Restaurant Menus

NOTE: Fully read the instructions below on how to set up a new menu to a business before creating your new page. This section will allow restaurant owners to create an online menu for visitors to browse or upload a PDF file of their menu if they already have one.

What you will learn in this section:
- How to install and apply this plugin to a new page
- How to set the menu option pricing in your Business Directory General Settings
- How to add menu items for a business
- How to upload a PDF formatted menu
- How to find the menus within your site once created

A few things to note... A business cannot add a menu to their listing if you have not yet installed the Restaurant Menus plugin. A business must be listed in the directory in order to use this option. The business must check the "Include restaurant menu" option within their ad details when listing their business or by editing a current listing in order to access this option within their User Control Panel. The link within the Business listing cannot be displayed until a new page has been created for the plugin to "link to". Do not make the page visible to users by placing it in the navigation until after at least one business has a menu listed, or an error will appear on the page.

You will first need to Install the Plug-in, if you have not already done so.

Applying the Menus to a New Page

As mentioned previously, you will also need to create a new page for your plugin in order for the menus link to properly appear within a businesses listing. If you have not yet created a page for the listing to "link to" nothing can be displayed.

In short, create the new page; apply the plugin; keep it hidden until at least one menu is created.
Once your directory has a restaurant who is using the Menus option, you may wish to allow the link to this page to appear within your navigations (either top left block or top of page).

To apply this plugin to a new page, click the Page Editor icon in your Admin Control Panel. Next, you will need to click the text link for a New Page.

To complete the activation of your new Plug-in, you will need to change the Status from Hidden to Active. Next you will need to change the Plug-in to display from the default 'Business Directory' to the 'Restaurant Menus'. See image above for example of changes.

Finally select Update Page.

After you have completed these steps, you can return to the Control Panel. You will now be able to see and select the Restaurant Menus link from within your Navigation and view your newly created page.

In order to configure your pricing for your menus option, you will need to look under the Business Directory, General Settings option. Please see below instructions for configuring your prices.

Business Directory Menu

Settings
Scroll down below the General Settings and Billing Periods to the Upgrade Prices options. An upgrade is something the user can order for their business listing that does not already come with the package they choose. You will need to set up prices in here for the billing periods for which your packages are configured. Note the last option in the list is for the Restaurant Menu.

Upgrade Prices

Once you have set up prices here, you can also decide whether or not to include the restaurant menus option as part of a package by clicking the Manage Package Bundles button. This means, it is included with the package price already and they need not pay extra to have one included.

Package Bundles

Simply changing the Restaurant Menus option from No to Yes will automatically allow a business to use this option when registering their business. The business must still check the "Include restaurant menu" option within their ad details when listing their business or by editing a current listing in order to access this option within their User Control Panel or the Restaurant Menu icon will not display!

Once you have applied all the changes you wish to the current packages, scroll down to the bottom of the packages list and click the button.

Adding Menus to a Business

Once the business has been properly listed in the Business Directory and has checked the option to include a Restaurant Menu with their ad, the new Restaurant Menu icon will now be available within their User Control Panel.

Upon clicking the icon, they will see a list of businesses they currently have listed in your directory (more than likely only one will be listed, but a few users may have more than one location, or run several types of restuarants under one corporate name).

• The Edit link will allow them to add and delete items from their menu.
• The Delete link will permenantly remove the menu and all items from your site. This cannot be undone so please take care when clicking this link.
• The PDF link will allow them to upload a copy of their menu in PDF format.

Creating menu items

For now, let us click the Edit link and learn how items are manually entered if no PDF format exists.

All menus are already set up with 8 default headings. A heading is the category type the menu item will be listed under (Appetizers, Salads, Entrees, Specials, Side Dishes, Desserts, Drinks and Wines).

From in this area, they can add or remove any headings they may need and also add new items for their menu. The up and down arrows in the far right column will move the order in which the items and their heading are displaying.

Adding a New Item to the Menu:

To add a new item, the user will complete the short form above the heading and menu items list. In the below example we will be adding an appetizer item. NOTE: If the item they are adding is a menu item (and they are not configuring a new heading category, they will leave the Item Type set at Product.

Click the Add Item button when finished. The new item will now display at the bottom of the list. The user can click the up arrow in the far right column to move the item until it is correctly under the Appetizers heading as shown below.

Continue to add new items to the menu until it is complete.

Adding a New Menu Heading:

To add a new heading for a new category, use the Add a New Item form. Change the Item Type from Product to Heading. Complete the name field and click Add Item.

Uploading a Menu in PDF Format

Upon clicking the Restuarant Menus icon from the User Control Panel, the User will see a list of businesses they currently have listed in your directory (more than likely only one will be listed, but a few users may have more than one location, or run several types of restuarants under one corporate name).

Click the PDF link to upload a PDF file of their menu.

They will now be able to use the Browse button to locate their PDF Menu file and upload it directly to your site. Upon successfully uploading the file, you should see the message: PDF menu received successfully.

Clicking the 'Return to menu list' link will return you to the Mange Meus Area and you will be able to see a link to Download your menu:

You are finished. There is nothing more to do for this step.

Where is your menu seen?

When a menu has been added to a business listing, it will display in the listing details when a user navigates through the directory to the restaurants listing. It would display similar to the below example:

This new page will list all restaurants who currently have menus in one convenient location and will include all contact information for the business, a picture of their logo, if one is uploaded to their listing and a link to their online menu. It will look similar to the page below. Instructions for applying this plugin to a page is are at the beginning of this page.