Menu items and menu recipes

A menu item is what a team sells. It lives on the team under Menu Items. When a sale is recorded — POS import or typed in — Invinite matches the PLU to a menu item, then depletes inventory.

Menu items are not inventory. You do not receive, count, or transfer a menu item. You receive items. You sell menu items.

Step 5 is the inventory list. This chapter is the sales list.

Two menu item types

	Single item	Recipe
What a sale does	Depletes one inventory variant	Depletes several ingredients in set amounts
Examples	Bottle of wine, can of soda, a steak sold as-is	Mojito, house burger, tasting platter
Ingredients	None — linked to one team item variant	A list of team items with quantities
Who owns the recipe	—	That team, unless it is linked to a menu recipe

A single item never needs a menu recipe. Menu recipes only exist for recipes.

Creating a menu item

On the team, open Menu Items → Add:

• Single item — pick the inventory variant this sale depletes, then set name, PLU, price, and category.
• Recipe — add ingredients with quantities in each item's size unit, then set name, PLU, price, and category.
• Add from catalog — assign a menu recipe, or copy another team's recipe as a starting point. You still set this team's category, PLU, and price. Price is never copied.

For a full menu, import menu items instead of typing each line. Type in the file is authoritative: Recipe or Single item.

Every ingredient (and every single-item variant) must already exist as a team item. The menu item does not create inventory.

Menu recipes

A menu recipe is the organization-level template for a recipe menu item. It is the live spec. Teams that follow it get a locked ingredients list. When you change the menu recipe, those teams update. Each team still owns its own name, PLU, price, and category.

It is not a batch recipe. Batch recipes make inventory (syrup you bottle and count). Menu recipes describe what a sale depletes. If you confuse the two, you will lock the wrong thing and fight the catalog for weeks.

A team-level recipe on a menu item is not a menu recipe. That recipe lives on one team and nobody else inherits edits. The menu recipe is the org template that several teams follow.

When to use a menu recipe

Use a menu recipe when more than one team should sell the same recipe, and you want one person (the catalog owner) to own that recipe.

Do not use it when:

• Only one team sells the drink, and nobody else should inherit future recipe edits
• The recipe is still experimental and changes every service
• You only wanted to copy a menu item to another team once — that is Add from catalog as a one-off copy, not a live link

A copied recipe is independent. A linked menu recipe is not. Pick on purpose.

Menu recipe vs batch recipe vs independent recipe

	Menu recipe	Batch recipe	Independent recipe
What it is	Org template for a recipe menu item	Team recipe for make-ahead prep	A team-only recipe on one menu item
When it runs	On sale (depletes ingredients)	On preparation (consumes ingredients, produces stock)	On sale
What it produces	Nothing extra	An inventory item you can count, transfer, or sell	Nothing extra
Who edits ingredients	Organization catalog	That team	That team's menu item
Team-owned fields	Name, PLU, price, category	Output, yield, and ingredients	Everything
Use for	House Mojito sold at every bar	House grenadine you bottle	A one-off special, or a team that has gone off-spec

House syrup on the shelf: batch recipe. Mojito built when ordered, same spec at every outlet: menu recipe. One bar's secret riff: independent recipe.

Two layers: catalog vs team

	Menu recipe (organization)	Linked menu item (team)
What it is	Name + ingredients on master items	A recipe menu item that follows that template
Who edits ingredients	Organization catalog	Nobody — ingredients are locked
Where	Menu Recipes in the organization catalog	Menu Items on the team
Unlink	Archive/delete the menu recipe (unlinks everyone; cannot be undone, even if you restore the menu recipe)	Unlink this menu item only

Do not maintain "the same Mojito" as a separate recipe on every team and hope people type the same pours. That is how you get three recipes and a costing argument.

Creating a menu recipe

1. Open Menu Recipes in the organization catalog.
2. Name it after the drink or dish, not a team.
3. Add ingredients with quantities in each master item's size unit. Same search as recipe ingredients on a menu item.
4. Save.

Every ingredient must already exist as a master item. The menu recipe does not create inventory.

You can also promote an existing team recipe: open the menu item and use Promote to menu recipe. That creates the org recipe from the current ingredients and links the original menu item. Promotion needs organization menu recipes: create. A team manager cannot sneak a recipe into the org catalog.

Putting it on a team

Menu recipes are assigned from the destination team — Menu Items → Add from catalog.

1. Open that team's menu items.
2. Add from catalog. Menu recipes and other teams' recipes appear together.
3. Set this team's name, PLU, price, and category. Price is never copied.
4. If the team does not carry an ingredient yet, add those items in the same step (needs item-create permission, and the outlet must have SKU room).

The new menu item is locked to the menu recipe. Staff cannot edit ingredients on it. That is the point.

What lock actually means

Linked menu items reject ingredient writes everywhere: menu item edit, component edit-all, CSV import, integrations API. If a path could silently diverge, it is a bug.

Out of sync means this team cannot apply the latest menu recipe because it is missing an ingredient (or adopting it would blow the SKU cap). The team keeps its last complete recipe so sales do not run a half-updated drink. Sync when the missing items are on the team.

Unlink leaves the current ingredients and sales history on the team. It just stops following the menu recipe. Use that when a venue is allowed to go off-spec — do not keep them linked and then "fix" the menu item locally. You cannot.

Copying vs linking

Add from catalog can also copy another team's recipe. That creates an independent menu item. Later edits to the source do not follow. Use copy when you want a starting point. Use a menu recipe when you want one spec.

What's next

If you also make house syrups or prep batches, set those up in step 5.2 — Batch recipes. Then continue to step 6 — Daily operations.