What’s New in TouchBistro 8.2
Table Of Contents
Chapter 2. Setting Modifier Sort Orders
Section 1. Customize Modifier Group Order
Chapter 3. Cost of Goods Sold Report
Section 1. Food/Alcohol Cost Reports
Chapter 4. New Menu Category and Modifier Group Icons
Chapter 5. Staff Type Name Now Appears on the Guest Check
Section 1. Double Check All Staff Type Names
Chapter 1. Introduction
TouchBistro now allows you to customize the order of Modifier Groups and Modifier options. We’ve added new menu category/modifier group icons. A new Cost of Goods Sold report reports on the cost of items sold regardless of sales categories. Finally, the Guest Check now displays the server’s staff type name instead of the fixed “Waiter” title.
Chapter 2. Setting Modifier Sort Orders
In previous versions of TouchBistro, Modifier Groups (e.g., “Cooking Instructions”, “Salad Dressing”, “Spice level”) and Modifier Options (e.g., “Rare/Medium/Well Done”, “Ranch/French/Italian”, “Mild/Medium/Spicy”) were automatically sorted by TouchBistro alphabetically.
In Version 8.2, you can now customize the order of Modifier Groups and the modifier options.
Note: Sorting is available only on the iPad. You cannot sort Modifier Groups and modifier options via the cloud’s Remote Menu Management.
Section 1. Customize Modifier Group Order
In the example above, our Modifier Groups for a submarine sandwich menu item are in alphabetical order (Additions, Bread, Condiments, Meat), but not in a preferred order. Your workflow would query the customer about sub toppings (meat and vegetables) before asking them for their preferred condiments.
To customize the Modifier Group order for a menu item, tap on the menu item’s associated Modifier Groups.
Tap Sort.
You can use the pickup bars associated with the Modifier Groups to arrange them into your preferred order. Tap Done Sorting and then tap Done.
Repeat these steps for other menu items that may require a customized sorting of Modifier Groups.
Note: Modifier Groups are no longer sorted alphabetically, but in the order you add them to menu items.
Section 2. Modifier Options
By default, TouchBistro sorts modifier options alphabetically. However, that’s usually not the ideal order. In the above example, an alphabetic sorting of spice level can lead to confusion. Is, say, “Nuclear” spicier than “Killer”?
When you create your Modifier Group, you can tap the Sort option to customize the order.
Tap and hold an option and use the pickup bars to change its order. Tap Done Sorting and then Done.
Note: Modifier options are no longer sorted alphabetically, but in the order you add them to the Modifier Group.
Chapter 3. Cost of Goods Sold Report
Previously TouchBistro only reported on menu item costs if the menu item was under a Food or Alcohol sales category. If you had custom sales categories (e.g., Merchandise), TouchBistro would not report on the cost of items sold under those custom categories.
TouchBistro now offers a Cost of Goods Sold iPad report (Admin | Reports | Menu) that reports on the cost of all goods.
The new Cost of Goods Sold Report will break out costs via their Sales Category and give you an overall sales vs item cost calculation.
Costs are calculated based on either the menu item’s Cost field setting or the recipe cost if you’re using the Ingredient Inventory System.
The Snapshot report will also calculate cost ratios based on all menu items sold. The Cloud portal’s Gross Margin by Day report also reflects costs of all menu items sold.
Section 1. Food/Alcohol Cost Reports
We have not removed the individual Food/Alcohol Cost reports. However, we may remove them in a future version. If you have added these to your End of Day report or any other saved report template, you should replace them with the Cost of Goods Sold Report.
Chapter 4. New Menu Category and Modifier Group Icons
We’ve updated the icon pallet used by Menu Categories and Modifier Groups. We’ve also added several new food/drink related icons. Version 8.2 will update any existing icons to the new look.
For example, if you associated a Menu Category with the “French Fry” icon, it will update to the new look.
Section 1. Retired Icons
Several icons (mostly non-food/drink related) have been retired. If you have a menu category or modifier group using a retired icon, it will remain on update. However, if you remove it, you can’t re-associate a retired icon.
The retired icons are as follows:
Chapter 5. Staff Type Name Now Appears on the Guest Check
In previous versions of TouchBistro, the guest check identified the server who opened the order by the fixed term “Waiter”.
TouchBistro now uses the name of the Staff Type the server clocked in under.
For example, Leo K. clocked in as a Bartender staff type. The guest check will use the Bartender staff type name to identify the role of the person who opened the order.
Section 1. Double Check All Staff Type Names
These terms were previously internal and not customer facing. Because they now have the potential to appear on guest checks, we suggest reviewing all your Staff Type names (Admin | Admin Settings | Staff) for spelling and appropriateness. Review this guide for a list of all fields in TouchBistro that are used in a customer-facing way. As well, if you’re interested in what aspects of the guest check are customizable, see this guide.
Chapter 6. Cloud Reporting
Section 1. Report Menus Rearranged
The Revenue reports section has been removed. The Drill Down, Heat Map, and Gross Margin by Day reports have been moved under the Sales report section. All reports under all sections (Sales, Labor, Audit, etc.) are now listed in alphabetical order. Additionally, the Discounts and Voids reports section has been moved to the bottom of the menu of reports.
Section 2. New Menu Reports
We’ve added a new Menu section with reports focusing on menu-item related analytics. You will find two new reports under Menu.
The Menu Analysis report helps you gauge a menu item’s performance relative to other menu items in its Menu Category and Sales Category. You can now more easily compare menu item preference/popularity by Menu Category and Sales Category. This is a good report to answer questions like:
- What are my best selling appetizers?
- What percentage of steak sales are striploin steaks?
- What percentage of beer sales is craft beer?
The Text Modifier report shows you the performance of your text modifiers for the selected reporting range. If a custom modifier was entered, it will be reported here as well. You can see popular, recurring custom modifiers at a glance. You can add these as text modifiers to help speed ordering. As well, you can quickly spot unusual custom modifiers that may indicate server issues (lack of training or maybe fraud).