Have you ever blown up your menu or item catalog and started over?

[Donnie-M]

Curious how many of you have hit the reset button at some point.

Deleted categories, rebuilt items, renamed things, or reorganized everything from scratch instead of trying to patch it forever.

Was it painful or freeing? What broke, what got better, and would you do it again?

Or, are you still stuck in your own personal hell you made?

[SVLFever]

OMG...no way.  I have over 1000 price keys so there isn't enough time in the day for me to do that again.  LOL

[Donnie-M]

I put it off for a year, and I did it, and of course something went wrong, I think it took me 2 days to work out the kinks.  My catalog was so old, that legacy items I think bugged some things out.

[CinderBistro]

This is exactly the reason why it's worth paying someone who actually knows the best way to setup & configure your POS system. Starting off with a well organized and thought out implementation pays huge dividends in the long run. Additionally, understanding the limitations of Square (or any other POS for that matter) and the best way to handle and/or workaround them is paramount and necessary to facilitate: creation of meaningful reports; changes (because we all know change is constant in retail); and, perhaps most importantly, scaling. A few thousand dollars up front can literally save you tens of thousands down the road.

[eileeng]

This is the best summary answer that explains the entire pos system process of doing it yourself.  

[CinderBistro]

Thank you 😊

[Donnie-M]

@CinderBistro I wanted to second this now that I have been knee deep in all this for another week.  I can attest that someone who has done this will 1000% speed it up for you.  It comes down to optimizing for speed of a cashier, versus how people order online, versus what do you want to feature.

[CinderBistro]

Yup! Understanding the difference nuances between the staff's needs to optimize their workflow and the customer's perspective and approach to ordering are also paramount to creating a streamlined implementation.

[perkits]

It's a work in progress. The options run deep and I'm trying to wrap my head around what will work best for us. It's also very time consuming.

[Donnie-M]

@perkits I run restaurants, I finally consolidated my categories strictly for reporting, and then figured out that menus are basically the new categories for restaurants.  It is a lot more organized than having 10 categories per item for organization and routing etc.  With kiosks, the menu is much cleaner on customizing what you show on a kiosks for a specific location.

[lilisalazar]

Have also rebuild everything for a restaurant here 😅

Agree about the menus acting as the new categories, although surprisingly not all sellers have the option to use the menus that way. 

It's been confusing to setup availability/hours etc. since there are multiple places to edit those settings  (i.e CashApp Order link) 

Would love to know how you setup your Kiosk, where is is located in your business? is there any signage that has incentivizes customers to use it? 

[Lovewell]

We have done this! It took longer than expected and I’m pretty sure I cried 😂 but overall it was GREAT. 

I feel like we often are moving so it and have that internal “ugh this is not convenient” so then when you blow it all up it’s like a deep breath. 

I feel like we may be on the verge of blowing our menu up again haha. 

I say go for it! 

[TheRealChipA]

Years ago, when I still had food on my menu, I made enough changes to my menu concepts that I needed to do this.  Ultimately, it was a great exercise and I was happy I put in the effort.  

One thing that I did was bite the bullet and create a new location so that I could take my time with the menu rebuild while still leaving my existing menu intact.  Yes, I knew very well that there was no going back from this and that this new location would never go away! LOL.  But I decided that it was worth that irritation because I could do the rebuild in my own time without any pressure.  Once I was done, I just copied my catalog to my active location.  At that time, ONLY the items could be copied from another location, which was a pain.  These days, items, modifiers, taxes, menus and floor plans can be copied which is a big improvement.

[CinderBistro]

As a follow-up to my previous post... It's important to keep in mind that Square keeps rolling out new features and quietly tweaking how things work behind the scenes (multi-channel menu management, better modifier setups, updated visibility controls across POS, online ordering, kiosks, and more). If your setup is from even just a year ago, chances are, you're not taking full advantage of these changes.

I get how daunting it feels, especially if you're newer to Square or running a busy spot. The thought of reorganizing hundreds of items, categories, menu groups, and reporting tags? Yeah, it can feel overwhelming. But staying on top of it is huge. 

Why bother? Because a clean, up-to-date configuration means:

• Everything flows optimally at the POS (faster ordering for your team)
• Your data is accurate and meaningful (proper categories for trends, better reporting groups)
• You get the cleanest insights possible for tracking sales, spotting what's hot, and making solid projections

At the end of the day, knowing your financials inside out is what keeps the lights on and helps you grow. A fresh menu rebuild every so often isn't just maintenance; it's a way to level up your business intelligence.

[Donnie-M]

@CinderBistro To add, and to reiterate, you will be surprised what you find that was broken or semi broken and no one had told you about.  What made sense then, might not make the same sense now.

[CinderBistro]

Absolutely!

[backyard]

Having just switched from UpServe/Lightspeed to Square, I can say that it was a blast to manually rebuild my catalog and tweak things to make the flow smoother. I imagine moving from one POS to another is a similar experience to rebuilding from “old Square” to “new Square,” especially since new features and workflows often emerge that people might not be fully utilizing. I’ve done this a few times over the years, and I’m not at all sorry for it. The biggest challenge, I think, is getting the staff comfortable with the change, as many people resist it even when it simplifies things (I’m even talking to the younger generation who have grown up with these devices since birth, haha!).

In short, I think it’s a fantastic idea to refresh your POS catalog/menu periodically. I suggest starting with one category at a time, as you’ll redo it a few times as you learn new things with each item. Eventually, you’ll have a streamlined workflow and be able to complete the rest of your items with ease.