Note: The above video uses a version prior to Impos 6.52 as an example. Please read the instructions below for an updated walkthrough.
Auto-Modifiers, or Auto-Modis are a great way of standardising your style of service. Auto-Modis are a pop-up list of Modifiers, specific to an item. You are able to make it mandatory or optional to choose from this list. Auto-Modis are ideal for ensuring that your staff members specify a cooking style for steak or eggs, or indicate which mixer a customer would like with their spirit order.
Auto-modis can also be used as an upselling tool, ensuring your staff members are asking the correct questions at the time of ordering, such as “Would you like a side with that?".
In this example, we’re going to create an Auto-Modi popup for a steak, where the steak needs to have a cooking temperature selected.
This process involves 5 steps, all completed in Back Office:
- Create an Item
- Create Modifiers
- Create a Sub-list of type Modi-List
- Assign Modifiers to the list
- Assign the Modi-List to the item
In many cases you’ll be able to skip a few of the above steps as you may already have the item, modifiers or list created, however we’ll go through the whole process here.
1. Create the item which is to have the Auto-Modi popup appear, eg "Porterhouse Steak". To add an item please see this article.
NOTE for versions 6.52 and earlier: Ensure you check the "Auto-Modi" checkbox in the Items window (top right-hand corner) to ensure the system makes the item available for Auto-Modis. In later versions, all items are automatically available and this option does not appear.
3. Create your Modifiers, eg "Blue", "Rare", "Med Rare", "Med", "Med Done", and "Done". For help adding modifiers, please see this article.
4. Create a Sub-list of the type "Modi-List": A Modi-List is a specific type of Sub-list used for Auto-Modis. It is a 5x5 button grid (normal Sub-lists are a 6x7 grid)
To create a new Modi-List:
a) press “New”
b) select "Auto-Modi" from the radio buttons,
c) enter a Name for the sub-list, in this case, “Steak Temp”
d) press “Save New”
Once you’ve created the new sub-list it will appear on the left along with all your other Sub-lists. Any list created as an Auto-Modi list will have the prefix "AM-" before the List name.
5. Now design your Modi-List by assigning your modifiers to it:
a) Select your Modi-List from the List options on the left.
b) Using the search fields on the right, specify Modifiers as the Type, then using the search fields, find the modifiers you wish to add to the Modi-List.
c) Drag and drop these into the Modi-List
6. Head to “Menu Details” drop down, and select “Auto-Modifiers”. You will see that all of your items are listed at the top of this window.
Note for versions 6.52 and earlier: only items which have "Auto-Modi" checked in the Item screen are available here. If you cannot find your item, please go back to the Item screen and ensure that you have ticked this box and updated the item.
To assign your new Modi-List to your Item:
a) Find the Porterhouse Steak Item we created in step 1
b) In the “Menu item selection”, ensure "List" is specified in the “Type” drop down at the bottom right of the screen.
c) Select the “Steak Temp” list and drag it into the Details section. You are able to add more than one list to an item if you have more options eg Sauce or Side options.
Once the Modi-List appears in the “Details” section, you are able to set conditions on the numbers of modifiers that need to be / can be selected from the list, using the Min and Max values
A Min value means that that number of selections is mandatory, and the popup Auto-Modi will not disappear until at least that many options are selected.
A Max value means that that is the highest number of Modifiers that can be selected.
For example, a steak MUST have a cooking temperature specified, so we set our Min at 1. Because it can ONLY have one cooking temperature, we also select the Max at 1. If the Modi-List was a list of optional sides, we might set our Min at 0 because customers may not want any sides at all, and we may set our Max to 2 or 3 options. Remember that the price of the Modifier is added to the price of the item, so if you have separate prices for modifiers depending on the item, you may need to use Price Set rules, or create separate modifiers for each item.
Once assigned and saved, your Porterhouse Steak item in Front Office will prompt staff to select a cooking temperature in a popup Auto-Modi window that looks like this:
Well done!