The Menu Order System allows you to bring an easy to use ordering system that allows users to place orders from the comfort of their own home, track their order’s progress, and get notified when it’s ready to be picked up.

While it’s called the Menu Order System, it’s not limited to the food industry. Any company that sells products can use this feature.

How to set up the Menu Order System

Step 1: Add the Menu Order System feature

In your BuildFire Control Panel and go to App Components > Marketplace. Then, search for "Menu Order System" button and Add the plugin and give your plugin a name.

Step 2: Create a new Category

Each menu needs at least one Category, but you can have multiple categories in your menu. For this article, we will cover an example utilizing products to showcase this plugin's functionality.

To create a new Category, click on the “New Category” button:

Then, give it a Title and click “Add”

Step 3: Create a Subcategory

Now that you’ve created your first Category, click on the pencil icon to add Subcategories to that Category:

Once you’re in the Category, you can create a new Subcategory by clicking the “New Subcategory” button:

Just like the Category, you’ll need to give the Subcategory a title:

Think of the Categories as more general groups of items such as Hair Products and Skin Care products.

The Subcategories can be viewed as groups of products in those groups, such as Shampoo and Conditioner.

the Subcategory allows you to assign an image or icon to each one that you create. By default, the image is an empty dish. If you’d like to change it, all you need to do is click on the icon next to the Subcategory’s title:

Step 4: Add Products to the Subcategory

To begin, click on the pencil icon to add Products to that Subcategory. Just like the Category and Subcategory, you can add a Product to that Subcategory by clicking the “New Product” button.

Then add a description and Options to each Product by clicking on the pencil icon.

Once you’ve added one or more Products to the Subcategory, you’ll need to add a Description and at least one Option to that Product. You can do this by clicking on the pencil icon next to the Product:

After adding a description, you can create your first Option by clicking on the “Add Option” button:

Give that Option a Title and a Price in these fields, then once you’re done adding Options click “Save”:

Continue adding Categories, Subcategories, and Products to your Menu until it has everything that you want to offer for sale.

Step 5: Configure your payment options

Once you have set up your menu, you can configure your payment options.

Go to the Settings tab, and click the box that says “Allow Charging.”

BuildFire supports the payment gateway of Stripe, You can choose which payment options you want to offer to your customers.

Note: Some additional information may be required depending on your payment setup. Please reach out to Support@BuildFire.com so we can ensure your payment options are set up properly!

How the Menu Order System is used within your app

In this example, we will use a Restaurant app to cover how the Menu Order System feature is utilized from the user-side.

All users of the Menu Order System are separated into two categories:

Customers: Customers use this feature to place orders.

Employees: Employees use this feature to manage the fulfillment of new and existing orders.

Step 1: The Customer adds the items that they want to their cart

As your customers navigate through your menu, when they tap on a Subcategory, a window pops up with all of the products and their options:

They can add products to their shopping cart by tapping on the “Add” button next to those products’ options:

When they’re ready to place their order, they can tap on the Shopping Cart icon in the lower right-hand corner of your app:

Within the Shopping Cart, they can adjust their order and add special instructions in the “Note” section under each item:

They then enter in their name and phone number and tap “Place Order” to submit their order:

Step 2: Your Employees check the feature for pending orders

After an order has been placed by the Customer, your Employees open the feature in your app where they’ll see all of the submitted orders:

Once they see an order that hasn’t been worked on, they can tap the “Received” button, which will send a notification to the Customer letting them know that their order has been received:

As they’re working on fulfilling the order, your Employees can tap on the “Pending” button to let your customers know that the order is currently being worked on:

Then when the order is ready, your Employees tap on the “Ready” button which lets your Customers know that their order is ready to be picked up:

All three of those button’s phrases can be customized in the Language Tab of the feature in the App Dashboard. If there’s any issues with the order or your Employees have questions for your Customers, they can use the phone number submitted with the order to get in contact with them.

That’s it! If your Customers ever want to see their previous orders, they can do so in the Order History, which is accessed by tapping on this icon in the lower-left corner of the app:

That’s it! Overall, the Menu Order System is a great way to add a custom menu to your BuildFire app. With this feature, you can streamline the ordering process and provide a convenient way for your customers to order products or food items on the go.

Pro Tip 1: Think about other features in our system that can complement the Menu Order System

We’ve worked hard to design a system where there are many features that can work together. Some features that you may consider using with the Menu Order System are the Loyalty Feature, which allows you to bring a rewards system into your app, and the Coupon Feature, which allows you to offer coupons for in-store purchases. Both of these features can help incentivize repeat visits to your business.

Pro Tip 2: You can hide products when they’re out of season or out of stock

By default, all of your products are displayed in the feature. If you ever want to hide specific Products or an entire Category or Subcategory, just uncheck the “Enable” check box next to it:

This is perfect for items that are sold out or not in season.

Pro Tip 3: Use the Language Tab to tailor the feature to your app

As we mentioned earlier, you can change many of the phrases in the Menu Order System via its Language Tab. We encourage you to go through all of the phrases available and customize them so that the feature can best fit your app.

In addition to this article, we recommend checking out the following related articles so that you have a better insight into how to best use our system:

Still have questions? No problem! Reach out to us and we’d be happy to help :)