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How to create a cafe menu
How to create a cafe menu
Fedir Vasiliev avatar
Written by Fedir Vasiliev
Updated over a week ago

Create a cafe menu with ingredients, products, and dishes that are sold in your restaurant.

You can also create a shop catalog of goods that are sold in your retail business.

What’s the difference between dishes and products

  • Products are ready-to-use goods that are sold without cooking. For example, water in bottles or chocolate bars.

  • Dishes are meals and drinks which are cooked in your location from ingredients. For example, Cappuccino or soup.

  • Preparations are pre-cooked blends and mixes of ingredients that are not available for sale directly as a standalone item but are used as an ingredient in your cafe instead.

  • Ingredients are used to cook dishes and drinks. For instance, wheat flour and eggs for bakery or soda and mint for lemonade.

Create products and dishes categories

First of all, combine your products and dishes in categories so it would be easier for your waiter to find them on POS. For example, “First dishes”, “Soft drinks” and “Dessert”.

  1. Go to Menu → Products and dishes categories and click Add.

  2. Enter category name. For example “Bakery products”.

  3. In Сategory field select a major parental category or Top Screen in case it's a self-sufficient one.

  4. Upload a photo, or select an icon color to display the category on the register.

  5. Click Save.

Add products

Add products that are sold ready-to-use. They are not the ingredients for meals and drinks. For example, bottled lemonade or ice cream

  1. Go to Menu → Products and click Add.

  2. Enter the name, choose a category and station.

  3. Set up a product price in Total field. Cost and Markup fields would be calculated automatically after you add a supply.

  4. Upload a picture or choose an icon color to display the product on the register.

  5. Click Save.

💡 If you sell weighted products, enable Weight product (goods) to put the price per 100 grams. The waiter enters sold weight at the POS, and Poster calculates the total price automatically.

💡 If you have several varieties of the same products (size or flavour), add modifiers.

Add ingredients

We use ingredients to cook dishes and drinks. For example, flour for bakery and mint for lemonade.

To add an ingredient:

  1. Go to Menu → Ingredients in the management console.

  2. Click Add.

  3. Type ingredient name, and select a unit.

  4. Click More info to set up loss percentage in case of frying, boiling, stewing, or baking.

  5. Click Save.

💡 Enter Items quantity, Price per unit, and Storage location to supply the ingredient immediately.


To find and edit this automatic supply, go to Inventory → Supplies and click Edit.

Create preparations

Preparations are semi-manufactured items for cooking, that consist of ingredients. For example, sauce or dough.

  1. Go to Menu → Preparations and click Add.

  2. Enter the name, and How to prepare this dish.

  3. Select ingredients the preparation consists of.

  4. Enter gross and net weight manually or choose the cooking method if available.

  5. Click Save.

☝️ Preparations could be sold only as part of the dish. They won’t appear on your POS as an individual position.

Add dish

☝️ Before adding dishes, add the ingredients and preparations. You can also add missing ingredients while creating a dish.

Now we’re ready to add a dish. Dishes are food and drinks that were cooked according to the recipe in your location. For example, creamy mushroom soup or blueberry smoothie.

  1. Open the tab Menu → Dishes in the management console.

  2. Click Add.

  3. Enter the name, choose the category and station.

  4. Upload a picture or choose an icon color to display the dish on the register.

  5. Add ingredients and preparations the dish consists of. Enter gross and net weights.

  6. Set up a dish Price. Fields Cost and Markup would be calculated automatically after you add a supply.

  7. Click Save.

💡 If you sell weighted dishes, enable Sold by weight to put the price per 100 grams. The waiter enters sold weight at the POS, and Poster calculates the total price automatically.

☝️ Supply all the ingredients to calculate the dish cost correctly.

☝️Dish costs highlighted in yellow include ingredients with 0 cost.

☝️ If you choose Can’t be discounted, the dish will not participate in your loyalty programs.

☝️ If you delete the dish, it will be moved with its modifiers to the trash. Dishes are stored in the trash can for 30 days after being deleted.


☝️ If you have several varieties of the same dish (size or ingredients), add modifiers to it.

💪🏻 Feel free to contact our support in case of any questions. We will be glad to assist you!

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