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Modifiers on menu items In Square for Restaurants

Our Square updated today and now when logged into our dashboard I can no longer turn modifiers on or off for each menu item!? I have to go under modifiers and apply them to the list of items instead!? What the heck!? Why?! For instance we are a farm to table restaurant so our menu changes almost daily.... For example our french toast flavors change weekly so I can no longer go to the Menu Item and just turn on or off certain flavors. I have to go into modifiers. The problem with this is is that I use some modifiers on multiple items. For instance all of our sandwiches have 8 different bread options with the exception of a couple which only have the option of one or two bread choices so now I can no longer edit the modifier on the item but can only edit the modifier as a whole affecting all of the items that modifier is associated with?! Also I am no longer seeing a place on each item on whether or not to make the modifier required. HORRIBLE change. Some kind of warning that these changes were happening would help. I now have to create 30 additional modifiers to affect those items.

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Square Champion

Hi @FDK1430.  I’ve read your post a couple of times and I’m a little confused about a couple of things.

 

First, you say your Square updated today?  Do you mean your POS, or something else?  

 

Second, I want to be clear about what you are saying you can’t do anymore.  It sounds like you are saying this.  Assume I have a modifier set with the following items:

 

White Bread

Whole Wheat Bread

Rye Bread

Pumpernickel Bread

Onion Bread

 

Are you saying that you used to be able to say that only three modifiers in that list applied to Sandwich 1, but that all 5 applied to Sandwich 2?  If so, I don’t remember that capability ever existing in Square.  As far as I have ever used Square (11 years now), when a modifier set is attached to an item, it’s all or nothing.

 

Anyway, it might help if you’ll post a screen shot or two of what you are seeing has changed, how it changed, etc.  That will give me a starting point to see the same thing that you are seeing.

Chip

If my answer resolves your issue, please take a minute to mark it as Best Answer. That helps people who find this thread in the future.

Piper’s Ice Cream Bar, Covington KY USA
Website
Facebook
Click here to see a list of third-party apps I use to add functionality to my Square account!

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My comment may have been confusing.... Maybe this will be more clear.... We have a dressings modifier.... That modifier was applied to a lot of our lunch items.... We have an item that has many variations on how the customer can order. They have a Potato Modifier, Meat Modifier and a Sauce modifier. Those modifiers are also applied to several other items on our menu. We used to be able to adjust on which items the modifier was "required", so the wait staff was forced to make a choice before sending to the kitchen. For instance. On our Feed Bunk Item the customer must choose what kind of potato, meat & sauce before it can be sent to the Kitchen. That Potato Modifier is also used on our breakfast menu on our classic Farmer's Favorite. On the farmers favorite however the item is not required because one of the potato options is our seasoned breakfast cubes however we have the modifier turned on but not required so that in the event someone is gluten free they can choose a different potato option without having to make a "note" to the kitchen I no longer have the ability to make the Modifier required on some menu items. We used to be able to see which modifiers were applied to Menu Items on this screen. We can no longer see that. We can only see the modifiers as a whole and then have to go to another screen where the modifiers are all listed and only have the option to turn them off or on.. There is no longer a required button. Hard to send a screen shot of what it looked like when it's no longer there.Screen Shot 2023-09-30 at 6.37.12 AM.pngScreen Shot 2023-09-30 at 6.58.47 AM.png

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The modifier menu screen is now just a list. I can only turn the modifier on or off. I no longer have the option to turn it on but not make it "required". I want the modifiers to be available but i also want the ability to make them "required" or not required.

Screen Shot 2023-09-30 at 7.23.02 AM.png

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Also.... on the items list.... when you are in an item. I used to be able to click a button for which menu the item was applied to. We change items almost daily so it was easy to go into an item and turn it on or off from the item screen. There used to be a list of menu's and categories in each item... For instance... certain breakfast items are only available on Sundays.

So I used to be able to click on Eggs Benedict, change the price, turn on modifier, and add it to the menu, all in one place. NOW I have to: Click on the item, change the price, then hit save, then go to Modifier list, change the meat options then hit save, then click on apply to items search for the item, Apply to item within the modifier list, hit save, then go to the Menu list and add it separately on that screen.

I used to be able to adjust items effortlessly all on one Item screen. The actual Item screen is now only good for price and inventory. Separating all of the options for the menu items makes changing the menu horribly laborious. And when you have a menu that changes daily, weekly, and seasonally it's very frustrating. We offer lots of options for several of our main items but many of them are seasonal offerings. This is very frustrating.

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This post is only for the one above about being unable to make modifier sets required or not.  I’m not attempting here to speak to everything else.  I’ll do that in another post.

 

So for this one, you still can specify that a modifier set is required for some items, but not for others.  But you have to do this individually.

 

Edit an item.  Scroll to the modifier section and click on the ellipses (…) to the right of the modifier set, and select customize.  Specify the number of required modifiers and the maximum number allowed.  If this configuration only applies to one item, just save.  If it applies to more than one, at the bottom there is an option to apply this configuration to other items.

Chip

If my answer resolves your issue, please take a minute to mark it as Best Answer. That helps people who find this thread in the future.

Piper’s Ice Cream Bar, Covington KY USA
Website
Facebook
Click here to see a list of third-party apps I use to add functionality to my Square account!

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You said “Also.... on the items list.... when you are in an item. I used to be able to click a button for which menu the item was applied to. We change items almost daily so it was easy to go into an item and turn it on or off from the item screen. There used to be a list of menu's and categories in each item... For instance... certain breakfast items are only available on Sundays.”

 

You can still do this.  In Item Edit mode on the dashboard scroll down to just below variations.  There is a list of all menus.  You can expand the one you want to add it to and place it on the appropriate menu page.  You don’t have to go to the Menus editing screen at all as long as the desired menu and page already exist.

Chip

If my answer resolves your issue, please take a minute to mark it as Best Answer. That helps people who find this thread in the future.

Piper’s Ice Cream Bar, Covington KY USA
Website
Facebook
Click here to see a list of third-party apps I use to add functionality to my Square account!

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It seems that, other than not being able to find how to make a modifier set required for some items and not required for others, you’ve figured out that all the same functionality exists.  It’s just in different places and requires a new routing.  Obviously, as a fellow seller I can’t speak to that.  I was not involved in the beta (if there was one) for the new dashboard item management tools.  And, since I only change my menu once or twice a year these days (I got out of food and only do ice cream now) I just wasn’t aware of how much these editing screens have changed.

 

For now, all I can really help with is pointing you in the right direction if there is functionality that you can’t find.  I’m sure that someone from the Item Management team will see this post at some point.  But, of course, all any seller can do now is figure out what changed, what was moved, and adapt to the current reality. Let me know if you can’t find some function.  

Chip

If my answer resolves your issue, please take a minute to mark it as Best Answer. That helps people who find this thread in the future.

Piper’s Ice Cream Bar, Covington KY USA
Website
Facebook
Click here to see a list of third-party apps I use to add functionality to my Square account!

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Interestingly enough, today my screens are back to normal and I am once again able to edit the Item in the way I was able to prior to the "change" on Friday. I am once again able to add modifiers and add an item to the menu from the item I'm editing. If you look at my original Screen Shot of the Item change you will see that on Friday my item screen stopped after the variations. Amazingly the Menu and Modifiers reappeared today underneath that. Which is good. For now... Until they once again change things without notifying anyone of any updates. It's so frustrating especially when it happens during the day unannounced and we have to try to modify our menu on the fly and make it work. When we change our menu almost daily/weekly because we are farm to table it makes it very difficult.

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