Most venues with a lunch offer have two prices for some of their dishes. The moussaka on the lunch menu is one price, while the same moussaka on the main menu is another. This is normal. The problem starts when the prices live in two places: on the lunch sheet and in the main menu. Sooner or later one lands in the place of the other.
This article shows how to organise the work so that a dish is described once, the lunch price is clearly separate, and the printed sheet and the social media picture come from the same place.
Example scenario
Example scenario. An invented venue with a kitchen offers a lunch menu on weekdays and a main menu all the time. The dish names and prices below are illustrative and do not belong to a real venue.
- Chicken soup: lunch price €3.20, main price €4.80.
- Moussaka: lunch price €6.50, main price €8.90.
- Pork meatballs with a side: lunch price €7.00, main price €9.50.
- Shopska salad: lunch price €4.50, main price €5.50.
Before this, the venue keeps two files: a document for the lunch sheet and a general menu. On Tuesday the waiter hands a guest the lunch sheet and the guest pays the lunch price. On Thursday, while the document is being reworked, the main price of the moussaka is put on the lunch sheet. Nobody notices until the first disputed bill.
Where exactly the mistakes happen
- The dish is copied into two documents and each copy has its own price. When something changes, only one of them is fixed.
- The lunch price is written out again every day from memory or from yesterday’s sheet.
- The dish is in the wrong category and the lunch price ends up in the main menu.
- The printed sheet and the page for guests are made separately and show different numbers.
What they have in common is that the same dish is described more than once.
The principle: one dish, an optional second price
The arrangement that works is simple.
- The dish stays in one place, the main menu, with its name, description, weight, allergens and main price.
- Each day’s lunch menu is a selection of these already described dishes, not a new list.
- The lunch price is optional: you set it for the dish on a specific day. If you leave it empty, the main price applies.
- The guest and the sheet see one price, the one that applies for the day: the lunch price if there is one, otherwise the main price.
So on Tuesday you choose the dishes for the day, set a lunch price where it differs, and do not touch the main menu. Changing the lunch price on one day does not change the main price, nor the lunch price on another day.
What the guest sees and what is printed
In ISKA Menu the same data reaches several places, but not all of them show the same thing.
- The public lunch menu page shows the price that applies for the day: the lunch or the main price.
- The day’s print sheet shows the same prices, but it comes from the current state of the day and may contain changes that are not yet published.
- The social media picture (“Download image”, then a style and “Download PNG”) shows only the published lunch menu for the selected day. You publish it yourself: ISKA does not publish to social media.
- The main menu page and “Print menu” (PDF) show only the main prices. Lunch prices are not included there.
The last point matters. If you put the PDF from “Print menu” on the table, you will not find the dish’s lunch price in it. For lunch, print the lunch menu sheet, and use the PDF for the main menu.
What the morning looks like in the example scenario
The manager opens the day’s lunch menu and reviews the selection.
- Checks that the dishes are from today’s selection and in the order they are on the paper.
- Compares the lunch prices with the table they keep for themselves (four rows).
- If the day’s menu has been changed, publishes it before printing or downloading the picture.
- Prints the sheet for the tables from the same menu, not from a separate document.
This way the same number is not written twice and there is no second copy that drifts apart.
Three checks before printing
- The date on the sheet is today’s.
- Every dish is in the right group.
- The price of one or two chosen lines matches the one you have written down.
What to do this week
- Write on one sheet the dishes that have two prices, with both numbers.
- Check in which documents or places each of them appears.
- Leave one place for the description and one for each price.
- Decide who compares the lunch prices in the morning and how many minutes they need.
Where ISKA fits in this picture
If you have the Plus plan of ISKA Menu, the lunch menu is a separate part of the menu that is edited by day and has its own prices. You change it from the portal, which also opens in the browser on a phone; changes are a draft until published, and the link to the menu stays the same. For the details of the lunch menu, see the guide to a lunch menu without daily reprinting, and for current prices, the pricing page.