Tastings & packages

A tasting (also called a package) is a priced itinerary on your menu — a multi-course tasting, a brunch set, a prix-fixe lunch, or any “one price, several courses” offer. Guests see the package price and what is included; when someone orders it, Eighty-Six expands the package into the real dishes and drinks inside so the kitchen, bar, stock and tickets stay accurate.

Before you begin

Tastings live on the Menu page with the rest of your dishes. Available on plans that include the Menu builder. You need permission to create and edit menu content. Restaurant owners have every permission by default; employees need it granted by the owner.

When to use a tasting vs a regular dish

Use a tasting / package when…	Use a regular dish or drink when…
Guests pay one package price for several courses or choices	The item is ordered and priced on its own
You want a fixed itinerary (or a few guest choices) under one name	Sizes of the same plate (Small / Large) — use price variants instead
Stock and kitchen tickets should follow the component plates	A simple plate or beverage with its own recipe

If two items have different ingredients and can be ordered separately, they stay separate dishes. If they only exist as steps inside a tasting, you can still create them as real components (often at €0 so they do not list alone on the public menu — see below).

Item type: dish, drink or tasting

Every menu item has a Type:

Type	CRM label	What it means
Dish	Dish (food)	Food. Defaults to the kitchen on tickets.
Drink	Drink (beverage)	Beverage. Defaults to the bar.
Package	Tasting (itinerary)	A priced itinerary of slots and components.

Set the type when you add or edit the item. Drinks and dishes behave like ordinary menu rows; choosing Tasting (itinerary) unlocks the Tasting composition editor for the itinerary.

Type on the item form: dish, drink, or tasting itinerary.

Tip

Type is about how the item is sold and routed — not the category name. You can still put drinks under a “Beers” category and tastings under “Menus” or “Brunch”.

Create a tasting

1. Open Menu and pick the category where the tasting should appear (for example Menus, Brunch or Degustazioni).
2. Click Add Dish (the form covers every item type).
3. Enter the name guests should see (for example “Menu degustazione 5 portate”).
4. Under Type, choose Tasting (itinerary).
5. Set the package price (the price of the whole itinerary). Use price variants only if you sell the same tasting at different package prices (for example weekday vs weekend).
6. Build the Tasting composition (slots and components) — see the next section.
7. Leave Available on, then Create.

A tasting needs at least one slot, and every slot needs at least one dish or drink before you can save.

Building the composition (slots)

The composition is an ordered list of slots. Each slot is one step of the itinerary — a course title, a fixed plate, or a place where the guest chooses.

Tasting composition: ordered slots, selection type, and the dishes or drinks in each slot.

For each slot you can set:

Field	Purpose
Slot title	Guest-facing label (for example Primo, Dolce, Wine pairing).
Kitchen course	Optional link to a course type from restaurant settings, so those components fire together on the KDS when staff advance that course. Leave empty if you do not use course fire.
Selection	How options in the slot work (see below).
Components	Real dishes or drinks included in, or offered for, that slot.

Use Add slot for each course or choice, and the up / down controls to set the order guests read top to bottom.

Fixed vs guest picks

Selection	Guest experience	Typical use
Fixed (always these)	Every component in the slot is always included. No choice.	A set sequence of courses.
Guest picks one	Guest chooses exactly one option (min/max default to 1).	“Choose your main”.
Guest picks several	Guest chooses between your Min and Max (empty max = no upper limit).	“Pick two sides”.

For guest-choice slots only:

• Pre-selected — which option is pre-ticked in the order form when staff or a guest opens that choice. Pre-selection is not highlighted on the public menu.
• Extra € — an upgrade amount added to the package price when that option is chosen (0 means included in the package price). Fixed slots do not use upgrade extras.

Components: existing dishes or tasting-only stubs

Each option points at a real menu item (dish or drink) — never another package. That is what stock, the kitchen display and tickets use when a package is ordered.

You can:

1. Search and attach an existing priced dish or drink (dual-use: it still lists on the public menu and appears inside the tasting), or
2. Create a tasting-only component in place — type a new name in the component search and create it. Eighty-Six creates a dish at €0 in the same category. Free components that are only used inside packages are hidden as standalone rows on the public menu, but they still appear in the itinerary and on kitchen/stock when ordered.

Type a name to create a tasting-only dish (€0). It stays out of the standalone public list while used only inside packages.

Tip

Give dual-use dishes a normal price if guests should also order them à la carte. Keep tasting-only steps at €0 so the public menu does not show free “stub” plates next to real dishes.

What guests see on the public menu

• The tasting appears like other items, with its package price and a compact itinerary under the name (slot titles and included options; upgrade extras show as +€… when relevant).
• Opening the dish detail shows the full What’s included itinerary. Component names link through to that dish or drink’s own detail card when it exists for guests.
• €0 dishes that are only package components do not appear as their own lines on the public list. Priced dishes used both alone and inside a tasting still list normally.
• Free-text description on a tasting is usually secondary to the structured itinerary.

Import brunch or tasting PDFs

Import from link (and file-based menu import where available) can detect tasting / brunch / prix-fixe blocks and materialise them as packages with slots and components.

1. On Menu, click Import from link (or start an import from a PDF/menu file if you use that flow).
2. After the AI reads the source, review items marked Tasting (itinerary) — you will see What’s included, selection style, and any upgrade extras.
3. Fix the tasting price, slot titles and components before you commit. If a row is marked as a tasting but no included dishes were found, add composition after import from the menu editor.
4. Import creates stub components (price €0) when a course name does not match an existing dish, so the itinerary is complete without retyping everything.

Tip

Import is a starting point. After saving, open each tasting and confirm slots, guest choices and which components should stay dual-use vs tasting-only.

Stock, kitchen and tickets

When a guest (or staff) orders a package, Eighty-Six keeps a package header for the price and expands component lines for operations:

• Stock deducts recipes on the component dishes and drinks, not on an empty package shell.
• Kitchen / bar tickets follow each component’s type (dish → kitchen, drink → bar) and optional kitchen course.
• You cannot nest a package inside another package.

If you track ingredient stock, attach recipes to the real component plates the same way you would for standalone dishes.

Related

Dishes, prices & variantsNames, prices, availability, and item type.

Menus overviewCategories, import, and how menus appear publicly.

Ingredient stockHow ordered components deduct stock.

CategoriesWhere tastings sit on the menu.