changing the order of modifiers on POS?

[SpadaFarmhouse]

Can anyone tell me how I can change the order of the modifiers on the POS? I figured out how to do it for online orders, but cannot for the life of me figure out how to do it on Restaurants/POS. We use a lot of modifiers and want them in the order we would naturally ask the customer and/or the most frequently used modifier to pop up first. For example, if the customer orders our Farmhouse Burger we have temp, add-ons, fry sauce, fry substitution, sub, omit, etc. We want temp and fry sauce first because every burger will use those and the rest below to use when needed. Thanks! 

[Donnie-M · Accepted solution]

@SpadaFarmhouse oh, you have entered a fun and somewhat complicated world with the restaurant POS and modifier order.  I will give you a quick tip or two to hopefully solve this for you.  It requires some time and tweaking but should help you.  I will try to link to the article that lists the entire modifier progression algorithm that the restaurants pos does.  

If you want a modifier first you will need to require an entry.  What I would do on say Temp set the modifier to require 1 choice and a maximum of 1 choice and then set your modifiers to medium, medium well, well done, etc. .  For something like fry sauce if you have people that occasionally don't want the sauce include a modifier that says "No Sauce" or "Perfect the way it is".    AS a general rule, modifiers that require a choice will pop up first then open modifier lists.

Modifier Progressions

Once a modifier is enabled, you can customize your modifier progressions. To customize, select Automatically Add Item to Check for the item to be added after choosing required modifiers. If this setting is disabled, the item will stay on the screen until selecting Add to Check.

Modifiers will also appear on the screen in an Auto-Progression and print in the same order on the ticket. The auto-progression rules are as follows:

1. Choose Seat (if seating is enabled)

2. Choose Variation (e.g. small, medium, large)

3. Modifiers

4. Notes and Options

5. Add to Check

Modifier Rules

• Required Modifiers: Modifier set will automatically appear when an item is selected.

• No Required Modifiers: Modifier set will be available to add to an item, but will not automatically appear when an item is selected.

• Maximum Modifier Limit: If required, the modifier set will stay on the screen until maximum number of selections are made. If not required, the modifier set will only allow selection of the maximum number of modifiers.

• No Maximum Modifier Limit: If required, the modifier set will stay on the screen until another selection is made or an item is added to check.

Note: Modifier sets progress in order of how many requirements/maximums are required — from the least number of requirements to the most. If multiple modifier sets have the same requirements, they’ll progress in alphanumeric order.

[SpadaFarmhouse]

@Donnie-M This is helpful, and yes complicated! Something I will work on for sure. Thank you for answering me. 

[BurgerGuy]

I currently have my modifiers listed in order on the modifier page, but they do not display that way on menu items.  My servers are trained to ask for eggs to order, choice of meat, choice of toast in that order.  But when they get to the POS it doesn't display them in the order which I have positioned them and it throws them off and slows things down.  Is there not a field the database that allows the modifiers to be numbered or is the option to drag them around just for show?

[Valentina]

Are you able to move around your modifiers by dragging and dropping on your POS, @BurgerGuy?

What kind of device are you using to take payments on?
We'll look out for your response!

P.S. Welcome to the Seller Community ✨

[SpadaFarmhouse]

Hi @BurgerGuy I ended up putting symbols in front of my modifiers so they would show up in the order I wanted. Not ideal at all, but it was the workaround I was given to try. 

[JayBirdsChicken]

Have you seen any updates to this? The modifiers progression is such a frustrating one because we should have freedom to sort our modifiers the way we want to, but I guess Square devs need to be convinced by the greater community to prioritize / approve the investment. 

[JJ_]

Hello there!

No updates on this one yet @JayBirdsChicken. I will flag this once again to our product team to see if they could provide any information regarding future updates on modifiers. 

Thank you so much for your patience.

[JayBirdsChicken]

This is such a big opportunity for Square and I hope they revisit this discussion for immediate updating. It is very frustrating, but I really appreciate your reply and attention. Hope you all the best for the new year!

[BurgerGuy]

I was told by a supervisor at Square that Square orders these by the number of required items.  However, this is over scripting in my opinion.  As Jay Bird mentioned we should be able to drag and drop the modifier order in the dashboard > Items > modifiers page and that order appears in the POS in that order.  When we are taking an order the modifiers are all over the place and it disrupts input.  For example, if there are 5 modifiers we should be in put it as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  Right now it comes up as 4, 1, 3, 5, 2 as the script is based on required elements.  It throws off my servers and is very frustrating.  The same data cell that's used on the modifier page to renumber the modifier sets should be used on the POS side.  Lose the scripting that orders modifier sets by required modifiers and you will make a lot of people happy.  As a former developer for 26 years I understand someone thought they reinvented the wheel, but it's really not.  Especially myself and Jay Bird, I'm sure.   

[JJ_]

Hey there @BurgerGuy

I will definitely pass this feedback over to our product team as I clearly understand where you are coming from. 

[LishLish]

JJ,

Would love if you revisited this.  It's costing us money by not having this option.  Having to scroll past items and taking too long at the register is far from ideal.  Thinking of switching pos if this isn't resolved shortly.  

[JJ_]

Thank you for reaching out @LishLish my last post here was almost a year ago. I wish a was the bearer of good news, but at this time I don't have any updates related to this. However, I recommend you submit a Feature Request here. This will help our product team get visibility and track other Sellers with similar interest in your request. 

Important: When submitting a request, make sure to include the desired feature, and provide the details of how this feature will help your business succeed (how would you use it and what you expect from it).

[JayBirdsChicken]

JJ,

The feature request has been submitted years ago at this point and developers definitely know about this issue, but Square must not see the value in prioritizing this. 

Can you send this thread to developer teams on your back channels? It’s kind of unreal that this is getting overlooked still.

[JayBirdsChicken]

Hey @BurgerGuy ! Thanks for backing us up on this and echoing the frustrations. To this day, we still battle with this issue which is tied to our online site, which obviously doesn’t look good when you see 3. shown before 1. Etc. 

The devs know about this issue but it clearly isn’t making the priority list. I was told that if enough people complain on here enough that they will tackle that issue. It’s been too long with this issue for it to persist (more than a year for us), and I can’t imagine it’s a matter of $ allocation to get it done. 

[BurgerGuy]

I'm switching to Toast on Jan 1, 2023.  It's a simple issue for Square to solve, but they clearly care more about collecting credit card transaction fees than making the platform better.  The Weebly site works perfectly, however, the Square for Restaurants app is failing due to this issue.   Square is going to lose $30,000 in transaction fees a year just from my account alone and clearly shows zero interest in solving this simple problem.  I've told many Square representatives that I would be happy to talk directly to a developer so we can speak brain to brain.....crickets for the last 3 years.  Nothing.  I'm done and moving on to a new system.

[JayBirdsChicken]

Honestly - this post makes me want to do the same. I’ve sent the back end from another operator I know and it’s pretty legit. You can definitely set the order in which your modifiers appear too. 

[diedtric]

Hi, we had a similar issue. We put numbers at the front of the modifiers. For example we create our own NO, SUB, ADD modifiers. In the modifier list we name them 1 NO item, 2 SUB , 3 ADD. They appear in the ticket in that numbered order. 

[TicklePickle]

Bringing this back around! Has anyone had any luck with organizing mods? I placed them in a certain order under items and modifiers which works just fine on Weebly shown here www.ordertickle.com , but on my square register and iPad it still shows out of order like in pic. I used the Pearl Jam burger as an example.

[JayBirdsChicken]

It still remains a mystery where only the devs hold the answer. 

This is the only explanation that exists, but for some reason, this feature request has yet to see its day:

Modifier Rules

• Required Modifiers: Modifier set will automatically appear when an item is selected.

• No Required Modifiers: Modifier set will be available to add to an item, but will not automatically appear when an item is selected.

• Maximum Modifier Limit: If required, the modifier set will stay on the screen until maximum number of selections are made. If not required, the modifier set will only allow selection of the maximum number of modifiers.

• No Maximum Modifier Limit: If required, the modifier set will stay on the screen until another selection is made or an item is added to check.

Note: Modifier sets progress in order of how many requirements/maximums are required — from the least number of requirements to the most. If multiple modifier sets have the same requirements, they’ll progress in alphanumeric order.