Skip to main content

Adding Prices for POS Menu Items and Products (via the Core System)

Kevin U
  • Updated

About POS Pricing

When taking an order for a diner at a POS station, the items available to order are from the Standard menu in the Core system (and, if configured, the Also Available menu). Prices must be added to these items using a price book in the Core system software, which is explained in this article. 

item_pricing.png

item_pricing.png

Pricing Not Available for Personalized Menu Items

About Personalized Menus: For residents with the table select service type and the advanced ordering service type, it can be configured that a POS location presents their personal menu for ordering, rather than the standard menu offerings. For example, if the resident is on a non-regular diet order, then their personal menu will contain the therapeutic substitute items that have been extended for the regular menu items. In addition, any custom items added directly on a personal menu (personal menu items, fallback substitutes, specific substitutes), will also be available to order by the resident at a POS location. See Enabling Personalized Menus at a POS Location for more information and instructions.

Prices Cannot be Added to Personalized Menu Items: For a POS location that is using personalized menus, the therapeutic items and custom items cannot include prices. The reason for this is that the therapeutic items and custom items bypasses the price book. 

POS_no_pricing.png

personal_menu_no_pricing.png

Creating a Price Book

Create the Price Book and Export the Excel® (.csv) File

Your first steps are to create a price book record, which will automatically contain the menu items along with any POS products.

Note: If your facility sells items at different prices for different menus and/or POS locations, then a separate price book will need to be created for each menu and/or POS location that has different prices. 

To create a price book: 

  1. In the Core System, select Point of Sale > Price Books. The Price Books listing screen appears.
     
  2. Click the Add a Price Book button. The Edit Price Book screen appears, with the Menu Items tab selected by default. 

    new_price_book.png
     
  3. In the Price Book Name field at the top of the screen, enter a name for the price book (e.g., “Spring/Summer - Dining Room - Price Book”).
     
  4. If exporting menu items, then complete the following steps:
    1. Open the Filters at the top of the screen. 
       
    2. Ensure the Menu Items tab is selected
      filters.png
       
    3. Use the available filters to determine the menu items that are displayed onscreen and will be exported:
    4. Click the Export to Excel button. An Excel file in .csv format is generated and downloaded to your computer.
       
  5. If exporting products, then complete the following steps:
    1. Open the Filters at the top of the screen. 
       
    2. Ensure the Products tab is selected.
      filters_products.png
       
    3. From the Category filter select the menu categories and/or non-menu categories of the products to be displayed.  
       
    4. Click the Export to Excel button. An Excel file in .csv format is generated and downloaded to your computer.

Enter Price Types and Prices in the .csv File

  1. Open the .csv file. You will see that it includes the Price Type and Price columns. 
     
  2. Enter the Price Type and Price for each menu item or product. Note the following:
    • When entering the price, the format is as follows: x.xx. Do not enter the $ sign. For example 3.49.
    • When entering a Price Type, it must be one of the following exact matches: 
      • Fixed price
      • Price by kg
      • Price by lb
      • Price by g
      • Price by oz
      • Variable price (Note that the maximum limit that can be entered for a variable price on the front end is $30,000)
         
  3. If entering a variable price for an item, it means the price will be entered on the POS front end by the POS operator, and as such you do not need to enter a price for it in the file. 

price_book_file.png

Note: For a self-service kiosk (SSK), an item with a price by weight or an item with a variable price is filtered out and not available for selection. 

Import .csv File with Price Types and Prices

With the price types and prices entered for items in the .csv file, you then import the file to automatically add those prices to the price book. If there are existing products in the price book, then those existing products will be updated with the new pricing from the file.

To import the .csv file with price types and prices, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core System, select Point of Sale > Price Books. The Price Books listing screen appears.
     
  2. For the price book whose prices you want to import from the .csv file, click its gear icon in the Actions column and select Edit. The Edit Price Book screen appears. 

    price_book_no_arrows.png
     
  3. To import the .csv file for menu items, click the Menu Items tab and then click the Import CSV button. 
    or
  4. To import the .csv file of POS products, click the Products tab and then click the Import to CSV button.
     
  5. Navigate to and select the file. 
     
  6. The system matches each item using the following criteria:
    • Display name (for menu items) / Product name (for products)
    • Portion size (for menu items)
    • Category
    • Menu name (for menu items)
       
  7. In addition, the system matches the Price Type value against the following accepted values: 
    • Fixed price
    • Price by kg
    • Price by lb 
    • Price by g
    • Price by oz 
    • Variable price (Note that the maximum limit that can be entered for a variable price on the front end is $30,000)
       
  8. When an item is matched, the Price Type and Price that is in the file will update in the price book. 
     
  9. If an item is not matched, then its Price type and Price will not be updated, and the system generates a message stating the row (i.e., item) that is not matched along with the reason. You can click the Download Errors button to download the error messages in a .csv file and correct the issues in the original file, and do another import as per the above steps.

    import_errors.png

Editing Price of an Existing Menu Item, Product or Service

To edit the price of an existing menu item, product or service, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core System, select Point of Sale > Price Books. The Price Books listing screen appears.
     
  2. For the price book you want to open, click its gear icon in the Actions column and select Edit. The Edit Price Book screen appears.

    price_book_no_arrows.png
     
  3. If entering a price for a menu item, select the Menu Items tab. If entering a price for a product or service select the Products tab. 
     
  4. If entering prices for menu items, then open the Filters at the top of the screen and select the desired filters to determine the menu items you want to display onscreen:
  5. If entering prices for a product, then open the Filters at the top of the screen, and from the Category filter you can select the menu categories and/or non-menu categories of the products you want to display onscreen. 
     

  6. Enter the price type and price for each item/product as needed. 

    entering_prices.png

    When entering the price for an individual product, you have the following options:
     

    • If entering a fixed price, then from the Price Type drop-down select Fixed Price, and then in the Price field enter the price. 
       
    • If entering a price by weight, then from the Price Type drop-down select the price by weight type (Price by kg, Price by lb, Price by g, or Price by oz) , and then in the Price field enter the price per weight unit. 
       
    • If you want the price to be a variable price that is entered on the POS front-end by the POS operator, then from the Price Type drop-down select Variable price (no Price field is available because the price is to be entered by the POS operator). 

Note: For a self-service kiosk (SSK), an item with a price by weight or an item with a variable price is filtered out and not available for selection. 

Assigning Price Book to a POS Location

A price book is assigned to a POS location in the Touch Admin software. To assign a price book to a POS location, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Touch Admin software, select POS Settings > Locations. The POS Locations screen appears.
     
  2. Click the Edit button of the location. The POS Location Management screen appears.
     
  3. From the Price Book drop-down, select the price book to assign to the POS location.
     
  4. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click the Save Location button to apply your changes.

Duplicating a Price Book

To create a second price book in the facility, it is not necessary to complete it from scratch. You can duplicate an existing price book and then modify the items as needed. To duplicate a second price book, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core System, select Point of Sale > Price Books. The Price Books listing screen appears.
     
  2. For the price book you want to copy, click its gear icon in the Actions column and select Copy. 
     
  3. Click the Create Duplicate button to the confirmation message that appears. You are returned to the main screen where the newly-duplicated price book is listed with “Copy of” prefaced in its name.
     
  4. For the newly-copied price book, click its gear icon in the Actions column and select Edit. The Edit Price Book screen appears. 
     
  5. Change the name of the price book. 
     
  6. Edit the prices as needed. 

FAQs

What is the limit on the price that can be entered for an item available in the POS?

At this time, the system allows a fixed price of up to $9 999 999.99 to be entered. 

For a variable price, the limit that can be entered by the POS operator is $30,000.00.

Can the price of a menu item be automatically adjusted depending on the diner category/type? For example, a different price appears depending if a diner is a resident, guest, or staff. 

The system does not allow the price of a menu item to be automatically adjusted depending on diner categories (resident, staff, guest). Some workaround options are as follows:

I changed a price of a menu item, but the new price is not flowing to the POS? 

This most likely means you did not update the price of the item from your currently-scheduled menu. From the Menus filter, ensure you have selected the currently-scheduled menu to display its items for updating. 

Apart from that, it could be that you added a price to a therapeutic substitute item, and that therapeutic substitute does not exist directly on the menu. Therapeutic items that have been added directly to the menu can have a price (as opposed to therapeutic items offered on personal menus via menu item extensions; see above for explanation). Clearing the Regular/Regular Only check box displays all therapeutic items that are extended from the menu items and any therapeutic items directly added to the menu. Therefore, when adding a price to a therapeutic item, ensure the item exists directly on the menu instead of being extended from a menu item.

How do I enter taxes for items/products?

Taxes are not applied to specific menu items and products but rather to categories. See Configuring Sales Taxes in the POS.