Enable and disable menu types

A menu type only exists on a site once it has been enabled. This page covers turning one on after the initial setup, what that creates, and what to do when a menu is no longer sold.

Where menu types are enabled

Go to Settings → Restaurant settings → Content settings → Content types.

The screen lists the ten menu types with a Status column:

• an active marker means the type exists on this site;
• a disabled marker means it does not.

Each inactive type shows a template selector and a + control next to it. The + stays disabled until a template is chosen — that is intentional, because a menu type cannot be created without knowing how its archive will be laid out.

Enable a menu type

1. Open Content settings → Content types.
2. Find the type in the list.
3. Choose its public layout from Select a template.
4. Select the + control.
5. Confirm the success message and let the screen reload.
6. Confirm the new entry appears in the sidebar.

The layouts offered depend on the type:

The two families never share layouts, so the selector only ever shows the options that make sense for that type.

What enabling creates

Enabling a type registers its content type and its category taxonomy, and generates the templates for the layout you chose. From that moment the type has:

• its own sidebar entry with All items, All categories and its tools;
• its own public archive;
• its own appearance settings under Content settings → Content settings;
• its own PDF menu generator.

Enabling the wine list additionally seeds its wine category structure, its vintage list and its ageing classifications, so the type arrives ready to use rather than empty.

Enabling the terrace menu creates an independent dish archive and category set while assigning the same dish fields and generated layout family as the à la carte menu.

After enabling

1. Create the categories.
2. Add and publish the first items.
3. Set the type's appearance — background image, icon, plural label — under Content settings → Content settings.
4. Decide which archives should link to it in their contact dock links, and tick it there.
5. Check the archive signed out, on a phone.

A newly enabled type is not linked from anywhere until you add it to the dock configuration of the other archives. This is a common gap: the menu exists, the address works, and no guest can reach it.

Retiring a menu type

The Content types screen enables types; it does not remove them. This is deliberate — deleting a content type would orphan every item, category, translation and QR code that depends on it.

To retire a menu that is no longer sold:

1. Set its items to Draft from All items, so guests cannot reach the content.
2. Remove the type from the contact dock links of the other archives, under Content settings → Content settings.
3. Remove or replace any printed QR code that pointed at it.
4. Leave the type and its content in place, unpublished.

Everything is then invisible to guests and instantly recoverable if the menu comes back next season. Do not delete the items: deletion from All items is permanent, and there is no trash to restore from.

Seasonal menus

For a menu that comes and goes — a summer terrace card, a Christmas menu — the same approach works and is the reason drafts exist:

• keep the type enabled all year;
• publish the items when the season starts;
• draft them when it ends;
• keep the QR codes pointing at the archive, which stays valid across seasons.

Adding a type you decided against earlier

Nothing is lost by enabling a type later. The setup assistant's step 2 runs once, but Content types exists precisely so the structure can grow. A restaurant that opens without a cocktail list can add one two years later with a single click and a layout choice.