Export what you have first
Pull a full export from your current system — items, prices, categories, modifiers, and if possible sales history by item. This becomes your working file and your record of what existed before.
Clean before you import, not after
Importing clutter into a new system just gives you clutter with a new interface.
- Remove items that haven't sold in the last year
- Merge duplicate items with different names
- Standardize naming conventions across categories
- Recheck prices for consistency and margin
- Confirm tax settings are correct per item
Rebuild modifiers rather than copy them
Modifier structures rarely translate directly between platforms. Plan to rebuild them to match how the new system actually handles required versus optional choices, rather than forcing an old structure into a new tool.
Handle images and descriptions separately
If you use online ordering or a customer-facing display, item photos and descriptions matter. These often need to be uploaded separately from the core price import.
Decide what to do with variants
Sizes, colors, and other variants are handled differently across platforms. Map out your variant structure before importing so items don't end up duplicated or missing options.
Import in batches and check the results
Import a small batch first — one category — and verify prices, modifiers, and tax settings look right before importing everything. Fixing a mistake in fifty items is much easier than fixing it in five hundred.
Test with real transactions before go-live
Ring up your most common items and confirm prices, modifiers, and reporting categories are all correct. This is the same tap-count test used for menu setup, applied to the imported catalog.