Menu Import & Export

A 300-item menu should not be re-priced item by item. The menu round-trip is the tool for every job of that shape: export → edit in a spreadsheet → import.

Export#

The menu exports to a spreadsheet with one row per sellable line — items with their variants, prices, categories, departments and availability flags (including not-for-sale). The export's columns are exactly what the importer expects, which is the point: the export is the import template.

Edit#

Work in the spreadsheet with spreadsheet strengths: fill-down a price change, sort by category, filter to one department, mark a season's items not-for-sale in one column. Keep the identifying columns untouched — they are how the importer matches rows back to existing records.

Import#

Importing matches rows to existing menu records and updates them in place — it doesn't duplicate what already exists. New rows create new records. The import validates before it applies and reports what it changed.

The safe cycle#

1. Export fresh — never edit last month's file; the menu has moved since.
2. Make one kind of change per import (prices this pass, availability the next). Mixed edits are hard to verify.
3. Import, then spot-check a handful of touched items in the Menu Manager and one test order at the POS.
4. Keep the pre-edit export until you're satisfied — it's your rollback reference.

Recipes, being structured per-ingredient data, are maintained in the Menu Manager rather than the spreadsheet — the round-trip covers the sellable surface of the menu.