Resources

What Are Presentation Styles?

Presentation styles describe how your catering is physically served or packaged — for example, on a shared platter, in an individual bag, or in a pottle. They are a global setting, meaning they are defined once in your account settings and can be applied to any item or package.

This is different from our Item Options help page, which are configured on an individual item. Presentation styles are account-wide and can be reused across your entire menu.

Setting Up Presentation Styles

Go to Settings → Presentation Styles to create and manage your styles. Give each style a descriptive name (e.g. "Shared Platter", "Individual Serving", "Paper Bag") and set an optional surcharge if that style of service carries an extra cost.

You can set up as many styles as your business needs. Common examples include:

• Shared Platter — items presented on a central platter for guests to help themselves
• Individual Serving — each guest receives their own portion, often with a small surcharge
• Individual Pottles — individually packaged in small containers
• Paper Bag — individually bagged for takeaway or boxed lunches

Applying Presentation Styles to Items

When editing an item, you can restrict which presentation styles are available for that item and mark the selection as compulsory. If compulsory, a presentation style must be chosen before the item can be added to a quote or online order.

When adding an item to a quote, the presentation style selector appears at the bottom of the add-item panel. The selected style name is shown on the quote line so the customer can see how their catering will be presented.

Presentation Styles on Packages

Presentation styles are especially useful on packages. When a package is configured with a presentation style, it applies to all items in the package and the style is shown at the package level on quotes and dockets — rather than per item.

For example, a lunch package of four items might be presented as "Individual Bag" — this single style label covers the whole package rather than appearing on each line.

How Presentation Styles Appear

On Quotes

The selected presentation style appears alongside the item or package name on the customer-facing quote, giving them a clear understanding of how their order will be served.

On Dockets

The presentation style appears on chef dockets and driver dockets so your team knows exactly how each item or package needs to be prepared and presented.

In Your Online Store

Customers see the available presentation styles when adding an item to their cart. Any surcharge is shown clearly and updates the displayed price. Their selection carries through automatically when the quote is generated from their order.

Presentation Styles vs Item Options

Both features let you capture how an item is served, but they work at different levels:

• Presentation Styles — global, defined once in settings, apply to any item or package
• Item Options — configured per item, for choices specific to that item (e.g. sandwich fillings, portion sizes)

See our Item Options help page for more details on item-level choices.