Signing in with an emailed link

Your portal lives at your restaurant's own web address with /portal on the end. Enter the owner email Menu.ca set up for you and choose Email me a link, then open the newest link in the same browser you want to use. You can also use Continue with Google, or a password if you have set one. You land on your restaurant’s dashboard (Lesson 2).

Your restaurant dashboard

After you sign in, or enter your Owner PIN on the kitchen tablet, you land on your restaurant’s dashboard. It has one card for each part of your restaurant — Insights, Statements, Hours, Menu, Photos, Look, Delivery zones, Promotions, Announcements, Orders, Customers, and Help. Tabs across the top open most of the same sections, and Overview brings you back to the dashboard. Statements has a card but no tab. Tap the numbered pins to explore.

Weekly statements

Every week gets a frozen statement that walks from gross sales down to a payout or carried balance, with every order listed underneath. Download CSV for analysis or PDF for your records.

Sample statement: all orders paid online by card. This simplified teaching example does not include restaurant-collected cash, taxes or commission credits; use your actual statement for reconciliation.

Cash, card, refunds & carried balances

A busy week does not always equal the same-size bank deposit. Your statement combines orders paid online with orders paid directly to the restaurant, then applies the charges in your agreement.

Before asking about a statement

• Write down the statement date range.
• Compare gross sales, deductions, refunds, and the final net payout.
• Open the order detail beneath the summary for an unfamiliar amount.
• Use Owner help with the statement period and order number if the figures still do not make sense.

Opening hours

Set the weekly schedule customers order against. One window per day — or add a second for a split shift. Save, then confirm the change on the customer storefront; if it has not appeared, use Owner help.

💡 A split shift — like lunch 11:00–14:30 and dinner 17:00–21:00 — is just two windows on the same day. Use + Add a window.

Set split shifts without leaving accidental gaps

If you close between lunch and dinner, use two windows on the same day instead of one continuous opening. Customers can order only inside the windows you save.

• Use the first window for lunch and the second for dinner.
• Check that every opening time comes before its closing time.
• Make sure the gap between windows is intentional and the windows do not overlap.
• Save, then verify the customer-facing hours on your storefront.

Holidays, vacations & closing early

Closing for a holiday, or shutting early one specific night? Dated closures sit on top of your normal week — they override it for those days, then disappear after they pass. Your weekly schedule is never touched.

Add a holiday or vacation

1. On your dashboard, open Hours and scroll to Vacation & holidays.
2. Pick the date in From. For a vacation, also pick a To date; for a single day, leave it empty.
3. Tick Closed all day, or set Special hours if you will open for part of the day.
4. Choose a reason if you like, such as Holiday, then click Add special date.
5. The date shows in your list. If plans change, click Remove next to it.

Stop orders today — then reopen safely

A flood, power outage, equipment failure, or staff shortage needs a same-day action, not a permanent rewrite of your weekly schedule.

The video in Lesson 7 shows Close early tonight, step by step.

• Apply the closure and verify that the customer storefront shows the restaurant unavailable.
• Check tablets, printers, internet, staffing, and kitchen readiness before reopening.
• Reopen only when new orders can be accepted and fulfilled.
• Verify the customer storefront again after reopening.

Change prices and availability

Edit your menu directly. Search dishes, edit an existing dish's name, description, and price, hide or restore it, star dishes for your Featured section, and manage photos. You can also add sections and dishes, and build choices such as a protein or size. You can also edit the choices inside a deal; setting up a brand-new deal still goes through Owner help.

💡 These practice controls match what owners can use today. In the real portal, save the change, then check the customer menu.

Add a section, a dish, or choices

1. New section: at the bottom of the menu, type its name in the New section box and click Add section. It appears at the end of your menu.
2. New dish: under the section, type the item name and the price, then click Add item. Customers can order it right away.
3. Choices: open the dish, open Modifiers and click + Build a group. Name the group, for example “Choose your protein”, add each option with its extra price if it costs more, and tick Required if every customer must pick one.
4. Check What the customer sees, then click Save group. Check your customer menu after any change.

Edit the choices in a deal

1. Open Menu and click the deal to open it.
2. Deal choices shows how many groups and options the deal has, for example 3 groups · 29 options. Other modifiers holds any extra choices that are not part of the deal.
3. Open Deal choices. Each step is named by what it holds, such as Crust type · First Three Toppings Free! · Wings Sauces, and each group shows its rule, such as Required, choose 1.
4. Every choice has its own price box. Type an amount if it costs extra, then click Set.
5. On a deal sold in several sizes, each choice has a price box for every size (Small, Medium, Large). Leave a size empty to hide the choice on that size, or enter 0 to make it free.

Use sold out — do not delete a temporary problem

Availability is the fastest menu control during service. It protects customers from ordering something the kitchen cannot make while preserving the item for later.

• Confirm you selected the correct dish before changing availability.
• Use sold out for a temporary stock problem; do not request a menu deletion.
• Check the live customer menu after switching an item off or on.
• Use Owner help if the item, size, modifier, or category itself is wrong.

Use photos and bilingual menu editing

Photos are optional. Upload JPG, PNG, or WebP files up to 10 MB; the portal sizes and tidies them. Language fields follow the languages enabled for your restaurant.

Before editing

• Create a simple file list that maps each image to one dish or one section.
• Use clear food photos without customer, staff, payment, or private information in frame.
• Review names, spelling, ingredients, and customer-facing descriptions in every enabled language.
• Only add allergen or dietary claims, such as gluten-free, vegan, or nut-free, that your kitchen can guarantee, including cross-contact. If you are not sure, leave the claim out.
• Save the changes, then verify the photo, layout, and every enabled language on the customer menu.

Looking up orders

"Where's my order?" Search recent orders by number, customer name, or phone. The live table shows total, captured amount, refunded amount, status, and placement time. Before acceptance, the restaurant can reject or cancel the order on its tablet. After acceptance, you refund a card order yourself from its Refund card.

Refunding an order

1. Open the order and scroll to the Refund card. It shows how much was captured and how much can still be refunded.
2. Click Refund, then choose what to refund: Whole order, Pick dishes (with a box for the tip), or Type amount. Tax on picked dishes is added for you, and the card shows what the customer gets back.
3. Pick a reason. A reason is required, and you can add an optional note.
4. Click Review refund and check the summary: the amount, the card it goes back to, and what is left on the order. Nothing is refunded yet.
5. Click Confirm refund. It locks after one tap, so the same refund cannot be sent twice.

Your customers

The Customers card on your dashboard lists everyone who has ordered online from you, with how to reach them, how many orders they’ve placed, what they’ve spent, and when they first and last ordered.

• Sort customers: choose Most spent or Most orders to find your regulars.
• Search: type part of a name, email or phone number, then click Search.
• New customers: people whose first order with you falls in the period you pick: This week, Last 30 days, or Since switching.
• Agreed to promotions: people who ticked the box to get your offers by email. Only these people may be emailed promotions. Export CSV downloads the list.
• A customer’s page: click a name to see every order they’ve placed with you, their phone and email, and where you’ve delivered to them.

Promotions — create a deal and manage it

Open the Promotions card on your dashboard. New promotion walks you through a deal one question at a time, and a preview shows what customers will see before you start it. Every promotion in your list can be edited, paused, or restarted, and shows how many orders used it.

Need a deal the builder cannot make? Use Help — see Lessons 15–16. To give money back for a discount that went wrong, refund the order in Orders (Lesson 12).

Announcements — tell customers what is happening

Put a message on your website: a deal, a day you are closed, a delivery or pickup change, or news. The Announcements editor writes it in English and French for you, and a phone preview shows exactly what customers will see before you post it.

Menu.ca handles these for you

Some changes are deliberately kept with our team — the ones that reshape your storefront or your account. You never have to wrestle with them; just tell us what you need.

Delivery zones are yours now

1. On your dashboard, open Delivery & fees.
2. Click Draw new zone, then click around the area you deliver to, one point at a time. Click your first point again to close the shape.
3. Give the zone a name, then set its delivery fee and minimum order. Farther zones can also get extra delivery time.
4. Click Save zone. To change a zone later, click the pencil next to it; you can change its fee or drag its corners on the map.

Zones drawn here are saved but aren’t used for customer pricing yet, so check checkout on your storefront after a change.

Send Owner help everything needed the first time

A clear request protects the wrong order, item, restaurant, or date from being changed. Open Help on your dashboard, choose Send a request, and include identifiers rather than relying on a description alone.

• Never send a password, sign-in link, full payment-card number, or security code.
• Share only the customer details needed to find the order; the order number usually does it. Send them through Help on your dashboard, and crop screenshots so they show only that order.
• Double-check the restaurant and identifier before submitting.
• Use one clear request per issue when several unrelated things need work.
• Keep the confirmation so you know what was changed and when.

Your kitchen tablet

New orders ring on your restaurant’s tablet. Its Settings screen, behind the gear icon at the bottom of the left menu, has the controls you need during service: online ordering, prep times and Busy mode, pausing pickup or delivery, the printer, auto-accept and the new-order sound.

Your tablet’s Settings screen

Tap the gear icon at the bottom of the tablet’s left menu. Settings starts with your printer, then Auto-print, Auto-accept and New-order sound. Scroll down for the alert sounds, the tablet’s language and the Device details.

The two lines at the very top are status messages. Tap one to fix what it says, for example to turn online ordering back on or reconnect the printer.

Langue / Language switches the tablet between English and French; the printed chit does not change. Device shows which restaurant and tablet this is, which is useful to mention when you contact us.

Change the tablet language

1. Tap the gear icon at the bottom of the tablet’s left menu to open Settings.
2. Scroll down to Langue / Language.
3. Tap Français. The tablet’s screens switch to French right away.
4. To switch back, tap English.

Each tablet keeps its own setting. Menu.ca can also change it for you remotely; ask through Help on your dashboard.

The owner button in the tablet’s Settings asks for your Owner PIN, then opens your restaurant dashboard (Lesson 2).

A practical operating routine

The portal works best when it becomes part of opening, service, weekly bookkeeping, and holiday planning—not something opened only after a customer reports a problem.

Who does it — you, or Menu.ca?

Fifteen everyday situations covering money, hours, menu accuracy, orders, offers, photos, and bilingual editing. Tap who handles each one and review the explanation.