Menus, cartes & groups (what customers see)

FoodyAdminLast updated: Sun May 24

What Is It?

Foody separates what you sell from how you show it — the same idea Square uses, so the catalogue works for any business.

  • Items — your global catalogue of dishes/products (created once).
  • Categories — internal labels for you (reporting, kitchen routing). Customers never see categories.
  • Menus (cartes) — a customer-facing menu, e.g. "Breakfast", "Lunch", "Dinner".
  • Groups — the visual sections inside a menu, e.g. "Salads", "Drinks". This is what customers see.

The rule that trips everyone up: an item must be placed in a group to appear to customers. Being in a category is not enough — categories are internal only.

The structure

Item            (global catalogue — "Caesar Salad")
  └─ belongs to one Category   (internal: "Salads")  ← customers don't see this

Menu / carte    ("Lunch")
  └─ Group      ("Salads")  ← customers DO see this
       └─ contains Items     (the same item can sit in several groups/menus)

A group like "Lunch specials" can pull items from several categories. The same item can appear in several groups and menus.

Manage your menus

In Menu → Cartes:

  • Create a menu (carte) and give it groups.
  • Drag items into groups (an item can be in many).
  • Reorder groups and items.

→ Categories & items · Creating a menu item

Where it sells: online vs POS

Each menu and group has channel switches:

  • Web enabled — shows in the online / QR ordering app for guests.
  • POS enabled — shows on the staff POS.

So you can run, say, a "Dinner" menu that's web-only, or hide a group from guests but keep it on the POS. Turn a group off for one channel and it simply doesn't appear there.

When it sells: availability hours

A menu (and each group) can follow your opening hours or use custom hours — e.g. a "Breakfast" group that only shows 07:00–11:00. Outside its hours, customers don't see it.

How this connects to availability

Channels and hours decide whether a group is shown at all. On top of that, Availability decides, per dish, whether it's sold out or low from its recipe and stock. Both apply: a dish shows to customers only when its group is on and it can still be made.

Quick start

  1. Create your items → Creating a menu item.
  2. Create a menu (carte) and add groups.
  3. Drag items into the right groups.
  4. Set each menu/group's channels (web / POS) and hours.
  5. Open the guest site or POS — your menu is live.