How to Import a Menu into SpotOn (Without Retyping It)

New location, new POS, or just tired of the old menu setup. Either way, staring at a stack of menu photos and a fresh SpotOn dashboard is not a great feeling. SpotOn does not have a single button that turns a PDF into a finished menu, but the build goes a lot faster once you know the order it actually wants things built in. Here is the real workflow, including the parts nobody explains until you have already redone something twice.

What does importing a menu into SpotOn actually involve?

SpotOn menu setup runs through its dashboard. You build items, modifier sets, and menus, and assign those menus to the revenue centers that should sell them, dine-in, the bar, the patio, online ordering, catering. There is no universal file you drag in without any setup, and depending on how your account was opened, an onboarding specialist may help with the initial build. Either way, the work that actually saves time happens before anyone opens the dashboard: deciding the structure.

How is a SpotOn menu organized?

Three pieces, and keeping them separate is what makes the system work:

• Items, the things guests order, priced individually.
• Modifier sets, reusable option groups (size, toppings, temperature, sides) attached to whichever items need them.
• Menus assigned to revenue centers, so the same item catalog can show up differently at the bar, on the floor, or through online ordering, without maintaining separate item lists for each.

Revenue centers are the piece that trips people up coming from a simpler, single-terminal POS. A restaurant with dine-in, a bar, and online ordering is really running three slightly different views of one menu, and each one needs to be checked on its own.

What do you need before you start building the menu?

• Every current menu version: dine-in, bar, patio, online ordering, catering
• Prices for each item, including any differences between channels, such as an online ordering upcharge
• A full modifier list and which items use which modifiers
• Which revenue centers each item should be available in
• 86 rules for seasonal or limited items
• Tax classifications for food, alcohol, and anything taxed differently

How do you build a SpotOn menu step by step?

1. Gather every menu version and list your revenue centers. Dine-in, bar, patio, online ordering, catering, whatever applies. Collect the menu and pricing for each before opening the dashboard.
2. Build modifier sets first. Every size, temperature, topping, sauce, and add-on gets built once as a shared set, before a single item exists.
3. Build items and attach the modifier sets you already built. Do not recreate a topping list under every pizza on the menu.
4. Organize items into menus, then assign each menu to the right revenue centers. A smaller online ordering menu, a full dine-in menu, and a bar-only menu can all pull from the same items.
5. Set availability and any per-channel pricing. Flag 86-able items, and set pricing differences between in-house and online ordering where they apply.
6. Test every revenue center separately before service. The dine-in register, the bar screen, and the online ordering menu can each display differently. Checking one does not confirm the others.

What are the most common mistakes when building a SpotOn menu?

• Modifiers rebuilt per item instead of one shared modifier set, which multiplies the work and guarantees inconsistency later.
• Sizes treated as separate items instead of a modifier or price tier, which fragments sales reporting.
• Online ordering pricing forgotten, so third-party fees or packaging costs quietly eat into margin on every online order.
• Wine by the glass and bottle set up as one item instead of two linked to the same inventory, which breaks pour tracking the first time a bottle gets opened.
• 86 counts out of sync across revenue centers, so a dish pulled from the dine-in menu is still sitting on the online ordering menu, waiting for a guest to order something the kitchen does not have.
• Only testing one revenue center. A menu that looks right at the register does not guarantee it looks right on the online ordering page.

How long does a SpotOn menu build actually take?

It depends heavily on how many revenue centers you are running and how much the menu differs between them. A single-location, dine-in-only build with a modest modifier list can be done in a few hours. Add a bar menu, online ordering, and catering, and the build stretches out fast, mostly because each revenue center needs its own review, not because the items themselves are complicated. Getting the modifier sets and revenue center assignments planned out ahead of time is what keeps that from turning into a multi-day project.

FAQ: Importing a menu into SpotOn