TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction
- Creating Non-Stocked Items
- Setting Up PLU’s that will be Order Options
- Setting up PLU’s that have Order Options
- Setting Up ‘Default’ Order Options
- Sending PLU’s to Kitchen Printers
- How Order Options Work on the Till
Introduction
The following document is designed for use in catering environments and covers:
- Setting up PLU’s for your various ‘Order Options’ (e.g. meal choices such as chips or salad).
- Setting up PLU’s to have a choice of ‘Order Options’ when sold (including ‘Default’ order options).
- How to define the kitchen printer a PLU will be sent to.
- How order screens look and work on the till itself.
Please Note:
The prerequisite for using this manual is to already have received training on and know how to:
- Use the ‘New PLU/Stock Wizard’.
- Use the ‘Price Lookup Index’ to add / find and edit PLU’s (including the ‘PLU Maintenance’ screen).
Creating Non-Stocked Items
In catering environments, meals that require various options to be selected and sent to the kitchen printer would usually be set up as a ‘Non Stocked Item’. This is because you do not hold e.g. ‘Fish and Chips’ in stock. This is a meal that is cooked to order when it is sent to the kitchen printer, so all meals that are cooked to order would usually be set up as a ‘Non-Stocked Item’ in the Merac software. Likewise, any ‘Order Options’ would be set up as a ‘Non-Stocked Item’. For example, with a main course you may get a choice of either chips, or jacket, or boiled potatoes, each of these would be set up as a ‘Non-Stocked Item’. Likewise, any other cooking instructions that need to be sent to a kitchen printer (e.g. Well Done, Medium, Rare, No Onion, No Nuts etc) would each be set up as a ‘Non-Stocked Item’.
The first steps of setting up any ‘Non-Stocked Item’ are detailed below:
1. Click on the ‘Setup’ main menu button.
2.Next click on the ‘Pricing’ button.
3. Now double click the ‘New PLU/Stock Wizard’ button.
Select the ‘Non-Stocked Item’ option and then click the ‘Next’ button.
You will now see the following screen.
First set up all your order option / cooking instructions PLU’s (see below).
Setting Up PLU’s that will be Order Options
Enter the details in the below screen as required.
In the below example ‘No onion’ will be a choice (‘Order Option’) that has no (£0.00) price.
Alternatively, an ‘Order Option’ could have a price, e.g. ‘Extra Cheese’ could be £1.00.
Enter all the details as required then click the ‘Next’ button.
You will now see the following screen.
Click the box to the right of the text ‘This is a food item’, so that it becomes ticked.
Now click the box to the right of the text ‘Order option item:’, so that it becomes ticked.
Once the correct options have been selected click the ‘Next’ button.
You will now see the following screen.
Enter the required code in the ‘Code / Barcode:’ box, then click the ‘Add’ button.
Next click the ‘Finish’ button.
You will now see the following message.
Click the ‘OK’ button.
Repeat the process to create all the zero priced and priced order option PLU’s as required.
Setting up PLU’s that have Order Options
The following section details how to set up a meal that will have order options, in the example below we will set up the ‘Fish and Chips’ ‘Non Stocked Item’ PLU and show you how to add the ‘Order Option’ PLU’s it requires.
Select the ‘Non-Stocked Item’ option and then click the ‘Next’ button.
Enter all the details as required then click the ‘Next’ button
You will now see the following screen.
Now click the box to the right of the text ‘This is a food item:’, so this becomes ticked.
Now click the box to the right of the text ‘Kitchen order item:’, so this becomes ticked.
Also click the box to the right of the text ‘Order Options’, so this becomes ticked.
Once the correct options have been selected click the ‘Next’ button.
Enter the required code in the ‘Code / Barcode:’ box, then click the ‘Add’ button.
Next click the ‘Finish’ button.
You will now see the following message.
Click the ‘OK’ button.
You will now see the message below, click ‘Yes’ to add the relevant order options.
You will now see the following screen.
The list of order option item PLU’s you have already created will now show on the left-hand side.
You can click and drag the required order option PLU's from the left, to the right-hand side of the screen. This creates the required list of options that will appear when selling this item on the till.
To create an “either/or” click and drag the required order option items ABOVE the red line.
N.B. the options will appear on the till in exactly the same order that they are added, so please ensure you click and drag the options in the required order. If an order option(s) are in the wrong order, they will need to be deleted and re-added in the correct order. To delete an option from the right-hand side of the screen, click on the item (so it becomes highlighted yellow) then press the ‘Delete’ button on your computer’s QWERTY keyboard. The item will now be removed from the list of selected order options.
In the below screen an “either / or” choice has been created.
If you want to create a second “either / or” choice, double click ON the red line.
This will create a second section ABOVE the red line (as indicated by the arrow above)
You will notice that the start of the new section is indicated by a blue line.
Simply drag your second choice of order options PLU’s from the left-hand list into this new section.
(i.e. you would drag the order option items BETWEEN the blue line and the red line).
If required, double click the red line again to create a third section of “either / or” choices.
N.B. you can only create a maximum of 8 sections of “either / or” choices above the red line.
In this scenario it has been decided that the following “either / or” choices only are required:
(i) the first choice will be either ‘White Bread’ or ‘Brown Bread’.
(ii) the second choice of either ‘Peas’ or Beans’.
If so, then the right-hand side of the screen would be set up to look like the example shown below.
Please note that in addition you can also have only one “any of” choice.
This is done by dragging order option PLU’s from the list on the left-hand side, but these need to be dragged BELOW the red line on the right hand side of the screen.
On the till this means you would be able to select “any of” the items (showing below the red line)
Setting Up ‘Default’ Order Options
If required, you can also set ‘Default’ order options. These ‘Default’ order options will be automatically selected on the relevant order options screen that is displayed on the till. If you do not want any ‘Default’ choice (i.e. the till operator must ask the customer before selecting the relevant options), then simply do not set up any ‘Default’ choice on the order options.
The ‘Default’ order options can be seen and defined here.
A ‘Default’ choice can be switched on / off as required.
To turn a ‘Default’ choice on, first click in the box next to the required order option item.
Next press the ‘Y’ key on your computer keyboard.
To turn a ‘Default’ off, first click in the box next to the required order option item.
Next press the ‘N’ key on your computer keyboard.
Once all the options have been set up as required, click the ‘Save’ button.
You will now see the following message.
Click the ‘OK’ button.
You have now set up the required order options.
Please ensure that you send all the changes down to the till(s) via Edit > Recreate Till Data.
Sending PLU’s to Kitchen Printers
For items that need to be sent to a kitchen printer only, the required set up is detailed below. For example, a ‘White Coffee’ PLU when sold does not have any order options, but needs to be sent to a kitchen printer near the drink preparation area. This would be an example where it is sent to the kitchen printer only. As explained in the previous sections, create a new ‘Non-Stocked Item’ and fill out the below screen.
In this scenario simply click the box to the right of the text ‘Kitchen Order Item’, so that it becomes ticked.
Click the ‘Next’ button to continue.
Enter the required code in the ‘Code / Barcode:’ box.
Next click the ‘Add’ button (and the code you entered appears where shown and is highlighted yellow)
Click the ‘Finish’ button.
You will now see the following screen, which confirms the non-stocked item has been added.
Click the ‘Ok’ button.
Please note that when you add a PLU using the ‘New PLU/Stock Wizard’ and you tick the ‘Kitchen Order Item’ box, as standard this PLU will be automatically set to send to ‘Kitchen Printer 1’. In the scenario where there is more than one compatible kitchen printer installed and available, then you may need to find the PLU and select the required kitchen printer as detailed below:
Go into SETUP > PRICING > PRICE LOOKUP INDEX.
Search for and open the required PLU record, so you are in the ‘PLU Maintenance’ screen (below).
Select the required kitchen printer this PLU will be sent to. N.B. you can select the PLU to send to, either:
‘Kitchen Printer 1’, ‘Kitchen Printer 2’, ‘Kitchen Printer 3’ or ‘All Kitchen Printers’ as required.
Click ‘Save’.
Now you must send all the changes down to the tills as usual, via Edit > Recreate Till Data.
Next, we recommend you go to the till(s) and thoroughly test all the order options are working correctly.
The order options screens on the till are detailed in the next section of this manual.
How Order Options Work on the Till
On pressing the button to sell a PLU that has order options, you will see a screen like the one below.
You will notice that ‘Default’ order options are already selected and are highlighted green.
You can select an alternative “either / or” choice by simply pressing / clicking on the required option.
You will notice that in the above example an additional order option of ‘No bread’ and ‘No Peas or Beans’ have been added, which will appear on the print outs sent to the kitchen printer. This may be something that you want to set up, if so these are just set up as order option PLU’s.
For the “any of” order option choices, simply press / click on these to toggle the choice on / off.
You can also enter a ‘Table Number’ and number of ‘Covers’ in the relevant boxes as required.
There is also a box in which free text notes can be entered using the QWERTY keyboard.
These notes will also be sent to the kitchen printer along with the order options that were selected.
Click the ‘Ok’ button and complete the transaction to the required payment method in the usual way.
The items will be sent to the relevant kitchen printer(s) as defined in the PLU setting detailed earlier.
Please Note:
For this to work it does require kitchen printers to have been purchased from and installed by Merac. Once installed these need to be assigned to the required tills in the background. Then each till can send to the kitchen printers it is connected / networked to, there can be a maximum of 3 printers per till. But the PLU setting determines which kitchen printer the item gets sent to (kitchen printer 1, 2,3 or all of them). If you want to enquire about having kitchen printers.