Most menu items that feel complicated are built from the same handful of patterns. This playbook lists the situations restaurants run into most, names the Shop+ feature that handles each one and gives the settings. Use it when you are planning a menu, or when you need to answer "how do I set up…" for a specific dish.
The building blocks
Product: the dish itself, with a base price, category and printer.
Modifier group: a question asked when the dish is ordered. It has a minimum, a maximum and a selection type, and each option can carry an upcharge.
Follow-up group: a modifier group that only appears after a specific option is chosen.
Variant: a version of the product with its own price and stock, such as a bottle size.
Open Price: a product whose price is typed in when it is ordered.
Recipe Map: the ingredients a dish uses, including ingredients tied to a modifier option.
Menu: a schedule (days and hours) with an optional price adjustment.
Playbook at a glance
Situation | What to build | Settings |
How would you like it cooked? | Modifier group | Min 1, Max 1, Single Choice, no prices |
Choice of two sides | Modifier group | Min 2, Max 2, Multi Select, price on premium sides |
Add-ons and extras | Modifier group | Min empty, Max as needed, Multi Select, price on each option |
No onion, no cheese, on the side | Modifier group | Min empty, Multi Select, options named "No Onion", no prices |
Drink sizes | Modifier group shared by all drinks | Min 1, Max 1, Single Choice, upcharge on larger sizes |
Make it a combo | Modifier option with follow-up groups | Combo option priced, follow-up groups for side and drink |
Double shot, extra pumps | Modifier option with a quantity limit | Option Max above 1 |
Build-your-own pizza, half and half | Pizza Builder modifier group | Allow Half Toppings on |
Soup of the day, market price | Open Price product | Open Price on |
Happy hour or brunch pricing | Menu | Days, hours and Price Adjustment (%) |
Ingredient usage per dish | Recipe Map | Base ingredients plus modifier adjustments |
Cook temperature, doneness, bread choice, milk choice
Any question that must have exactly one answer is a required pick-one group: Minimum Selection 1, Maximum Selection 1, Selection Type Single Choice. Leave the option prices at 0 unless a choice costs more (oat milk, gluten-free bun). Build the group once and attach it to every dish that needs it.
Choice of sides
For "comes with two sides", set the minimum and maximum to 2 with Multi Select. Put an upcharge on premium sides. The dish cannot be added until two sides are chosen, and a third cannot be ticked. In this example the steak has a required temperature, exactly two sides, an optional sauce and optional add-ons.
Add, no, extra, on the side
Use an optional Multi Select group. Name the options the way the kitchen reads them: "No Onion", "Extra Pickles", "Dressing on Side". Give paid extras a price and leave removals at 0. Many restaurants keep one group of removals per station (burger, sandwich, salad) and attach it to every item from that station.
Drink and portion sizes
If the same size list applies to many items, build one required pick-one group called Size with the smallest size at 0 and an upcharge on the others. Set the product price to the smallest size. You then maintain sizes in one place. Use product variants for sizes only when each size is stocked and counted separately, such as bottled drinks.
Extras with a quantity
When a customer can order more than one of the same extra, such as two extra shots, set the option's Max to the most you allow in the option's Quantity row. The option then takes a quantity, and each one counts toward the group maximum.
Combos and meal deals
Build the side and drink questions as their own required pick-one groups. Then create a group called Make It a Combo with two options: the combo, priced at the combo upcharge, and the item on its own. On the combo option, open More settings and add the side and drink groups under Follow-up modifier groups. They only appear after the combo is chosen.
Build-your-own and half-and-half pizza
Create a modifier group with Selection Type Pizza Builder and add each topping as an option with its price. Turn on Allow Half Toppings (Left/Right) so a topping can go on the whole pizza or on one half. For specialty pizzas, create a separate product per pizza and attach the same toppings group for additions.
Daily specials and market-price items
Create a product and turn on Open Price. Staff type the price and a note each time it is ordered. Open Price products cannot have variants or modifiers, so use it for items that change daily, not for regular dishes.
Happy hour, brunch and limited-time menus
Create a menu under Products → Menus, choose its days and hours, add the products, and enter a Price Adjustment (%). A negative number lowers prices for everything on that menu while it is active, so you do not need duplicate "happy hour" products.
Kids' meals, lunch portions and half orders
Create these as their own products with their own price and category. They usually have fewer choices than the full dish, so attach only the groups that apply. If the only difference is the portion, you can instead add a required pick-one Portion group to the dish: set the product price to the half portion, leave Half at 0 and put the difference on Full.
Ingredients and food usage
On the product's Recipe Map tab, list the ingredients used every time the dish is ordered. Under Modifier Adjustments, add ingredients that are only used when a specific option is chosen, such as a lobster tail on a surf and turf add-on.
Limits to plan around
Items sold by weight. Price by Weight needs a scale at the station, and Stackably does not supply one. Sell by fixed portions instead (quarter pound, half pound) as a pick-one group or separate products.
An option that costs less than the standard. Option prices are upcharges. Set the product price to the cheapest version and put upcharges on the others.
Different option prices per product from one shared group. An option has one price wherever the group is used. If extra cheese costs more on a pizza than on a burger, build two groups.
Common questions
How do I set up a burger with toppings and a combo? One product, an optional Multi Select toppings group, and a Make It a Combo group whose combo option has follow-up groups for side and drink.
How do I set up a dish with a choice of two sides? A Multi Select group with minimum 2 and maximum 2.
How do I charge for a premium side? Enter the upcharge in that option's Price box.
How do I offer half-and-half pizza? Use a Pizza Builder group with Allow Half Toppings turned on.
How do I sell a soup of the day at a changing price? Create an Open Price product.
Where is a full worked example? See "Complex restaurant menu item example (Surf & Turf walkthrough)" in this collection.