Banquets - Event Services Settings - Managing Service Menus

Owned by Kelsie Livingston
Last updated: Sept 19, 2023 by Benjamin Hacker
5 min read

Table of Contents

Overview

The Event Services section of the Banquets system enables a Banquet/Event Manager to formalize the relationship and categorization of Items that will be served (such as food) and/or provided (such as A/V equipment) during the event, and define how the pricing will be established. Understanding how Service Item Categories, Service Items, Service Types, Menus, Menu Categories and Pricing Structure interact and are assigned is imperative to properly establishing them within the event.

Required Permissions

  • Admin Access

  • Level 1

  • Level 2

Accessing Event Services

  1. To access Service Item Categories, Services Items, Service Types, Menus, and Menu Categories, navigate to Settings, and then click Event Services.  

  2. Then, follow the instructions below for specific Event Service Settings.

Manage Service Menu Categories

Creating Service Menu Categories is helpful in managing service menus. It allows you to categorize menus so that they are easily distinguishable from one another.  Examples could include Beverage Menus, Food Menus, Service Menus etc.

Creating New Service Menu Categories

  1. To establish a Service Menu Category, navigate to Event Services > Manage Service Menu Categories.

  2. Click the New button.

  3. Enter a name into the Service Menu Category area. Click Save when finished.

  4. The new service menu category is then displayed with all the other categories.

  5. Multi-site Organizations, with site specific menu categories that are not shared across their organization, will want to add and/or edit menu categories within the appropriate site(s).  Multi-site Organizations whose menu categories ARE shared across all sites will want to add and/or edit menu categories within the Master List.  Organizations with a single site will want to add/edit menu categories where they see the ‘edit’ link available next to the existing menu categories. This could be at the Master or Site level.

Deleting Service Menu Categories

  1. To delete a Service Menu Category, follow the same steps as above until you reach the step where you would press the New button. Instead of pressing this button, click the Delete link next to the category you wish to remove.

Editing Service Menu Categories

  1. To edit a Service Menu Category, click the Edit link next to the category you wish to change.

  2. You will be brought to the edit screen where you can change the name or spelling of the Service Menu Category. Press Save when finished.

  3. The updated Service Menu Category name is displayed with the other categories, and all service menus that had the original category name will be updated with the new category name.

Manage Service Menus

Service Menus are made up of several components: Service Types, Service Items and Pricing Types. Each menu must include at least one Service Type (a titled grouping for service items). Each Service Type can hold as many Service Items as you want. Menus can be priced in several different ways, and there will be more details below.

Create New Service Menus

  1. To establish a Service Menu, navigate to Event Services > Manage Service Menus.

  2. Click the New button.

  3. You will now be taken to the screen where you can start creating a Service Menu. You will need to enter in a Service Menu Name, choose a Category and choose a Pricing Type. Pricing types include A La Carte Pricing, Package Pricing - Dollar Amount Allocation and Package pricing - Percentage Amount Allocation. Drag and drop Service Types from the list of Available Service Types to the Selected Service Types area. Be sure to drag them in the order you would like them to appear on your menu.

    • A La Carte Pricing: Each item within the menu is priced individually.

    • Package Pricing - Dollar Amount Allocation: The menu is priced as a whole, either per package or per person, and the prices are allocated to each revenue center using exact dollar amounts.

    • Package Pricing - Percentage Amount Allocation: The menu is priced as a whole, either per package or per person, and the prices are allocated to each revenue center using percentage amounts.

    • The difference between dollar amount and percentage amount allocation is that if you choose percentage amount allocation, then if the package price is ever changed, Banquets will automatically recalculate the allocation of money based on the percentage amounts. If dollar amount allocation is chosen and the package price is changed, the user must recalculate all the math themselves to distribute the pricing amongst the revenue centers.  

  4. Click Save when finished. 

  5. After saving, you will be taken to a screen where you can add items to the menu. Click the Add Items button under the Service Type (grey headers) you would like it to appear under. You will be taken to the Master List of items where you will be able to search for whichever item you need.

  6. When you finished adding all of the items to your menu, Click Done. The menu is now able to be added to a function.

  7. Multi-site Organizations, with site-specific service menus that are not shared across their organization, will want to add and/or edit service menus within the appropriate site(s).  Multi-site Organizations whose service menus ARE shared across all sites will want to add and/or edit service menus within the Master List.  Organizations with a single site will want to add/edit service menus where they see the ‘edit’ link available next to the existing service menus.  This could be at the Master or Site level.

Deleting Service Menus

  1. To delete a Service Menu, follow the same steps as above until you reach the step where you would click the New button. Instead of pressing this button, click the Delete link next to the menu you wish to remove.

Editing Service Menus

  1. To edit a Service Menu, click the Edit link next to the Menu you wish to change.

  2. You will be taken to this screen first where you can j. Click Save when finished to edit items within the menu.

  3. After saving, you will be taken to a screen where you can make several edits to the components within the menu.

    • Click the Edit Items button to change item pricing, calculate auto quantity and quantity precision.

    • Click the Reorder Items button to change the order the items are listed in under the service type.

    • Click the Change Service Type button to change the named grouping that the service item is listed under.

  4. When you have finished, click Done. 

Additional Event Settings

Event Services Settings - Managing Service Items

Event Services Settings - Managing Service Types

Best Practices

  1. Ensure all Event Services utilized in an Event are set up in the system as Event Items, categorized appropriately, and consistently utilized to ensure appropriate billing, and profitability calculations can be effectively maintained.

  2. Create Service Item Categories based on how you think Service Items should be organized.  

FAQs

  1. Q: What is the best way to set pricing, so that I do not have to manually recalculate allocated amounts every time we change the price of an overall package.

    1. Use the Package Pricing - Percentage Amount Allocation.  Once %’s are established, as prices change, system will automatically recalculate proper revenue allocations based on services required.

  2. What is the best way to determine profitability on the event items?

    1. Ensure to enter a Cost as well as a Price to the event menu to assist in calculating profitability

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