---
title: "Menus: categories, products, and options"
description: "The menu is where customers make their choice. Structure it the way people order, price everything correctly, and add photos."
canonical: https://docs.ordering.co/docs/discovery-ordering/launch-your-marketplace/part-3-build-the-marketplace/menus/
---

# Menus: categories, products, and options

The menu is where customers spend their time and make their choice. Structure it the way people order, price everything correctly, and add photos to your best sellers.

**Time:** varies by menu · **Where:** Stores › store › Products

## 1. Product categories

Every product lives in a category, so create categories first: **Stores › store › Products › Add Category**. Order them the way a customer decides: Starters, Mains, Sides, Drinks, Desserts. Keep names short so they read well on a phone. A category can also be a subcategory of another.

## 2. Products

Add a product inside a category with its image, name, price, and description. The product's tabs hold more:

- **Information:** price, regular price (to show a discount), inventory, and a ribbon such as "Best seller".
- **Advanced:** SKU, minimum and maximum quantity per order, upselling, featured, calories, taxes and fees, and an alcohol flag.

> **Photos sell**
>
> Products with a clear, well-lit photo outsell products without one. Shoot on a plain background in daylight, keep the framing consistent, and start with the best sellers. Images can be PNG or JPG; keep files light so menus load fast on phones.

## 3. Product options

Options are the choices on a product: size, extras, sauces, cooking point, weight. Open the product and use **Add product option**. For each option you set a minimum and maximum number of choices, and each choice can have its own price.

| You want                         | How to set it                                   |
| -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| A required single choice (size)  | Minimum 1, maximum 1                            |
| Optional extras, up to 3         | Minimum 0, maximum 3                            |
| Allow two of the same extra      | Turn on suboption quantity                      |
| Half-and-half pizza              | Allow half option, with a half price per choice |
| Show a choice only after another | Use a conditional option                        |

> **Real scenario: Selling meat by weight**
>
> A butcher on a marketplace sells beef in 400 g, 1 kg, and 2 kg packs. Instead of three products, the store has one product "Beef" with price zero and a required option "Choose your size" with three choices, each with its own price. For wholesale buyers the owner duplicated the store as a separate wholesale store, with 10 kg packs that can be chosen up to a set maximum.

## 4. Upselling

Mark products such as drinks, sides, or extras for upselling and they are suggested in the cart before checkout. It is the simplest way to raise the average order. Upselling is turned on at the platform level in your settings.

## 5. Large menus: spreadsheet mode and bulk images

For stores with hundreds of items, use **Spreadsheet Mode** in the store's products. It works like a spreadsheet: you can copy rows from Excel and paste them in, as long as the columns are in the same order.

To add images in bulk:

1. **Find each product's ID** in Spreadsheet Mode.
2. **Rename each image file with the product ID**, for example `3116.png`.
3. **Choose "Upload images in batch"** and drag in all the files at once. Keep the page open until they finish, then save.

> **Watch out**
>
> Wrong prices erode trust instantly. Before a store goes live, read every price out loud, check that options add up, and have someone else look at the full menu on a phone.