A step-by-step tutorial for adding your menu to Dines
Adding Your Menu: The Basics
You’ve created your Dines account - now it’s time to add your menu so that you can benefit from all the features Dines has to offer!
In this guide, we will walk you through the basics of creating your menu on Dines. If you are looking for a more in-depth guide on certain features, these will also be available on the Knowledge Base.
Everything you need to build your menu can be found in the Inventory section on the Dines App. On desktop, this can be found in the toolbar at the left-hand side. On iOS, you can find it by heading to Admin > Manage Inventory.
Creating a Category
The first thing you’ll need to do is create a category for your menu items. You can think of categories as folders which contain your menu items, helping to distinguish and group them effectively. Which categories you create is completely up to you. Some of our customers like to keep it simple, with one category for “Food” and one for “Drink,” whereas others like to go more in-depth and have categories for “Burgers,” “Pizzas,” “Beers,” “Wines” et cetera.
To create a category, head to the Categories section on the top toolbar.
Next, click on “New Category.”
This will open up the Category Details box. Here, you can name your Category and provide a brief description for what it will contain.
On the right, you will be given the option to set the Visibility of the category (leave this as “Enabled” for now if you want to display your category right away).
Below this, you can set the category’s rank, which determines where the category will appear on your EPOS. For example, if you have 10 categories, and “Pizzas” is ranked as “1,” Pizzas will appear first on your menu.
Finally, you can choose where to Display your Category, whether this be on EPOS only, Mobile Ordering only, or Both.
Now that you’ve set your Category Details, you can go ahead with adding Items to this Category, or set Display Times. Let’s focus on Display Times for now: we’ll devote a section below to creating Menu Items.
Display Times let you decide when to display your category. For example, maybe you have a breakfast menu that you only want to make active between 8AM and 11AM.
This can be achieved by simply selecting your Day and then the From and Until times, depending on what times you wish this Category to be active. If there are no specific time restrictions for this category, you can simply leave these fields blank, and it will be available around the clock, 24/7.
When you have finished modifying your Category, don’t forget to click “Save” at the bottom, so that it can be added to your menu.
Once all of your Categories have been created, they will appear on EPOS like below.
Let’s now move onto how you can fill those categories up with items!
Creating Items
It’s time to fill up your menu! Items are your Margherita Pizzas, your Chickpea Curries or your Red Wines. Now that your Categories are ready, it's time to stock them with the items that define your venue’s menu.
There are a few methods for adding items in Dines, but this guide will concentrate on the simplest approach. First, you’ll want to head back to your Category section on the Dines app, and then click on the Category where you want to add your first item.
When you’re there, click “Menu Items” at the top toolbar, and then “New Item” to create your item.
You’ll then see a pop-up where you can Quickly Create a New Item.
Here, you can choose an easily identifiable Name for your item. You can also set the Item Type (Food, Drink or Other) which will help with filtering the Reports that are available on Dines. When filling in the Price field, there's no need to include the currency symbol: simply input the numeric value. For example, instead of entering "£7," just type in "7".
Below, you’ll find the option to add the Item to an Additional Category if desired, as well as applying a Modifier Set, which we’ll touch on in the next section.
Stay tuned for an in-depth guide that will cover all the possibilities with your Items, such as configuring Promotional Prices, assigning Allergens, and uploading Images. This article will be available soon on the Dines Knowledge Base.
Creating Modifier Sets & Modifiers
The final step for creating your menu is adding Modifiers and Modifier Sets. Modifiers serve the purpose of customising your items, allowing you to define specifics such as size variations or the addition of extra ingredients.
To add a Modifier, let’s return to our Item, and choose the “Modifier Sets” tab at the top, followed by the “New Modifier Set” button.
You will be presented with a pop-up box which asks you to set a unique name and function of your modifier, be it either Single Selection or Multiple Selection.
Single Selection is relevant for modifiers where only one choice is necessary. For example, if you are making this modifier for a draught beer, a handy Single Selection Modifier would be “Size,” be it a Pint, Half-Pint or 2/3rds serving of the beer. This is Single Selection, because you can’t have two servings of the same beer.
Multiple Selection is best when you want the customer to have several choices. An example for this would be making a modifier for a Cheeseburger. Multiple Selection could help benefit an “Extra Ingredients” modifier, so that the customer has the option to add more cheese, more ketchup, more onions etc.
Now, we can fill out the Modifier Sets with our Modifiers! Click on the Modifier Set you just created, and then head to “Modifiers” and “New Modifier.”
A pop-up box will appear, allowing you to define both the Modifier's name and any associated price adjustments.
The Name field determines what appears on EPOS and Mobile Ordering, whereas Internal Name is for (as it suggests!) internal use only. With the Price field, you can choose how the modifier affects your item’s pricing. So for example, adding “Extra Cheese” as an option could come with a charge of 50p. In this instance, we would input “0.5” to the Price field, like below.
Click “Save Modifier” at the bottom once done, or “Save & Create Another” if you want to add extra Modifiers, eg, “Extra Ketchup” or “Extra Onions.”
Once you are all done adding modifiers, it will appear like the below on your EPOS.
Note: You can have more than one Modifier Set per item. For example, you may want to accompany your Cheeseburger’s “Extra Ingredients” Modifier Set with a “Sides” Modifier Set, which includes Fries, Corn on the Cob etc. All you have to do is repeat the steps above!
The above guide will get you up and running with the use of Modifiers. However, stay tuned for a comprehensive guide on utilising Modifiers to their full potential, including adding Descriptions, specifying Dietary Requirements, and setting Modifiers as Default. This article will be published soon on the Dines Knowledge Base.
Conclusion
In Review: Categories, Items, Modifier Sets and Modifiers all have an important role to play in building your menu on Dines. Utilising these four key elements will streamline your menu structure, ensuring a smoother service process for your staff.
To help make sense of the differences between Categories, Items, Modifier Sets and Modifiers, here are a couple of examples below;
Thank you for reading through our articles on the basics of creating your menu on Dines. We hope this answers any questions you may have about the process, but if not, please do not hesitate to reach out. You can email us at care@dines.co.uk, or use our Live Chat. We’re always happy to help.