How do I set up an auto-rotating menu?

The auto-rotating menu allows your store to automatically switch between different menus on a set schedule, usually aligned with your cutoff.

Step 1: Enable Auto-Rotating Menu

Go to the Settings page > Menu tab > ⚙️ Menu Functionality section and click Enable Auto Rotating Menus

This will unlock an additional option on your Menu page.

Step 2: Configure Menu Rotation

Go to the Menu page and click the Settings button. You should now see the Set Menus option. 

Click it and this will open a window where you will set up your auto-rotating menus.

Step 3: Review Menu Settings

Inside this window, you will see several important settings:

• Activate
  Enable this once you finish setting up or editing your menus.
  This makes sure your rotating menus are live. If not enabled, your main menu will continue to display instead (items/packages that are active on the Menu page)
   
• Pause
  Check this option if you want to temporarily stop the automatic rotation.
   
• Rotation Day & Rotation Hour
  This determines when the system switches to the next menu.
  In most cases, this should match your cutoff, so once the cutoff passes, the system rotates to the next menu.
   
• Add Menu
  Click this to create as many menus as needed.

Step 4: Add and Manage Menus

• Click Add Menu to create your menus
• Each menu will display its active date range based on your rotation settings
• Menus will appear as Menu 1, Menu 2, Menu 3, etc.
• The currently active menu (the one customers are ordering from) will be highlighted in blue.

To add items to the menus:

1. Click Edit Items on a menu
2. Add your items, packages, and gift cards by checking the box next to them
3. Click Show Included Items to see what you've added so far

👉 If something should always be available, you must add it to every menu

To save time, you can click Duplicate Existing Menu? when editing a menu. Select the menu to be duplicated, and the system will automatically copy all items, packages, and gift cards.

This is especially useful if most of your menu stays the same. You can set up your first menu with everything that should always be available, then duplicate it and only update the items that rotate.

⚠️ Important: If an item is added to an auto-rotating menu but is inactive on the main Menu page, the item will not appear on the store, even if it has been added to the menu rotation.

Step 5: Set Up Item Replacements (Required for Subscriptions & Packages)

When the menu rotates, some items may no longer be available. However, these items are not automatically replaced inside packages or subscriptions.

This is because the system does not know which items should replace them, so you must define replacements manually.

👉 If you do not set this up, customers may still have unavailable items in their subscriptions or packages.

How to Set Up Replacements

You will need to do this for each menu:

1. Go to a menu (for example, Menu 1)
2. Find the items that will not be available in the next menu
3. Click Set Replacement on the item. This will open a new window.

4. You will see the option: Show items in subsequent menu only (enabled by default). This means you will only see items from the next menu (e.g., Menu 2 if you're editing Menu 1). Uncheck it if you want to see your entire menu.
   
   Select the replacement item from the dropdown. If applicable, map any sizes, components, or add-ons
    

5. Click Set Replacement
    

   

6. Repeat for all items that must be replaced.
    

Best Practice

To make this easier:

👉 Add all items to all menus first, then set up replacements

This allows you to keep the Show items in subsequent menu only option enabled and quickly match items between menus.

Make sure all items used in rotating menus are marked as Active on the Menu page.

Step 6: Understand Menu Flow

• After the last menu, the system loops back to Menu 1
• You can delete menus at any time
• You can use Activate Early to switch to the next menu before the scheduled rotation

⚠️ Important Note About Cutoffs

If you have multiple cutoffs, auto-rotation can cause issues.

For example:

• The menu rotates to the next week
• But one delivery or pickup cutoff has not passed yet

This could allow customers to order items from the next menu for the current week.

👉 To avoid this, it is recommended to use a single cutoff when using auto-rotating menus.

Don't hesitate to contact GoPrep's Customer Support Team for further assistance.

You can do so by submitting a request or sending an email at [e-mail].