Kebab with or without onion, burger with extra cheese, pizza large or half and half: in quick service, guests put together their own product. If you created every combination as a separate article, the order screen would be full and maintenance endless. With article options it stays one article; the Sales Point and the kiosk ask for the choice when booking, and the kitchen sees it on the ticket. This guide shows the typical patterns.
How article options work
An article option is a choice group that you assign to one or more articles, e.g. "Sauce" for all kebabs. Each choice is itself an article, such as "Garlic sauce" or "Extra cheese". Per group you set:
|
Setting |
Effect |
|---|---|
|
Min / Max |
How many choices the guest makes at least and at most; Min 1 makes the group mandatory |
|
Optional selection |
The group may stay empty |
|
Price |
Free of charge, Normal price of the option article, or Adjusted gross price for all choices alike |
|
Preselection |
The usual choices are already selected; if the preselection meets Min and Max, no dialog appears at all |
You create the groups in the bessa Manager under Article management → Article options, see Article options.
Options cannot be nested: an option article cannot have options of its own. Plan the groups flat, e.g. "Sauce", "Extras" and "Spiciness" side by side.
Pattern 1: Mandatory choice and extras
Example kebab:
|
Group |
Selection |
Price |
Preselection |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bread |
Min 1, Max 1 |
Free of charge |
Flatbread |
|
Sauce |
Optional, Max 2 |
Free of charge |
Garlic, cocktail |
|
Onion and spiciness |
Optional, Max 2 |
Free of charge |
Onion |
|
Extras |
Optional, Max 3 |
Normal price |
none |
The preselection matches the most common request. If it meets Min and Max in every group, the Sales Point books the kebab with one tap, without a selection dialog. Deviations such as extras or a different sauce are changed in the cart afterwards. The kitchen ticket shows every chosen option.
Model "no onion" via the preselection: onion is preselected and deselected in the cart if the guest doesn't want it. If staff should actively ask for every kebab, leave out the preselection in a mandatory group; the selection dialog then appears with every booking. Free requests such as "well done" are entered via an article of type Info, which only appears on the kitchen ticket, see Article types.
Pattern 2: Sizes
|
Way |
Setup |
Good if … |
|---|---|---|
|
Separate article per size |
"Pizza Margherita 26 cm" and "Pizza Margherita 32 cm" |
you want to evaluate sales and stock per size |
|
Size as an option |
Article at the price of the small size, group "Size" with Min 1, Max 1 and surcharge articles such as "Large +€3" at Normal price |
the surcharge is the same for all pizzas and you want to maintain few articles |
Pattern 3: Pizza half and half
For half and half, create a separate article "Pizza half/half" and assign it two groups, "1st half" and "2nd half", each with Min 1 and Max 1 and the pizzas as choices. There are two ways to price it:
-
Fixed price: the article "Pizza half/half" has a fixed price, the halves are Free of charge. Simple and quick, fits pizzas of similar price.
-
Half prices: the article costs €0, the halves are separate articles such as "½ Margherita" at half price, at Normal price. Exact, but with more articles to maintain.
Add extra toppings for the whole pizza through a third group "Extras". Extras per half are not possible because options cannot be nested.
Pattern 4: Menus
A burger with fries and a drink at a menu price is also modelled with options, with groups such as "Side" and "Drink". Because food and drinks are often taxed differently, the menu price has to be split between them. How that works is shown in Book combo menus with food and drinks.
Stock in the background
If a sale should also deduct the ingredients from stock, e.g. bun and patty per burger, use an article option of type Warehouse. It is invisible to staff and guests and only books in the background, see Set up articles for inventory management.
Frequently asked questions
Does the kitchen see free options too? On the ticket, yes. On the invoice, options without a surcharge only appear if Print free modifiers is enabled on the invoice printer.
Can I block an option for a while, e.g. when the cheese has run out? Yes, on the order monitor. Blocked articles can no longer be booked on the Sales Point and the terminals, see Order monitor.