Source: https://wpinplate.com/en/docs/products-and-categories/

# Products, categories and availability

Dishes in WP InPlate are WooCommerce products. You add and edit them in **Products → Add New Product**, like in any WooCommerce store. WP InPlate adds the fields a food business needs to the product editor.

## Dish details

| Field | Where it shows |
|---|---|
| Name | Menu, dish window, cart, KDS, label, emails |
| Regular and sale price | Menu (sale price with the regular price struck through), dish window, cart |
| Product image | Menu card, dish window, TV screens |
| Description | Dish window, TV screens. Line breaks from the editor are kept |
| Category | The menu section where the dish appears |
| Tags (product tags) | Menu card, dish window, TV screens |
| Weight / portion | Under the dish name in the menu, in the dish window and on TV screens |
| Allergens and ingredients | Menu card (“Contains allergens”), dish window, order email – see [Allergens](/en/docs/allergens/) |
| Add-ons | Dish window – see [Add-ons](/en/docs/add-ons/) |
| Cross-sell | Suggestions after adding to the cart – see [Cross-sell](/en/docs/cross-sell/) |

## Categories and their order in the menu

Every product category is a separate menu section with a heading. The menu navigation (the “InPlate – Menu navigation” block) shows the same categories as buttons.

- **The order of categories** is set in Products → Categories by dragging the categories in the list.
- **The order of dishes in a category** is set in Products → Sorting (drag and drop) or in the “Menu order” field in the product data.
- **Empty categories** don't show in the menu.
- The menu shows **published** products only.

You can also manage categories in the KDS – adding them, changing their name and slug, their order, “TV only” and deleting an empty category. See [Manager panel](/en/docs/manager-panel/#categories).

After you change a category's slug – in the WordPress dashboard or in the KDS – the dish types and TV screens that use it switch to the new slug by themselves. See [Changing a category's slug](/en/docs/manager-panel/#changing-a-categorys-slug).

### TV-only categories

When editing a category you can tick **InPlate visibility → TV only (hide in menu and widget)**. Such a category appears only in TV screen blocks and is not in the menu on your website or in the daily dish block. It is useful e.g. for items you sell only at the counter.

## Weight and portion

In the product data, in the **Weight / Portion** section, enter:

- **Value** – a number or a range, e.g. `300` or `2-3`,
- **Unit** – g, dag, kg, ml, l, pcs, portion, or your own unit, e.g. “slices”.

Examples: “300 g”, “2-3 pcs”, “1 portion”, “500 ml”.

## Product tags

Product tags are WooCommerce product tags, optionally with an icon, e.g. “Vegan”, “Spicy”, “Gluten-free”, “New”, “Recommended”.

1. Go to **Products → Tags**.
2. Add a tag. Optionally choose an icon for it: an emoji or your own SVG image from the media library.
3. Optionally tick **Appearance → Custom appearance** and set the background (a color or **Transparent**), the text color and the outline: a width from 0 to 8 px and a color. An outline of 0 means no outline. Without ticking it, the tag uses the theme's appearance.
4. Assign the tag to products.

You can also add, edit and delete tags in the KDS – see [Manager panel](/en/docs/manager-panel/#badges).

SVG files are checked for unsafe content before they are saved. A file with content that isn't allowed is rejected.

How tags are shown is set in **InPlate → Settings → Sales → Products → Product badge display**: icon and text, icon only, or text only.

## Turning dishes on and off

When the soup runs out, don't delete the product – turn it off.

- **In the WordPress dashboard:** Products → All Products has an **Active** column. One click switches the dish between “Active” and “Disabled”. Columns a restaurant rarely needs (SKU, GTIN, Product brands, Date) are hidden by default, so the dish name has room. You turn them on in **Screen Options** at the top of the list – your choice is remembered.
- **From a tablet:** the manager turns dishes off one by one or whole categories at once in the [manager panel in the KDS](/en/docs/manager-panel/).

What customers see when a dish is turned off is set in **InPlate → Settings → Sales → Products → Disabled product behavior**:

| Option | Effect in the menu |
|---|---|
| **Hide product from the page** | The dish disappears from the menu |
| **Show product as unavailable** | The dish stays in the menu with a label and can't be ordered |

The label text is set in the **Label for unavailable products** field (default “Unavailable”), e.g. “Sold out” or “Unavailable today”.

A dish turned off while a customer is ordering won't get through the order form – the customer gets a clear message that the product is no longer available.

## Stock

If you want to sell a limited number of portions, use standard WooCommerce stock management (product data → Inventory). A product that is out of stock is treated as unavailable.

## Products with variations

Dishes in several sizes (a 32 and 40 cm pizza, a 100 and 200 g burger) are easiest to set up with [size sets](/en/docs/sizes-and-variants/): once for the whole category, with prices in one table. In the manager panel in the KDS each size then has its own availability switch and price.

A product with variations created directly in WooCommerce also works in the menu – the customer chooses the variation in the dish window. You edit its variations in WooCommerce.