Creating a Category
- Go to Menus in the sidebar and open a menu with Edit
- Click Add Category
- Enter a name and optional description
- Click Create Category
Category Fields
Category Images
Categories support two images:- Image - Shown on category cards when browsing the menu. Use a larger, detailed image that represents the category.
- Navigation Image - Shown in the category navigation bar at the top of the menu. Use a smaller, simpler image or icon.
Editing Categories
Click the settings icon next to a category name to open the category editor. Here you can update all fields and access additional settings.Hide From Navigation
On the Details tab, toggle Hide from navigation to hide a category from the navigation bar while keeping it visible in the main menu. Products remain fully accessible - they just won’t have a navigation shortcut. Use this to keep the navigation bar clean and easy to browse, especially for dine-in venues with many categories.Category ID
Every category has a read-only Category ID. Open the category editor and scroll to the bottom of the edit panel - it’s the last item, just above the save button. It’s a long identifier shown in a monospace font; click it to select the whole value, then copy it. Use it when you need to reference a specific category, for example targeting a View Category CTA on a Menu Story, raising a support request, or working with the API.The Category ID is generated by storekit and can’t be edited. Products have their own Product ID.
Availability
Control when a category and its products are visible to customers.Available After
Schedule when a category becomes visible using Available After. The category and all its products are hidden until the specified date and time. Use this to:- Prepare seasonal menus in advance
- Launch new categories at a specific time
- Coordinate with marketing campaigns
Category Hours
Categories can have their own opening hours, independent of your store hours:- Click the settings icon next to the category name
- Go to the Availability tab
- Toggle off Category always available
- Set opening and closing times for each day, or toggle Closed for days it should be unavailable
Category hours are a weekly schedule: setting a category to Closed on Wednesday closes it every Wednesday, not just the coming one. There is no way to close a single category for one specific date. Special Opening Hours do apply to a single date, but they close the whole store on that date, not one category.
- Breakfast menu: 7am-11am
- Lunch specials: 12pm-3pm
- Happy hour: 4pm-7pm
- Late night menu: 10pm-2am
Category hours vs pickup and delivery time slots
Category hours only control when a category is visible and orderable. They are evaluated against the current time — the moment the customer is browsing — so the category disappears once the clock passes its closing time. Category hours do not restrict which pickup or collection time a customer can then choose at checkout. A Breakfast category set to 07:30–10:45 stops the category showing after 10:45, but a customer browsing at 09:00 can still select any pickup slot your store offers that day (for example up to 14:30) unless you also limit the collection times. To limit when an order can actually be collected, configure the pickup or delivery time windows under Pre-Orders — see Pre-orders. There is no single “this item is only collectable before X” setting; the collection window is the combination of the category’s hours and the pickup/delivery time windows.Troubleshooting: items not showing on the menu
If products are marked as available but don’t appear on your menu, check the category’s Availability settings. Confirm that the current time is within the category hours and that its Available After date and time have passed.For POS-synced menus, products may sync from your POS, but category availability is still controlled in storekit. Check the category settings in storekit when synced products are missing.
Printing
Assign categories to specific printers for split printing. For example, send all “Drinks” orders to the bar printer and “Food” orders to the kitchen printer. See Split Printing for setup instructions.Table Area Restrictions
For dine-in stores, you can restrict categories to specific table areas. This is useful for:- Pool-side menu only available at pool tables
- VIP menu only available in VIP section
Reordering Categories
The order categories appear in the menu builder is the order customers see. How you reorder them depends on the device you’re using. Open the menu from Menus → Edit first.On a computer (mouse)
Drag a category by its row — grab the row where the category name is shown (the drag icon sits to the left of the name) and drop it in the new position. The new order saves automatically as soon as you drop it; you’ll see a Category order updated confirmation. There is no separate publish step for the order — once it’s saved, customers see the new order.On a phone, tablet or touchscreen
On those devices, use the Sort categories tool instead:- Open the More actions menu (the icon with three dots, next to Settings)
- Click Sort categories
- Use the up and down arrows next to each category to move it
- Click Save edits
The order is set per menu
Category order is stored separately for each menu. If a store has more than one menu — for example an eat-in menu and a collection menu — reordering categories on one menu does not change the other. Open each menu from Menus → Edit and set the order on every menu you want to change.Reordering products within a category
On a computer, drag a product row up or down within its category to reorder it; like categories, the new order saves automatically on drop. The same touch limitation applies: product drag and drop is disabled on phones, tablets and touchscreen laptops, and there is no Sort tool for products (unlike categories). To reorder products, use a computer with a mouse.Troubleshooting: I dragged a category and nothing happened
Drag and drop is disabled on phones, tablets and touchscreen laptops, so the category won’t move and no error appears. Either switch to a computer with a mouse, or use the Sort categories tool from the More actions menu as described in On a phone, tablet or touchscreen.Deleting Categories
To delete a category:- Click the settings icon next to the category name
- Go to the Delete tab
- Click Delete category
Multi-language Support
If you’ve enabled multiple languages, click the translation icon next to text fields to add translations. See Translations for setup.Tips
- Keep names short - “Starters” not “Starters & Small Plates”
- Use descriptions - Help customers understand what’s in each section
- Limit categories - 5-8 categories is ideal; too many overwhelms customers
- Order strategically - Put high-margin categories first