Here we explore how to create and manage EPoS Items, commonly called PLU's (price lookup code).
Last updated 21 Aug 2024
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Introduction to the EPoS Item
In order for any item to be added to a till it needs to have an EPoS Item (PLU) set up for it. All of the EPoS items for a specific venue need to be added to a "menu", which will then become available on the venue's tills.
EPoS items can have stock ingredients and batches attached. This will allow you to use the stock management system, by tracking what stock is sold and held. It is also possible to use EPoS without any ingredients and batches, that don't affect the stock system.
Top Tip: Changes made to your EPoS within Cloud will not take effect on your tills until you Download Data in each affected venue.
To view all of your EPoS Items, go to EPoS > EPoS Items (PLU) in Kobas Cloud. In this screen, you will see a list of all the previous EPoS Item's you have already set up and you can edit each as required.
Top Tip: You can filter this page by which menu an EPoS Item is currently used on. You can also filter those not used on a menu. This is a great tool to use when considering your account hygiene, and deleting unused EPoS Items.
Create a new EPoS Item
In order to set up a new EPoS Item, click "New EPoS Item". You will land on this screen:
Note: VAT-exempt items are exported correctly to Xero and Sage, but will show in reporting with 0% tax items.
- General - Here you specify the name of your EPoS Item; what category the EPoS Item falls under (eg. Eat-in food, beer, spirits etc); if an EPoS Item has a barcode, and what venue(s) the PLU will be available in. Adding a public name, description and photo is used in the mobile ordering component of the Customer Interaction Centre.
Top Tip: You can decide whether the EPoS Item Name or the EPoS Item Public Name is used in-venue (on receipts, dockets, EPoS, KDS and CFS) by toggling the setting within Administration > Venue Settings > Settings > Sales & Marketing > Preparation Instructions.
- Retail Prices - This allows you to set prices for your item. You can set different prices for whether the item is ordered to eat in, takeaway or for delivery (if you offer those options). Kobas will calculate your net margin and gross profit % for the EPoS Item based on what prices you set here. The cost price can be manually added in, or is taken from the recipe items added.
- Recipe - This tab allows you to add Ingredients and Batches to the EPoS Item, which will allow you to manage stock using Kobas. Press the Select Ingredient or the Select Batches button to choose the relevant items. You'll then be brought back to the EPoS Item page where you can identify how much of the ingredients/batches are used in this EPoS item. NOTE: Your recipe quantity can only go to two decimal places (ie. 0.01).
Top Tip:
Backdating recipes: When you first add a recipe to an EPoS Item, you will get the a pop-up asking if you "Would you like to backdate this to the date it was created?".
You will not get this option to occur once you have saved a recipe in the EPoS Item. This feature takes into consideration situations where an EPoS item is added in a rush, maybe during service, and the recipe/ingredients are added at a later date.
Check out our introduction to the Stock System to further understand the elements of ingredients and batches.
- Allergen & Dietary - This tab is essential to identify the allergens and dietary information of the EPoS item. Please see this article for more information.
- Modifiers (PISC) - This tab allows options to be added to your item after it has been selected on the till or via mobile ordering (eg cooking specifications, adding a mixer, extra ingredients added to the item, etc). For further information on how to do this, please see An Introduction to Modifiers.
- Preparation > Printers - Here you can specify if you need a work docket to be printed at a specific printer. Simply you can add one or more printers where the item will be printed on a work docket. For example, you may want the item to print in the kitchen and the waiting station. You may see that the EPoS Item has printers in multiple venues, please note the docket will only print on the printers in the venue in which the EPoS Item is pressed.
Top Tip: You can bulk assign printers, and manage 'printer suppression' (rules about when certain printers should be used) in the Administration > Venue Settings > Settings screen.
- Preparation Instructions - Here you can define the preparation steps for the EPoS Item. This can be used by the staff as a reference for specific preparation instructions for the EPoS Item.
- Item Price Bands - Here you define prices for different price bands.
- KDS Builds - Here you can define how this EPoS item is displayed in your KDS system.
Once you have entered the details of the EPoS Item then click Save Item. Your EPoS Item should now appear when you go to EPoS > EPoS Items (PLU).
Top Tip: There are several settings that dictate whether or not an EPoS Item is shown to customers in the Online Ordering section of the CIC. You can read more about those settings here.
Following the creation of the EPoS Items, you will need to add them to a menu.
Editing EPoS Items in bulk
We have two useful tools for EPoS Items:
- Bulk EPoS Item Manager - this allows you to export your EPoS Items and make more complex changes quickly, such as prices for menu changes.
- Edit All EPoS Items - this allows you to edit pricing and tax rates on screen within cloud for all EPoS Items.
To access these tools you will need to have the permission EPoS > All > Manage All Venues.
Bulk EPoS Item Manager
Caution: This tool should be used carefully, with a full understanding of how the tool works, and acknowledgement that Kobas cannot reverse changes made using this tool.
When bulk editing EPoS Items you need to ensure that you save the original copy and leave it unedited, then have a separate edited copy. Also if you use barcodes in your business; you need to ensure that the file you're importing doesn't have the Scientific Format for barcodes (which is standard for CSV's in Excel), as this will overwrite your barcodes.
When you are in the EPoS > EPoS Items (PLU) screen, choose EPoS Item Exporter/Importer.
From there the steps required are:
- Press Export EPoS Items to Edit.
- Make a copy of the export file. One file can then be kept to re-upload if you make an error. The second becomes your working file.
- Make changes to any data as required. You cannot change the ID number in Column A, this will cause significant issues in your account. Make sure to Save the file.
- Back on the Bulk EPoS Item Manager page, press Choose File to find your saved working copy of the export, then press Import.
- You will see your upload status in the table below go from Creating and Validating to Validated. When this has been Validated, you can press View. This new screen will show you any errors where the upload will not work, such as blank mandatory fields, or incorrect category/tax ID's. If the EPoS Item Name has changed, a warning flag will appear, asking you to ensure it is against the correct ID number. You can choose Back to List on this screen if you need to make further changes, by returning to step 3 above.
- Once you are happy with the import, you can press Accept Import. You will the status back on the main page go to Importing, and then Imported once complete.
Top Tip: Good Account Hygiene is essential when dealing with aspects of Kobas that create a lot of data. Deleting unused EPoS Items will help keep your system running smoothly. Please take a look at this guide to keep your system healthy!
Edit All EPoS Items
To quickly amend the pricing and/or tax bands of EPoS Item’s, in the cloud go to EPoS > EPoS Items (PLU) and press the “Edit all EPoS Items” button. This is really useful for whole menu price changes or government changes in Tax.
Pressing the Wand symbol at the top of the column will change tax rate for the whole category.
Pricing History
We display pricing history for items you purchase and sell. On the EPoS Item (PLU) view page, Modifier edit page and the Edit Ingredient page you will see historic prices, when they were changed and who changed them.
These changes will allow you to better understand why certain revenue calculations are made. Here is an explanation of some of the names you will see in the Changed By column:
- User Name - Change made by a person logged in, including whoever started an import which changed these prices.
- "Kobas System" - Change made by a member of the Kobas team on your behalf.
- "System" - Change made by an automated process, see below.
- "n/a" - Source of change not available. This is where we haven't logged the information. Prior to making this change, we did not log every instance of changes to prices.
System changes could include:
- When someone has used the VAT rate bulk editor
- When a batch has been updated because of the cost price of constituent components being updated