About the Special Event Menu
For information on what a special event menu is and what it can offer, see the separate article About the Special Event Menu.
Creating a New Special Event Menu From Scratch
It is recommended to copy an existing special event menu and use it as a base to create a new special event menu.
However, if you want to create a new blank special event menu from scratch, then that functionality is available. When you build a menu from scratch, you can manually add items to it, or copy menu items to it from another menu. The steps below explain how to create a new special event menu from scratch.
- Select Menus > Menu Listing. The Menus Listing screen appears.
- Click the Add New button. The Add Menu slide-out panel appears.
- Enter or select the following:
- Name - enter a name of your menu (maximum 40 characters).
- Type - select Special Event
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Menu Category Choices - select the number of choices (up to 5) that the menu can support for its menu items. A menu item labelled as choice 1 will be the main and a menu item labelled as choice 2 will be the first alternate, etc. For more information on choices, see Choices for a Menu Item.
Note that if the menu does not support menu item extensions (i.e., the Extension Type is No Extensions), the No Choice option is available, meaning your menu items will not be categorized by choices. A menu with no choices and no extensions is typically used in a cafeteria or catering environment. -
Extension Type
- Extended Menu - (default) keep this option if the menu items are to support therapeutic substitutes extended to diet orders.
- No Extensions - select this option if the menu items will not support therapeutic substitutes extended to diet orders.
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Extension Editor (applicable if menu is an extended menu):
- Auto-Open - select this option if the menu item extension grid will automatically appear when adding menu items.
- Manual - select this option to not have the menu item extension grid automatically appear when adding menu items.
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Description (optional) - enter a description of the menu.
- In the Configuring Menus section, select the meal periods (breakfast, lunch or dinner) the special event menu supports by selecting/clearing the check boxes as needed. A special event menu can be created for a single meal period of the day. For example, if serving a lunch holiday meal, then you would select the Lunch check box and clear the Breakfast and Dinner check boxes. On the day the special event menu is active, the breakfast is served from the standard menu, lunch is served from the special event menu, and dinner is served from the standard menu.
- Click the Save button to apply your changes and close the slide-out panel.
- Your next step is to build the menu. You have the following options:
- Add items to the menu.
- Copy items to the menu from another menu. To do so, see the Copying Menu Items to Another Menu article.