Categories

Categories are how you split your menu into sections — Starters, Mains, Desserts, Drinks. Every dish lives inside a category, so categories are the first thing you build. This page covers creating categories and subcategories, giving each one a name, description and banner image, and arranging them in the order your guests see on your public menu.

Before you begin

Categories live on the Menu page — open Menu from the left-hand menu of the CRM.

Available on plans that include the Menu builder. Creating a category requires the Create menus permission; editing, reordering or deleting one requires Update menus. The restaurant owner has every permission by default — employees need each one granted by an admin.

What a category is

A category is a named section of your menu that groups related dishes together. A subcategory is a section nested one level deeper inside a category — handy when a section has natural groupings.

Category

A top-level section of your menu, such as Starters, Mains or Drinks. Dishes sit directly inside it, and it can also hold subcategories.

Subcategory

A section nested inside a category — for example a Drinks category holding Draft Beers and Bottled Beers. Subcategories go one level deep and each holds its own dishes.

The order of your categories, subcategories and dishes is exactly the order guests see on your public menu, so it is worth arranging them thoughtfully.

Tip

If you run more than one menu (for example a food menu and a drinks menu), pick the menu you want to work on in the menu switcher at the top of the page first. New categories are added to the menu that is currently selected.

Create a category

1. Open Menu from the left-hand menu.
2. Click Add Category in the top-right corner.
3. Fill in the fields described below.
4. Leave Active on and click Create.

Creating a category from the Add Category dialog.

The form has four fields:

• Category Name — required. This is the section heading your guests see (for example Starters, Mains, Desserts).
• Description — optional. A short line shown under the heading on your menu.
• Banner Image URL — optional. A wide image displayed above the category on your public menu. See Add a banner image below.
• Active — on by default. Turn it off to keep a category hidden from your public menu while you build it. Hidden categories carry an Inactive badge in the builder and appear dimmed.

When you are editing an existing category, the button reads Save instead of Create.

Add a banner image

The Banner Image URL field takes a wide (16:9) image shown above the category on your public menu. You can add one in two ways:

• Upload a file — click Upload and choose an image from your device.
• Paste a link — type an image address such as https://example.com/image.jpg into the field and click Apply.

Once an image is set, a small crop button appears on the preview. Click it to open Adjust Image, where you can drag the picture to reposition it and use the slider to zoom. Click the X on the preview to remove the image.

Add a banner by uploading a file or pasting an image link, then adjust the crop.

Add a subcategory

Subcategories are created from inside their parent category rather than from the top of the page.

1. Find the category you want to nest under. If its card is collapsed, click the expand arrows on the left of the card to open it.
2. Click Add Subcategory at the bottom of the category.
3. Give it a Subcategory Name (for example Draft Beers, Bottled Beers), and optionally a description and banner image.
4. Click Create.

The subcategory appears indented inside its parent category, with its own list of dishes.

A subcategory sits inside its parent category and holds its own dishes.

Note

Only top-level categories can hold subcategories, and subcategories go just one level deep. The Add Subcategory button therefore appears on categories but not inside a subcategory.

Reorder categories

The order of categories on the page is the order guests see on your menu. Each category card has an up arrow and a down arrow on the right-hand side:

1. Click the up arrow to move a category one place higher, or the down arrow to move it one place lower.
2. Repeat until the category is where you want it.

The up arrow is greyed out on the first category and the down arrow is greyed out on the last, so you always know where you are in the list. Subcategories reorder the same way within their parent, and the dishes inside a category have their own up and down arrows.

Move a category up or down with the arrows on the right of its card.

Tip

The row of buttons above the list — All plus one for each category — is a quick filter for jumping to a single category while you edit. The number on each button is how many dishes it contains. This filter only changes what you see in the builder; it does not change the order on your public menu.

Edit or delete a category

Every category card carries two more controls on the right:

• Edit (the pencil icon) reopens the form so you can change the name, description, banner image or active state. Click Save when you are done.
• Delete (the trash icon) removes the category. You are asked to confirm first, because deleting a category also deletes every dish inside it — and if it has subcategories, those and their dishes too. This cannot be undone.

You can also click the expand and collapse arrows on the left of a card to fold a long category out of the way while you work on the rest of your menu.

Translating category names

If your menu supports more than one language, open the Translations section beneath the name and description in the form to add translated versions. You can also use Translate everything at the top of the Menu page to fill in every enabled language automatically.

Related

Menus overviewHow menus, categories, dishes and labels fit together.

DishesAdd dishes to a category, with prices, images and labels.

LabelsTag dishes with allergens and dietary markers.