Start with your top ten items
List the ten things you sell most. Those go on the first screen, in the positions a right-handed server's thumb reaches first. Everything else can be one level deeper. Resist the urge to reproduce the printed menu's category structure exactly — the POS screen and the menu customers read serve different purposes.
Build modifier groups around the kitchen
Modifiers should mirror how the dish is actually made, not how it reads on the printed menu. Get this right and the kitchen ticket needs no interpretation.
- Required choices forced, optional ones skippable
- Common modifiers first in each group
- Quantity options: light, regular, extra
- Price-affecting modifiers clearly marked
Categories and screen layout
Group items the way your staff think about them during a rush, not the way a menu designer organized the printed page. Appetizers, entrees, and drinks might make sense on paper, but if servers ring up drinks constantly, put drinks one tap away at all times.
Price levels and scheduling
Happy hour, lunch pricing and seasonal changes should be scheduled price levels that switch on their own. Manual toggling is a nightly opportunity to forget.
Combos, upsells and prompts
If you sell combos or want staff to consistently ask about add-ons, build the prompt into the item flow. A forced or default upsell prompt outperforms relying on staff to remember every time.
Kitchen routing
Decide which items print or display where before you build the menu, not after. A drink that accidentally routes to the kitchen printer, or a food item that skips it, is a service failure that's easy to prevent at setup.
Test with a tap count
Before go-live, ring up your twenty most common orders and count taps. Anything over four taps gets restructured. This is the single highest-value hour in the whole setup.
Plan for changes
Menus change — seasonal items, price increases, 86'd ingredients. Decide who on your team has edit access and build the habit of updating the POS the moment the printed menu or website changes, not days later.