Menu Translations User Guide

Overview

This article describes how to configure and use the Menu Translations feature in Genius for Restaurants. The Menu Translations feature enables your locations to offer their menus in multiple languages on customer-facing self-ordering platforms, such as Online Ordering and Kiosk.

Currently, supported languages for translation are French and Spanish. While other languages may be considered in the future, they are not supported at this time. When a customer uses a Kiosk or Online Ordering and selects a supported language (for example, French), the menu items will automatically appear in French, provided you have entered the translations.

What can be translated

Once enabled, the Menu Translations feature can translate the labels of certain data components, specifically components that display within the Online Ordering and Kiosk apps (such as the names of menu items), from various menu setup records. When these components are displayed, the app will translate them to the selected language.

The Menu Translations feature enables the apps to translate the following data components from the following menu setup records:

• Menu Items: Name, Description, Short Name.
• Sections: Name.
• Menu Groups: Name.
• Sizes: Name, Short Name.
• Modifiers: Name.
• Ingredients: Name, Short Name.
• Context Items: Name, Short Name.
• Attributes/Tags: Name, Description.
• Pricing Rules: Name.
• Service Charges/Fees: Name.
• Discounts/Promotions: Name.

Configuring an account to use menu translations

All translation settings are managed at the account level. Individual locations cannot override these settings.

1. Log into the Admin Portal.
2. If you are configuring an account with multiple locations, select All Locations in the Locations list.
   or If you are configuring an account with a single location, proceed to Step 3.
3. In the Admin Portal’s Main Menu, click Account Menu, then click Translations.
4. In the Translations screen, select the Menu Translations check box.
5. In the Default Menu Language list, select a primary language for the menu.
   Later, if a translation is unavailable, the app will use this language as its default “fallback” selection.
6. In the Additional Menu Language list, select the additional languages you want to support.
   At this time, Genius supports Spanish and Canadian French.
   
7. Click Save to save your settings. 

Adding and editing translations manually

Once configured, you can manually enter translations for individual menu components in the Admin Portal. In this example, we describe how to add translations to a menu item record, but you can use these procedures to add translations to any of the menu records listed earlier.

1. In the Admin Console’s Main Menu, select Account Menu, then click Items.
2. In the Items screen, click an existing menu item.
3. In the item’s settings screen, near the bottom of the panel, click the Translation button.
   
   The program will open the Translation panel.
   
   
   For each menu item, the Translation panel displays the item’s Name, Short Name, and Description in the location’s default language.
   It also includes a separate section for each additional language you have configured the location to use, and each section includes a set of Name, Short Name, and Description boxes. (In our example, the location is only configured to offer Spanish).
4. In each language section, enter appropriate translations in the Name, Short Name, and Description boxes.
5. Click Save to apply your changes or Close to exit without saving.

Note: At this time, you cannot add a translation to a menu item until after you first create and save the item's record. When you create a new item, the Translation button is not visible. After saving a new item, if you close and reopen the item's record, the Translation button will then be visible, allowing you to add a translation. (We will remove this limitation in a forthcoming update.) 

Important rules for manual editing

Manual Entry: All translations must be entered manually; the system does not provide automatic translations.

Editing Permissions: Items created at the account level can only have their translations edited at the account level. Items created at a location level can be edited at the location level.

Audit Trail: If you edit or delete a record’s translation, the Admin Console will record the change in the record type's Audit Trail.

Adding translations with the Import/Export tool

When managing accounts with especially large menus, you can use the Import/Export tool to apply translations to multiple records at once. You can use the Import/Export tool to add translation to groups of the following menu components:

•  Items
• Sections
• Groups
• Sizes
• Modifiers
• Ingredients
• Context Items
• Tags/Attributes

Once the Menu Translations feature is enabled, the program will include extra columns of translated components in its exported spreadsheets, with descriptive headers such as “name_fr” or “name_es”. If you disable the Menu Translation feature, the program will exclude these translation columns from its exported spreadsheets.

To erase a specific translation, delete the text from its cell and import the file again. If you delete an entire column within a spreadsheet and then import it, the program will ignore it and apply the original translations.

Important rule for importing and exporting menu spreadsheets

The import/export process requires the account's language configuration (including the default and additional languages) to be exactly the same when you import the sheet as it was when you exported it. Therefore, if you change your language settings after importing a sheet, the app will be unable to export that data later. 

How menu translations are displayed in different apps

• Within Kiosk and Online Ordering, the apps will switch their menu’s language to match the UI language.
• Within the POS, including KDS displays, the CFD, and customer receipts), the app will always display its menu in the location’s default menu language, with no translations.
• All reports will list or display menu items (and other menu components) in the location’s default menu language, with no translations.