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Importing your menu

Upload a photo or PDF of the menu you already have and Pekkish reads it into a draft: categories, products, prices and options. You check the draft, fix anything we got wrong, and only then does it go into your menu. For most shops it takes ten minutes instead of an evening of typing.

Where to find it

In your shop admin, go to Menu → Categories and press Import a menu. It's also on the Menu tile of your Setup page when you first sign in.

Only a shop's owner and admins can import, because an import writes a whole menu at once.

1. Choose your files

Any of these will do:

  • A photo of your printed menu, price list or the board on the wall (JPG, PNG, WebP or GIF)
  • A screenshot of your menu from your website or Facebook page
  • A PDF, such as the one your printer or designer sent you

Each file can be up to 8 MB. If your menu is in several parts, like a photo of each page or a breakfast menu and a lunch menu, choose them all at once. We read them together as one menu. You can upload up to 10 files and 20 MB altogether, with no more than 15 pages between them (each photo counts as one page).

Getting a photo that reads well

  • Stand straight in front of the menu rather than at an angle
  • Avoid glare across the prices. Turn off the flash, or step to one side of a light
  • Get the whole of each section in the frame. A price cut off at the edge is a price we can't read
  • For a long board or a tall screenshot, take two or three photos rather than one. A single very tall image is harder to read

It doesn't need to be a perfect scan. A clear phone photo is fine.

2. Say which menu it is

You'll be asked Which menu is this?

  • Day menu: sandwiches, hot food, drinks. Any catering or buffet sections on the page are skipped.
  • Catering / buffet menu: platters and per-head boxes.

If your file has both a day menu and a catering menu, we import the half that matches your shop and tell you about the other half. A shop takes one kind of order, so the other half belongs in a second shop with the same sign-in. Catering: platters, buffets and business customers explains how that works.

Then press Read my menu.

3. Wait a minute

Reading a menu usually takes less than a minute, and the page refreshes itself when it's done. You can leave it and come back.

If we can't read the file, we'll say why and what to try instead. Usually that's a clearer photo, or photographing the menu in parts. A failed read doesn't use up one of your imports.

4. Check the draft

You'll see the whole menu laid out by category. Nothing is on your storefront yet, so you can take your time on this page.

  • Fix a name or price by typing in the box.
  • Remove anything that isn't yours, like a heading we mistook for a product or an item you've stopped selling.
  • + Add an item we missed under any category.
  • Save changes keeps your edits without importing, if you want to finish later.

Options, such as bread choices or extra fillings, are listed at the bottom of the draft. They're easier to change in the menu editor after importing, so don't worry if they aren't quite right yet.

Questions we might ask you

Some things on a menu are your call rather than ours, so the draft asks you about them instead of guessing:

  • A few things worth checking. These are items without a price, items missing something a customer needs to order them (like "choice of filling" with no fillings listed), and any places where we had to make a judgement call. Read these first.
  • Do you sell these online? Some items don't work well as an order placed in advance, because of how they're cooked or how they travel. We list them with the reason for each. If you leave them off, they're still imported, just switched off, so you can turn them on later without retyping anything.
  • Your prices for the same choice don't match. If your menu charges, say, 10p extra for brown bread on most sandwiches but 20p on one, those have to be separate choices on your menu. You can keep your prices exactly as they are, or use the most common price for all of them so there's one choice. We keep your prices unless you tell us otherwise.

If the file was too unclear for us to build a menu you could trust, we'll say so and suggest building it by hand. A menu that looks right but isn't would mean checking every item anyway. If you think we're wrong, the draft is still there and you can import it.

Replacing the sample menu

Every new shop starts with a sample menu so the storefront has something in it. If you haven't changed the sample yet, the draft has a ticked box: Replace our sample menu with this one. Leave it ticked unless you want to keep the sample items.

5. Import

Press Import this menu. You'll go to your categories, with a message saying how many products and categories were added.

An import adds to your menu. It never deletes anything you already have, and if a category with the same name already exists, the new products go into it rather than into a duplicate.

After importing: what to check

Items that came in switched off

Some items are imported but not put on sale, so they're in your menu without appearing on your storefront:

  • Items without a price. We never put an item on sale at £0 because we couldn't read its price.
  • Items missing something customers need to order them.
  • Items you chose not to sell online in the question above.

To put one on sale, open it under Menu → Products, fix whatever it needs, and set its Status to Active.

Allergens

If your menu marks allergens (with symbols, letters or a "contains" note), we bring those in. We never guess allergens from ingredients. That's a legal responsibility and it has to be yours. Check the allergens on every product, imported or not. Each product's allergens are on its edit page under Menu → Products.

Photos

Product photos aren't imported, even if your menu has pictures. Add them on each product's edit page. Items with a photo tend to sell better.

VAT (catering shops)

If a catering menu shows prices "+VAT" or prints a VAT number, we take that to mean you're VAT registered. We switch VAT on for your shop and fill in the number if it's printed. Your prices stay as printed, as prices before VAT, and VAT is added at the checkout. If you aren't VAT registered, untick VAT registered under Settings → General.

Options and meal deals

Check the option groups (bread, extras, sizes) are attached to the right products, and set up any meal deals your menu mentions. Meal deals aren't imported. Both are covered in Building and editing your menu.

How many imports you get

Every shop gets five imports to start with. That's enough to import your menu, try again with a better photo, and add a second menu later. After that you get one a day. A failed read doesn't count, and there's nothing to pay for.

When to type it in instead

If your menu is only a handful of items, or is mostly "build your own" with lots of choices, it can be quicker to build it by hand than to check a draft. See Building and editing your menu.

Common questions

  • Can I import a second menu later? Yes. It's added to what's there, so remove anything you no longer sell afterwards.
  • I imported the wrong file. An import can't be undone in one go. Delete the categories and products you don't want under Menu → Categories and Menu → Products, then import the right one.
  • It says I've used today's import. Try again tomorrow, or make your changes by hand in the meantime.

Stuck on something? Contact support.