Scheduling Item Availability Feature
Schedule Availability allows for Items to be temporarily enabled or disabled until a specified date and time. This can be individually applied to certain stores or across all locations.
NOTE: You can use Schedule Availability for 86ing an item on Web and App so that the item automatically turns back on for ordering when you know the item will be available again.
Scheduling Item Process
Step 1: When looking to schedule an item to be available during specific time frames, start by navigating to Menu Entities > Menus.
Step 2: The Search For Menus page will appear; you can search for specific items using this feature. In the Menus section below, select the line item needed.
Step 3: The Menu selected appears. Scroll down to the Menu Groups section and select the line item needed.
Step 4: The Menu Group selected appears. Scroll down to the Group Items section and select the line item needed.
Step 5: The Menu Item page will appear. From here, you can perform any number of functions needed, including disabling the Menu Item.
Step 6: Select the Schedule Availability button, which is located just above the Location Availability section.
Step 7: Once you click on Schedule Availability, you will be presented with three (3) steps containing descriptions that guide you through the process. If you have any trouble during this process, please contact Lunchbox Chat to assist you through the issue.
Step 8: Once you have clicked Schedule to confirm your item schedule, you will see another tab appear with a list showing the scheduled item you just created.
NOTE: The item will automatically be available again via Web and App on the date/time you selected for the end date.
Step 9: On this tab, you can click the option to create more schedule availabilities or delete any you don't want available anymore. Click on the item schedule and scroll down until you see Delete on the bottom right. Once you click Delete, a tooltip will appear asking This action is permanent. Are you sure? Click Yes and the scheduled availability will be deleted.
FAQ
If we set up a special and don’t want it to show for all locations via web/app ordering, how do we turn off the special in the admin dashboard for a specified location without contacting support?
First, if you don’t have access to that location in Admin Dashboard, you will need to be given access by contacting Lunchbox Support.
To turn off the special that is listed within a menu for a specified location, access the Menu > Groups > Items and locate the special you created in your POS. Click on the Name of the special and then in the Location Availability section of the special, toggle the location to off (gray) and click Save.
Schedule Availability for a Special: Click Schedule Availability at the top of the item screen and choose the Availability (available), Date/Time it is available, and select the appropriate Locations, then click Save. If you need to update the scheduled availability for that item/special, click Schedule Availability on the item page and you will see the already created availability options. Click on the option you need to update.
Then, make updates (date/time of availability, locations included, etc) and click Save.
Finally, if you have created a special in your POS, the menu has been synced by support, and you locate the item in the Admin Dashboard and realize no locations are showing on the location availability section, then the item needs to be adjusted in the POS.
In the POS, the Target for the item needs to be set up as the entire restaurant group, for the Location Availability option to activate/be available in the Lunchbox Admin Dashboard. Once you’ve made the update in the POS, contact support to sync your menu again, and then location availability options should display for the special you created. At this point, you could toggle off or on the locations that have the special available in the Location Availability section for that item/special.
Can you order ahead or schedule items to be ordered in advance? (i.e. Limit Rotisserie chicken orders to make sure they are prepped appropriately for the shift)
No, we don't offer an option for order ahead/schedule in advance for specific menu items.
Will order in advance orders fire immediately or at their scheduled time?
Order in advance orders will fire at their scheduled times and you’d have to pull the search for orders report (export to CSV) to then filter by date of order fulfillment.