Categories, stations and ordering

Use category visibility to pause one part of your menu, or close a station to pause all categories assigned to it. For example, close the Kitchen when food service ends while keeping the Bar open for drinks.

How availability works

A category is available on the customer menu when its visibility is enabled and its assigned station is not closed. Hiding a category or closing its station also prevents customers from ordering products that have no other available category.

Products in more than one category can remain orderable. A product is still available if at least one of its categories is visible and has no closed station. For example, a product in both a Kitchen category and an open Bar category can still be ordered through the Bar category after the Kitchen closes. Check every category assigned to a product when you need to stop selling it.

Products must also be enabled, and your venue must be live and open for customers to place orders.

Assign categories to a station

1. In the Manager, open Products, then Categories.
2. Edit the category you want to manage, such as Main Meals.
3. Under Options, set Station to Kitchen or Bar, as appropriate.
4. Keep Visibility enabled if the category should be available whenever its station is open.
5. Click Update. Repeat for the other categories served by that station.

Closing the Kitchen only affects categories assigned to the Kitchen. A category with no station assigned is not paused by closing the Kitchen or Bar. Make sure food categories have the correct assignment before relying on the station control.

Close or reopen a station

1. From a category edit page, open Stations in the toolbar and edit the station.
2. Enable Toggleable and click Update to make its quick control available in the Manager toolbar.
3. Use Close Kitchen or Close Bar to pause that station. The control changes to Open Kitchen or Open Bar.
4. Use Open Kitchen or Open Bar when service resumes.

You can also edit the station directly: turn Disable on to close it, or off to reopen it, then click Update.

Toggleable only controls whether the quick button is shown. Turning it off does not reopen a station or change category visibility.

Reopening a station makes its enabled categories available again. Categories you hid separately stay hidden until you enable their visibility.

Hide or restore one category

1. Open Products, then Categories, and edit the category.
2. Turn Visibility off and click Update to hide it and prevent ordering through that category.
3. Turn Visibility on and click Update to restore it. Its station must also be open.

For quicker access, enable Toggleable on the category and save. You can then show or hide it from the Categories control in the Manager.

What happens to existing baskets?

Customers may still have an old menu open or items in their basket when you stop service. RoundTab checks availability when adding items and submitting an order. Unavailable products cannot be ordered just because they were added before you hid the category or closed its station.

For Stripe checkout, availability is also checked when opening an unpaid checkout and again before payment confirmation. If an item has become unavailable, checkout is blocked. The customer should follow the message to return to the menu and start a new order with available items.

Closing a station does not cancel or refund orders that have already been paid. Review those orders separately with your team.

Check the result

After changing availability, refresh the customer menu and check the affected category and a product from it. If an item can still be ordered, check whether it belongs to another visible category with an open station.

If an item does not return after reopening, check the category visibility, its station assignment, the product's enabled setting, and whether the venue is live and open.

For product setup, see Add a product in its own category.