Requirements and supported file formats
Read this page before the setup assistant runs. It lists what the site needs for Fenómenus to work end to end, which companion products unlock which features, and exactly which file formats the tools accept and produce.
Platform
| Requirement | Expected configuration | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 6.8 or later | Matches the supported platform for the current release. |
| PHP | 8.2 to 8.4 | Required by the plugin and its runtime dependencies. |
| WordPress mode | Single site or a site inside a multisite network | Menus, settings and user profiles are scoped to one restaurant site. |
| Theme | The POM theme, active | It registers the menu content types, the item fields and the public archive templates that Fenómenus configures. |
| Administration access | An account that can edit posts on that site | Every Fenómenus screen requires it; category management additionally requires the capability to manage categories. |
Fenómenus is installed and kept up to date as part of the managed service. There is no plugin ZIP to upload and no license key screen inside the product.
Companion products
Fenómenus works without any of these, but each one unlocks a specific area.
| Product | What it adds | What happens without it |
|---|---|---|
| POM AI | Wine search, wine content completion, and wine lists read from a photo | The AI screens report that POM AI must be active before Restaurant Menus can use AI tools. |
| POM Translate or Polylang | Multilingual menus, per-language QR codes, per-language PDFs, language switcher on archives | Menus are published in the site language only, and the translation options do not appear. |
| POM Cache | Faster public menus | Menus still work. Bulk saves already avoid purging the cache once per row and purge once at the end instead. |
The AI tools also require the site to be connected to an active POM AI license and to be reachable from the POM AI service. If the connection is missing, the tool says so instead of saving partial data.
Media the menus use
Item photos, gallery images and the logo are ordinary WordPress media. Upload them the usual way and select them from the media library.
Practical guidance:
- Use one consistent aspect ratio per menu type. Layouts such as the carousel and the masonry grid look uneven when photos alternate between portrait and landscape.
- Upload photos at the size you want to publish. Fenómenus does not crop or re-shoot images.
- Videos are not uploaded. An item takes a video URL hosted on YouTube or Vimeo.
- If an item has a gallery and no featured image, the first gallery image becomes the featured image when the item is saved.
Files the tools accept
| Task | Accepted input | Limits worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Read a wine list from a photo | .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif, .webp |
One image per analysis. A sharper, well-lit photo produces fewer corrections afterwards. |
| Bulk create or update items | Rows pasted from a spreadsheet into the on-screen table | There is no file upload. Copy the cells in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets and paste them into the first cell of the table. |
| Bulk create or update wines | Rows pasted into the wine table, or rows produced by the photo analysis | Same table, so a photo result and a pasted block can be reviewed together before saving. |
Pasted columns must be in the same order as the table headings on screen, because Fenómenus maps them by position, not by heading text. Check the table for the menu type you are working on before pasting.
Files the tools produce
| Output | Format | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Item export | .xlsx |
The Download as Excel button on All items, for menu types that have exportable columns. |
| QR codes | .png and .svg |
The QR generator screen, one file per selected destination and language. |
| Printable menu | .pdf |
The PDF menu generator screen, after the preview. |
Tasting menus and set menus have no per-item price columns, so they offer neither the Excel export nor the paste-in bulk table. They are edited menu by menu.
Before you continue
Proceed when all of these are true:
- the POM theme is active on the restaurant site;
- you can sign in with an account that is allowed to edit posts and manage categories;
- you know which menu types the restaurant actually sells;
- the logo and a first set of item photos are available;
- you know which companion products the site has, so you do not plan work around a feature that is not enabled.
Then read Access your Fenómenus account to confirm who will be doing the work, and run the setup assistant.