topic Re: Is it possible to add an Existing Menu Group and not Copy it? in Restaurant Operations

Is it possible to add an Existing Menu Group and not Copy it?

www — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 00:31:30 GMT

I am a Multi-Location Management (MLM) user.

I have successfully created a new version of my Menu for another location.

Now I want to add a new "Menu Group" to both locations.

https://doc.toasttab.com/doc/platformguide/versioningAtTheMenuGroupAndModifierGroupLevel.html

Here's my issue:

1. Create a new "Menu Group" in Location-A's Menu.

2. Create a version of that new "Menu Group" and target Location-B.

3. The new "Menu Group" is created, but does not appear on Location-B's Menu. The menu group is essentially orphaned.

Am I missing something?

Thanks for any advice or suggestions!

Re: Is it possible to add an Existing Menu Group and not Copy it?

Caffie — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 23:42:41 GMT

Is the "owner" of the Menu Group the MLM? You may have it set to being Location-A which will make it that location specific.

Re: Is it possible to add an Existing Menu Group and not Copy it?

nbunda — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 00:32:50 GMT

MLM versioning is tough. When it comes to versioning an entity, keep in mind that EVERY change within a version of a menu entity will only ever be seen by that version's target.

If Location A has a menu, and that menu's target is Location A only, then Location B will never see any groups you add to Location A's version of that menu. Even if you target that newly created group to Location B, it still only exists in Location A's version. Kind of silly, but you get the hang of it. Essentially, once you make a version of an entity, it needs to be modified within that version; not any parent/parallel versions.

Because of this, first make sure your restaurant group structure is set up and nested properly. My general rule of thumb is to always work in the highest level version of a menu entity as much as possible (hence, the "Parent" version for the entire restaurant group), and only ever version something out at the lowest required level. Generally speaking, the fewer versions of anything that you have to deal with, the better. Secondly, when you start to play around with versions, you pretty much always want to be working in the "Advanced Properties" page so you can make sure you're catching all the changes you need to make.

I can help you with your setup, but could you give a little more info about why you're looking to version out your menus for these two locations? The more reasons you can think of, the better! (Just for an example: It could be that you didn't need to version your menu, but rather just your menu groups. Or it could be that you don't need to version anything at all, but rather just create a copy and re-target that copy).

Feel free to shoot me a DM too.

Re: Is it possible to add an Existing Menu Group and not Copy it?

www — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 10:11:08 GMT

Hi @caffie when I created a new version of the Menu Group, I set the Location as the Owner and unfortunately it did not add itself to the Menu. It just appears orphaned from everything. I appreciate the suggestion.

Hi @nbunda Thanks for the suggestions! We initially setup Versions because different regions would sell slightly different products. We now are looking to reorganize our menu. I noticed that the Menu Groups prior to Versioning are shared, but subsequent ones are not. I just wish there was a way to add a new Menu Group that could still be shared.

We might just look into using different Menu Groups that target specific Location Groups. That method does seem to be more straight forward. Thanks again!

Re: Is it possible to add an Existing Menu Group and not Copy it?

Sdaniel — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 23:00:17 GMT

Hi @www!

We operate in three different states, each with slightly different menu items. However, the overall menus and menu groups are consistent across all 25 locations. Do you have a location group (restaurant group) that includes all of your locations?

We have a location group called the Egg Harbor Cafe Management Group, which includes all our locations and groups. The target and ownership of our menus and menu groups are set to the Egg Harbor Management group so that all locations have the same menus and groups without having to make copies. We also have location groups created specifically for Illinois and Georgia since we sell slightly different items in those states. For example in Georgia we sell a Chicken & waffle, but we make sure the item itself if targeted to the Georgia group only so that our IL and WI locations do not see this item on their menu.

Below is a preview of our set up:

Menus:

Menu Groups:

Items:

Re: Is it possible to add an Existing Menu Group and not Copy it?

www — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 04:20:12 GMT

Hi Sayra,

Thanks for your comment!

Yes, our setup is very similar to yours and it was working well until we had one store that had a slightly different menu.

Imagine your Georgia store did not have Egg Dishes, and instead had "Cheese Dishes."

For the "Cheese Dishes" Menu Group, you could target "Georgia" only, but then for the "Egg Dishes" Menu Group, you would need to create another Location Subgroup that excludes Georgia.

At the time I felt this would be confusing so I decided to just create a Version of the "Main Menu" and manage it that way. (Meaning the new Version of the Main Menu targets a single store only).

Everything was working well until I needed to add another "Menu Group."

There is no way to add a "Shared Menu Group."

Instead, I need to add two Menu Groups with the same name. And since the Menu Groups are no longer connected, I need to add/remove items twice.

Re: Is it possible to add an Existing Menu Group and not Copy it?

Sdaniel — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 17:59:35 GMT

Hi! Yes, I can see why that would become difficult. We do have different subgroups that allow us to accomplish this, but we don't have a single location that has its own menu group. It works well when it's just menu items having a single location target.

While creating location groups was confusing at first, I have found that it is the best way to maintain a single main menu, but still being able to modify when we have slightly different menu items.