A powerful but sometimes confusing aspect of product configuration is how and when to use Modifiers, this article should help to outline the differences, when and how to use this important tool.
Modifiers
A modifier is used to give the kitchen or bar prep team some additional instructions about a food or drink item. It can also prompt the server to ask the right questions when an item comes with options as standard or a usual pairing or upsell.
Tip - you can use ‘add message’ in the options menu (three dots) for more unusual custom requests that aren’t set up as a modifier.
Important: Before you begin to configure a modifier group, first set up any add-on products you plan to include in the flow. They are created as products because you’ll also want to track them in reporting and potentially sell them separately from the modifier flow. So if you’re planning to offer a steak sauce as a charged extra, you’ll want to create this product before starting the process of setting up the modifier group.
In your back office area you’ll see the option on the sidebar for ‘Modifier Groups’ head over to here and click the green ‘add new’ button at the top right.
Give your modifier group a name, the name is really just for your reference. You’ll choose to associate this modifier group with a product later, in this case ribeye, sirloin and fillet. You can associate the modifier group with the product either when you first create the product or later by going back into the product settings and choosing from a drop down.
The other requirement at this stage is to choose the type of the first step.
Instruction - this is a non chargeable pre-defined instruction, e.g. rare, medium rare.
Product - this is an add-on product that can be free or charged for depending how you configure the pricing in the next step, you can also change the base price for bundle deals where you might offer a slight discount for the extras.
In this example we chose ‘instruction’ as the first step, you can then use the ‘add instruction’ button at the bottom to create each available choice to be presented to the server after the main product button is pressed.
After this, we chose to add a product step by using the blue ‘add new step’ button, we were then able to choose the products that we had previously set up by using the blue dotted ‘add product button’ and if desired, alter the sit in and take out pricing for this modifier group using the blue ‘edit price’ button next to each product.
So how does this look on the iPad app? In this example we select ‘Ribeye’ from the steak layout, you can see how the order builds on the ring up on the left.
Modifiers can be used in a number of ways to speed up your operations and improve upsell as well as consistency, here’s an example used for coffee.
And here’s one for breakfasts
Of course if you’re having any trouble using this feature, feel free to reach out to our team for help by emailing [email protected]