Why a new product needs a push
Featured items is the row at the top of the menu on your kiosk and your website. MyFoodFast fills it automatically with your best-selling products, ranked on what customers actually order. That works well for products you already sell, but a product you launched last week has no sales yet, so it would take weeks to earn a place on its own.
Marking a product New gives it a place straight away while it builds up sales.
What New does
While a product is marked New:
- Featured items shows it first, with a New label. The rest of the row stays automatic.
- Up to two products can be New at a time. If you mark more, the two you marked most recently are shown.
- Sorting your menu by best sellers leaves it where you put it. Optimise Menu's best-seller sorting works around it instead of moving it to the bottom of its category for having no sales yet.
New lasts 30 days by default. When the date passes, the label goes and the product stays in Featured items only if its own sales earn it a place. Nothing needs switching off.
Note: You choose which product is New. You cannot pin other products into Featured items: the rest of the row is always ranked on sales, so it keeps showing what your customers order most.
Mark a product as New
- Go to Management > Menu > Menu Setup.
- Find the product and click it to edit.
- Turn on New. The date is set 30 days from today, and the switch shows how many days are left.
- To run it for a different length of time, change the New until date.
- Click Save.
The kiosk and your website pick up the change automatically.
Note: If your store uses the company menu, Menu Setup is at Company level (no store selected in the switcher), and New applies to every store on the company menu. If your store manages its own menu, use Menu Setup at Store level with the store selected.
To end it early, edit the product again, turn New off and click Save.
Let Optimise Menu suggest it
When you add a product that looks like a launch, Optimise Menu suggests marking it New: "Launching …? Mark it New for 30 days". Click Accept to mark it, or Decline if it is not a launch. See Optimise Menu.
It only suggests products that:
- were added in the last two weeks, on a menu that is already taking orders;
- have a photo and are shown on your storefront;
- are priced like a main or a side, so drinks, sauces and extras are not suggested;
- were not added as part of a menu import.
Where New shows
| Where | What customers see |
|---|---|
| Kiosk | First in Featured items, labelled New. From kiosk version 1.8.0, the product also carries a New label in its category |
| Website | First in Featured items, labelled New |
| Mobile app | First in Featured items, labelled New, on version 2.14.2 of the app and later |
The label goes on its own once the New date has passed. A kiosk picks up the change at the start of its next order.
See how the launch is going
While a product is New, and for 30 days after, its page in Menu Setup shows Launch so far:
- Orders since launch: paid orders the product was on, across every store that sells it.
- Share of orders: those orders as a share of all paid orders in the same stores.
- Orders a day: the first week, and once it has run two weeks, the last week, so you can see whether it is picking up or tailing off.
- Ordered it again: how many app and website customers bought it more than once. Kiosk orders are anonymous, so they are not counted here.
When the launch ends, it says whether the product earned a Featured place on its own sales or is not in Featured items on its own sales.
The same figures for every launch are in Reports > Online Reports > Upsell Performance, under Launches. See Reading the Upsell Performance report.
Note: These are the orders the product was on, not extra orders the New label created. Some customers would have found it anyway.
Other ways to promote a launch
- Welcome screen: add a slide for the new product to the kiosk welcome screen slideshow, under Setup > Online Ordering > Website & App > Settings at Company level (no store selected).
- Category order: put the category with your new products near the top of the menu by setting its Position in Menu Setup. See Menu Sorting.
- A launch deal: create a meal or bundle that includes the new product under Management > Menu > Promos & Deals, with a start and end date.