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Groups and categories

Two levels of structure above an individual dish, and every menu item sits inside both.

What each one is for

A group is the broad division — food and drink, or kitchen and bar.

A category sits inside a group — starters, breads, hot drinks.

An item belongs to a group, then to a category within it. That is why the category list on the item form stays greyed out until a group is chosen: the available categories depend on the group. See Add a menu item.

Why the structure is worth thinking about

It decides how your reports read. Item-wise sales grouped by category is only useful if the categories are ones you would actually compare — "food" and "drink" tells you little, while "starters", "mains" and "desserts" tells you where an evening's money came from.

It also drives the ordering screen. Categories are how a captain finds a dish quickly mid-service. A category holding forty items is a category nobody scrolls through.

Getting it roughly right early is much easier than changing it later, once items, reports and habits have all settled around it.

Creating them

Both are short records — a name, and whether the record is active. The name is required.

Neither is created from the item form. If the group or category you want does not exist, it has to be added before an item can use it.

Not every account can reach these screens. If you cannot find them, ask whoever administers your KJB rather than assuming they are missing.

Deactivating

A group or category you stop using is made inactive rather than deleted, so items and reports that reference it keep making sense.