Your menu & add-ons: how restaurant menu management works.

This series is for restaurant owners who want to understand Tadka Tech in depth. Each part follows one real story and stops at every button, and anything that doesn't click the first time is explained again with a second example.

Part 5 is your menu: categories, items, sizes, photos and, above all, add-ons. You make a change in one place, and then check on the order-taking screen how it reaches every item.

This restaurant's menu has 22 value meals: a burger or a wrap, with fries and a drink. In every meal the customer can swap the fries, for example to Cheese Fries at ₹69 extra. Cheese has become costlier, and the owner wants Cheese Fries at ₹79.

The old way is to open all 22 items one by one and change each. Miss even one and that meal's bill is wrong. Your restaurant may have thalis or combos instead; it's the same problem. This guide shows how the change is done once. First, though, the shape of the menu itself.

In the left menu, open Menu Management and then Menu List. This is the home of your whole menu.

At the top are four counts: how many categories, how many items in total, how many are out of stock right now, and how many are hidden. This restaurant has 18 categories and 138 items. One look at this strip each morning tells you how many things have run out today.

WhereMenu Management → Menu List

The list can be shown three ways. Table: one item per line, with its price and status. Cards: with photos. Grouped: arranged by category.

At the top are search and filters for category, food type and availability. For example, choose only Out of Stock and the morning staff know exactly what won't sell today.

WhereMenu List → Table / Cards / Grouped

In the Grouped view, each category name has small tags next to it. New Launch says All surfaces, which means it shows on every screen. Burger Value Meals shows only on Portal, QR and POS, so this restaurant has taken its value meals off the kiosk.

In your restaurant it could be a different category, for example large party packs that sell at the counter but not on the kiosk.

WhereMenu List → Grouped view

This is set in the category's Edit. Under Show On there are four separate buttons: Kiosk, Customer Portal, QR and Staff POS. Each one works independently of the others.

To take a whole category off for a few days, like ice cream in winter, untick Show Category. There's no need to delete it.

Each category also has its own Highly Ordered badge setting and its own section photo.

WhereMenu List → category → Edit → Show On

To change the order in which categories or items appear, drag them by the handle or press the up and down arrows.

The order-taking screen shows categories in exactly this order. Put your best sellers at the top and the cashier saves time too.

WhereMenu List → drag handle or ▲▼ arrows

If you need to change twenty items at once, you don't have to open each one. Tick the items and a bar appears at the top with actions for availability, changing category, GST, allergens and add-on groups.

Remember the last one: later in this guide it is used to link one add-on group to several items in one go.

WhereMenu List → tick items → bar at the top

Now one item from the inside: this restaurant's Margherita pizza. Type its name in search and press Edit. There are eight tabs across the top.

Basic Info has the name, category, price and food type. GST is set per item: the restaurant's default rate, or 5, 12 or 18 percent on this item, or no tax. So packed chips and a pizza on the same bill each get their own rate.

WhereMenu List → search the item → Edit → Basic Info

Below that is the item photo. Add it here once and the same photo shows on the order-taking screen, the QR menu, the kiosk and the customer app. The screen says what to use: a square photo of about 1000 × 1000 pixels.

To change it, press Replace and the new photo shows on every screen. Add-on photos follow a slightly different rule, covered later in this guide.

WhereItem editor → Basic Info → Item Image

The Variants tab holds the sizes. Here Regular is ₹149 and Medium is ₹249. You decide which size opens already selected; in this restaurant it's Medium.

You can also turn a size off for a while. And the order you arrange the sizes in here is the order they appear on every screen.

WhereItem editor → Variants

The Availability tab has three states: Available, Out of Stock and Hidden. An out-of-stock item shows greyed out on the counter screen and can't be ordered, and it disappears by itself from the customer app, QR menu and kiosk. A hidden item isn't shown to guests anywhere.

Turn on Featured and the item appears on the home screen.

Send to Kitchen: there's no point sending a water bottle to the kitchen screen. Turn this off and the item is ready the moment it's ordered.

WhereItem editor → Availability

Under Allergens you can mark eight things such as dairy, gluten and nuts.

Tags are words like paneer, spicy or cheesy. Customers filter the menu by these tags on the kiosk and app. If you don't want to write them yourself, press Auto-generate and the system suggests tags based on the category.

WhereItem editor → Allergens / Tags

The Performance tab shows this item's sales this week and this month: how many orders, what quantity and how much revenue.

The Recipe tab shows the cost of one plate, the selling price and the margin percentage, so you know how much you earn on every dish.

WhereItem editor → Performance / Recipe

The Add-ons tab is the main story of this guide and is covered fully below. At the very bottom of that tab are upsell and cross-sell.

When a customer puts a pizza in the cart on the kiosk or app, suggestions appear at that moment, such as Add a Drink or Sweet Ending (a dessert). You decide which category or item to suggest, and with what line.

WhereItem editor → Add-ons tab → bottom

First, three words. An option is one thing that can be added, like Cheese Fries, with its own price. A group is a box of options, like Replace Fries, with its rules: choose one or several, and whether a choice is required. The item is the meal the group is attached to.

The key point: one group is attached to all 22 meals. There is one group, not 22 copies of it. So change the group and all 22 meals change.

First, how this looks at the counter. New Order, Takeaway, and the customer asks for the Aloo Tikki Burger meal. Press the item and a sheet opens.

It has three parts: customise the burger, replace the drink and replace the fries. Each option has its own photo and price. The drink and fries parts say Required in red; the burger part says Optional.

WhereNew Order → tap the item → add-on sheet

The Add to Cart button at the bottom is greyed out because two required choices haven't been made. The customer picks a small Coke as the drink, which is free with the meal. The button is still greyed out, because the fries are still pending.

Choose Cheese Fries at ₹69 and the button turns on, with the price: the ₹94 meal plus ₹69, ₹163.

Where only one can be chosen there are round buttons; in Burger Customise several can be chosen, so there are square ticks. The cashier doesn't have to remember the rules; the screen enforces them.

WhereNew Order → add-on sheet → Add to Cart

Where does all this come from? In Menu List, search for the meal, open its Edit, then the Add-ons tab. Here are the three groups attached to this meal.

Each group shows its type: Multiple, meaning several can be chosen, or Single, meaning one. And Required: without a choice, the item won't go into the cart.

WhereMenu List → search the item → Edit → Add-ons

Use the handles and arrows to set the order the groups appear in. The note at the top says this order of groups is saved for this item only.

On this burger meal Customise is at the top. On the wrap meal, shown later, the groups are the same but Customise is at the bottom.

WhereItem editor → Add-ons → handle / ▲▼ arrows

Inside a group, each option has its name, price and an on/off switch. Below it is Linked menu item, which is about photos and is covered later.

Read the orange strip: if you change the order of the options, it changes everywhere this group is used, because options belong to the group, not to this item. The switch here is the same shared switch: turn it off here and it's off on every meal.

WhereItem editor → Add-ons → inside a group

At the bottom are four buttons. Add Option puts a new thing in the group. Assign Existing Group links a group that already exists to this item. Create New Group makes a new group and links it straight away. Manage All Groups shows every group in one place.

Each group also has Remove at the top. It doesn't delete the group; it only detaches it from this one item.

WhereItem editor → Add-ons → bottom buttons

Manage All Groups opens the Modifier Library. The top says it plainly: change a group here and it changes on every item that uses it.

Each group has a card with its name, single or multiple choice, required, and the minimum and maximum. Look at Replace Fries: Used by 22 items. Twenty-two meals, one group.

WhereItem editor → Add-ons → Manage All Groups (Modifier Library)

A group's rules are in its Edit: Name; Selection type, single choice or multiple choice; Minimum and Maximum, for example at most six toppings, or leave the maximum blank for no limit; and the Required tick.

Required is the rule that kept the button greyed out at the counter. These rules also apply to all 22 meals at once. Nothing is changed here, so press Cancel.

WhereModifier Library → group → Edit

Now the job from the story. In Replace Fries, press Edit on Cheese Fries. The option form has the name, the extra price, the linked menu item and the photo.

Change the price from 69 to 79 and press Save Changes. The list now shows +₹79. That's it: the work of 22 meals, done once.

WhereModifier Library → Replace Fries → Cheese Fries → Edit

Second example: the Biscoff spread has run out today. In Replace Drink, find Premium Biscoff Shake and press the green Available button next to it. It now shows Unavailable, in grey.

It's the same group attached to all 22 meals, so Biscoff is removed from all 22.

WhereModifier Library → Replace Drink → Available / Unavailable

Third: order. The free Golden Fries that come with the meal are at the very bottom, so the cashier has to scroll down every time. Use the up arrow to bring them to the top.

The strip at the top reminds you again that this order changes everywhere.

WhereModifier Library → option → ▲ arrow

Now the real proof, on the counter screen. New Order, the same Aloo Tikki Burger meal. In the fries part, the free Golden Fries are now at the top and Cheese Fries is ₹79.

In the drinks, Cold Coffee is followed directly by Oreo Shake; Biscoff isn't there at all. And this meal was never even opened.

WhereNew Order → the meal → add-on sheet

One more, from a different category: the Aloo Tikki Wrap meal. Here too the free fries are at the top, Cheese Fries is ₹79 and Biscoff is gone.

Now look at the order of the groups: Wrap Customise is at the bottom here, while on the burger meal Customise was at the top, because the order of groups belongs to each item. Next to it is written Choose up to 7, meaning at most seven.

WhereNew Order → the meal → add-on sheet

To put it plainly. The group's things live in one place and are the same on every item: the option's name, price, on/off, photo, the order of the options, and the group's rules.

The item's own things: which groups are attached, their order, and the add-on price for each size. That last one is shown next, on a pizza.

Open Farm Fresh Pizza in Menu List and go to its Add-ons tab. This restaurant's five pizzas all use one group, Pizza Extra Toppings, where Extra Cheese is ₹29. But a medium pizza takes more cheese.

So under Extra Cheese, use Per-size pricing: ₹29 on Regular and ₹39 on Medium. This price is for this pizza only, and is saved with Save Changes.

Where a size has its own price filled in, that price is used; the group's price applies only to sizes left blank.

WhereMenu List → item → Edit → Add-ons → option → Per-size pricing

At the counter: New Order, Takeaway, and search Farm Fresh Pizza. Medium is already selected, so Extra Cheese is ₹39.

Switch the size to Regular and, in the same sheet, Extra Cheese becomes ₹29 by itself. The cashier doesn't have to remember any price.

WhereNew Order → item → size → add-on sheet

An add-on's photo can come from two places: the option's own photo, which you upload, or the photo of a linked menu item.

This restaurant has linked its Cheese Fries option to the real Cheese Fries item on its menu, so both share one photo. The rule is simple: if there's a link, the linked photo wins. Change the dish's photo and the add-on's photo changes with it.

There's another way into the library: the Manage Add-on Groups button at the top of Menu List. In Replace Fries, edit Cheese Fries. Linked menu item is set to Cheese Fries.

Below, under Option photo, there is no upload button at all. It says the photo comes from the linked item Cheese Fries; to change it, change that item's photo or remove the link.

In the library list, an option like this shows a puzzle icon, meaning it has no photo of its own and its photo comes from the link.

WhereMenu List → Manage Add-on Groups → option → Edit

Now the small Masala Fries option: it has no link, so here there's an upload box and its own photo. Square, about 500 × 500 pixels.

Add-on photos are set only here, in the library. The item's Add-ons tab has no upload, because the group is shared: changing a photo from inside one item would quietly change 22 items.

WhereModifier Library → option → Edit → Option photo

Now a new group, linked to several items. The story: the owner wants dips to sell with fries. In the library, press New Group at the top.

Name it Add a Dip. Multiple choice. Minimum 0, maximum 2. Not required, since a dip is optional. Press Create Group. The card is created: Used by 0 items.

WhereModifier Library → New Group

Press Add Option. Name: Mayo Dip; price: ₹15. For the photo there's no need to upload anything. Type mayo in the Linked menu item box: this restaurant's menu already has Mayonnaise, with its own photo. Select it and the photo appears below by itself. Press Add Option.

The second one is the same form with a different name, price and link: Sauce Dip, ₹10, linked to the Sauce item. The group now has two dips, both with photos from their links. But the group isn't on any item yet.

WhereModifier Library → group → Add Option → Linked menu item

Now link this group to items, all at once. From the left menu, open Menu List. In the category filter choose French Fries: three items. Press Select All at the top.

In the bar at the top, choose Add-on groups. In the list, tick Assign next to Add a Dip and press Apply to 3. Three items, done in one go.

WhereMenu List → filter → Select All → Add-on groups → Assign → Apply

To add it to a single item separately, such as Paneer Fingers: open its Edit in Menu List, then the Add-ons tab. At the bottom press Assign Existing Group and choose Add a Dip from the list.

It's attached, and the group is now on four items.

WhereMenu List → item → Edit → Add-ons → Assign Existing Group

At the counter: New Order, Takeaway, and search Masala Fries. Press the item and the sheet opens: size at the top, and below it a new part, Add a Dip, Choose up to 2. Both dips show with their photos, which were never uploaded.

The customer takes both: medium fries ₹79, plus ₹15, plus ₹10, which is ₹104.

Paneer Fingers shows the same dips too, with the same prices and photos. If tomorrow you need to change the Sauce Dip price or add a third dip, do it once in the library and it applies to all four items.

WhereNew Order → item → add-on sheet

Now removing. Say you don't want dips with Cheese Fries. Open Cheese Fries' Edit in Menu List and go to its Add-ons tab. On Add a Dip, press Remove.

The group is removed from this item only. The other three items are exactly as they were.

WhereMenu List → item → Edit → Add-ons → Remove

What if someone tries to delete the whole group by mistake? In the library, press Delete on Add a Dip. It asks once more to be sure: Delete Group.

Then the system stops it: this group is still on three items, remove it from them first. So a group can never suddenly vanish from a live menu.

WhereModifier Library → group → Delete

The next morning the Biscoff arrives. In Replace Drink, press Unavailable on Premium Biscoff Shake and it's Available again. One tap, and it's back on all 22 meals.

WhereModifier Library → Replace Drink → Unavailable / Available

Another part of the menu is the Recipe Builder. Every dish's recipe is in one list with the cost of one portion, the selling price and the margin percentage; dishes with a low margin show in red.

Open Margherita: type its name in search and press View. Inside is everything from the base to the packing box, each line with its quantity, wastage percentage and cost, and the full cost summary at the bottom.

This same recipe deducts ingredients from stock automatically on every sale.

WhereRecipe Builder → search the dish → View

At the top of Menu List are two buttons, Export Excel and Import Excel. The whole menu, including sizes and add-ons, downloads as one file. To add a hundred new items, fill them in comfortably in Excel and import the file back.

One thing to remember: import replaces the whole menu with what's in that file. So always take a fresh export and make your changes in that.

WhereMenu List → Export Excel / Import Excel

That's the whole menu: which screens each category shows on; an item's sizes, GST and photo; and add-ons, where one group serves 22 meals.

The Cheese Fries price was changed once, Biscoff was turned off and back on with one tap each, and a new dip group went onto four items. Every change showed on the counter screen straight away.