in minutes	Yes
schedule_code	This field allows you to set a category to a different schedule. If left empty, categories will stay active as long as the outlet is open. Learn more about adding a schedule code below	No

2. Adding items:

Proceed with adding items under each category in the Items tab, and link items to their respective categories using the category_code (C1, C2, etc) , and modifier groups like the examples shown in the master template. Below are the definitions of the table fields:

Field	Explanation	Required?
item_code	A unique code that allows us to identify your item. Please follow the format provided in the sheet.	Yes
category_code	This category code should correspond with one created in the “category” sheet. This tells us what category an item will fall under.	Yes
name_en	Item’s name in English	Yes
name_ar	Item’s name in Arabic	Yes
description_en	Item’s description in English	No
description_ar	Item’s description in English	No
schedule_code	See categories	No
price	Item’s price. Accepts whole numbers and decimals.	Yes
image	Item’s image. Learn more about uploading images below. If you’d prefer, you can skip this and upload the images through the website.	No
modifiers	Here is where any modifier groups/customizations are attached. Modifiers are created in the ‘modifier’ tab and are mapped to items in this field. Please follow the format used in the template (M1, M2, M3..etc). Learn more below.	No
tags	An item tag allows you to label an item. Please select one tag from the following list: vegetarian vegan egg (contains egg) gluten_free keto low_carb organic paleo	No
calories	Item’s number of calories	No

3. Adding schedules:

- Schedules can only be added on the Schedules page on the Restaurant Management app.

-Click here to start adding schedules and linking them to your menus, categories, and items. Learn more about schedule creation here.

-Then, select the schedule of your choice, and copy its unique code from its URL as shown below, then paste it in the menu template, in the Schedule_code column.

4. Adding images:

There are two options available to add the images of your items:

Directly on the Item page on the Menu Maker of the Restaurant Management App.
Or on the Menu Template by following the below steps.

Pictures aren't mandatory for the activation of your items, but they will boost your sales as they are the best way to show customers how amazing your food & beverage items are.

To add your item pictures to the template, you'll need to provide the direct link to the picture. Use Imgur to create links for your pictures, this will help preserve your picture quality.

Important notes:
-Proceed with uploading images individually on Imgur, and not all at the same time. It's 
crucial that each image has its own individual link.
-This process does not upload your image to imgur publicly. As an extra check, make sure 
you are not signed into Imgur.

Go to imgur.com/upload , and click Choose photo/video.
Upload your picture, then right click on it and select Copy image address, or Copy image location if you're using an apple computer.

- Test the link by pasting it into a separate page, if it leads directly to the page where only the image is visible, that means that your upload was successful, and you can add that link to your menu template in the Item Tab, in the Image column.

IV. Uploading your menu template to the Restaurant Management App

In Menu Maker, click Import New Menu
Then add your menu name
Select google sheet in the 2nd field
And add the Category tab URL in the last field

All your uploaded menu information and pictures will reflect immediately in your Menu Maker. Proceed with verifying the information. Your menu will go for approval, and will go live within a few days.

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