Plated Dinner Package Menu – Tripleseat Support

In this article, we're going to review best practices in creating a priced per-person Plated Dinner Package.

The Plated Dinner package is priced $75 per guest and includes choices for each course.

If you offer other menus in a similar style, the same process used for this package can easily be applied to those as well.

Your menus may use different terminology in the title or throughout. When creating menus, it's important to review and reference Tripleseat's Menu, Item, and Packages terms below.

Item: an individual *thing* to sell to guests, often consumable, but does not have to be

Examples of an item in TS include
- Chicken Parmesan
- Additional Bartender for 2 hours
- Wireless Microphone

Item Group: a way for users to organize Items within a Package

These are often meal courses (Appetizers, Entrees, Desserts)

Modifier Group: a container for a set of Modifiers for an Item

For Chicken Parm, the modifier group could be Pasta Choice
For Wireless Microphone, the modifier group could be Microphone Type

Modifier: an available choice or feature for an Item, organized within a Modifier Group

For Chicken Parm (Item) > Pasta Choice (Modifier Group) > modifiers could be:
- Ziti
- Penne
- Angel Hair
For Wireless Mic (Item) > Microphone Type (Modifier Group) > modifiers could be:
- Handheld
- Headset
- Clip

Package: a collection of Items offered together at a set price, often priced per person

Example: Gold Plated Dinner Package > $75 per person
- Guest might select 2 apps, 3 entrees, and 1 dessert within this package

Minimum / Maximum Selections: for Modifier Groups and Item Groups, these are the parameters around how menu mods (within an Item) or items (within a Package) a guest can select

If no min or max is indicated, guests will not be limited in the number of choices
Regardless of min or max in settings, TS Users will be able to select any number of mods or items within a doc template

Menu: a way to organize offerings - these offerings can be Items, Packages, or a combination of both.

Examples of Menus might be:
- Corporate Group Dinner Menu > could include packages, like:
  - Gold Plated Dinner Package for $75 pp
  - Silver Plated Dinner Package for $65 pp
- Continental Breakfast Buffet Menu > could include items, like:
  - Assorted Muffins
  - Fruit Bowls
  - Breakfast Sandwiches

In addition to this article, you can view guides and videos by going to Settings > Menus. The guides are available at the top of the page.

Now, let's build a typical Plated Dinner Package menu step by step.

As stated above, the Plated Dinner Package is priced per guest and includes choices for each course.

First, you're going to make all of the options within the three course sections into ITEMS. To do this, go to Settings > Menus.

You'll then go to the Items tab

Then click +New Item on the right side of your screen

For the First Course choices, you'll add their Display Names and optional Internal Name, check the Location(s) where it is available, set the Price to zero because the charge will be on the Package as a whole, set the Category to Food, and add the Description. Then click Update. Repeat this for each First Course Item.

Next, you'll add the four entree options as Items following the same process as the First Course. The Items should look like below.

Repeat the process for each of the entree options.

Now, you'll add all of the dessert options as items. They should look like below.

Repeat the process for each of the dessert options.

Next, we're going to create a Package and group the Items into Item Groups.

Go to the Packages tab and click + New Package.

Fill in the required and appropriate fields, and update.

Open the Package back up and click the Item Groups tab, then + Item Group

Create the Item Group for each section by filling in the fields along with the appropriate number of selections.

NOTE: For a package where guests can select individual options within the course, make sure to enable “Allow Qty on Items/Modifiers in this Group”