In this article:
What's a product variant?
A Product Variant Group is a collection of modifications or extras that can be applied to a product. For example:
Product Variant Group | Product Variant Values | Example Products |
Coffee Modifications | Extra hot, Extra froth | Cappuccino, Mocha |
Pizza Extras | No olives, Pineapple | Pizza |
Size | Small, Large | Fries |
A product with variants will display a + symbol on the POS, indicating that there are options to customize.
In this example, the Latte (Product) has Coffee Modifications (Product Variant Group).
View Product Variants
Go to Products > Product Variants in the backend.
2. All product variants will be listed, and you can filter by:
Selection Name (e.g., "Size")
Selection Value (e.g., "Large - $2")
POS Display Status (active or disabled)
3. Click the arrow to expand a group and see its variant values.
Create/Edit a Product Variant
Go to Products > Product Variants
Click New Group to create a new product variant group or click the pencil icon to edit an existing one.
If you want to edit a Product Variant, click the pencil button next to the product variant.
If you want to duplicate an existing Product Variant, click the pages button next to an existing product variant.
3. Enter the Name
4. Set up any special options for your Product Variant.
Product Variant Options
Here are some key options you can configure for product variant groups:
Option | Description | Example |
Maximum Selection | Limits how many values can be selected. | Max of 2 sauces |
Include Quantity | Allows multiples of the same value (e.g., 1x, 2x). | 2x Sugar |
Force Selection | Requires a variant to be selected. | Burrito needs filling |
Auto Selection | Automatically selects all variants by default. | Customizable poke bowl ingredients |
Single Selection | Limits to only one value selection. | Size selection (e.g., Regular or Large) |
POS Only | Displays on POS but not online or self-ordering kiosks. | Reusable cup discount |
Minimum Selection | Requires selecting a minimum number of variants. | Must select 2 pizza toppings |
Auto Select Minimum | Auto-selects the number of values to meet the minimum. | 2 toppings pre-selected |
Kiosk/Online Only | Shows only on kiosks or online ordering. | Add-ons for online combos |
See also:
Price Rules for product variants
Self-Ordering/Online Ordering Options
If you want to... | Then... | Example |
Set a Minimum Selection | A pizza where you need at least 2 toppings | |
Auto-select the number of product variant values to meet the Minimum Selection you had set | Tick Auto select minimum number of variants | You need at least 2 toppings, but you will select ham and tomato paste by default (this will only work if ham and tomato are the first two values in the product variant value list) |
Show the option only on the self-ordering kiosk and online ordering, but not on the POS | Tick Kiosk/Online Only | Add-ons for combos that are exclusive to online orders |
Collapse the options into a “Customise” button on the self-ordering kiosk | Tick Hide Values. This will also completely hide the group from Online Ordering. | Gluten-Free options that you want to be available for customers where needed |
Encourage the customer to select something from this product variant | Tick Prompt Selection (Self-Ordering). That means that if they haven’t selected anything from this group, the variant group will pop up in the next step to give the customer another chance to select something | Add fries |
If you are a franchisee that is part of a group which uses Abacus, but you don’t want HQ product variant changes to be applied to your site, tick Product Variant Lock.
5. Click Save
6. Under Variant Value, click New Product Variant Value.
7. Enter a name and any additional price linked to the option.
Note that if you want the price to be dependent on how many product variants have been added to the order, you should instead use Price Rules for Product Variants
You can also configure extra properties under the header.
Setup
Display Name: the name that appears on your Online Ordering Menu (note that you will also need to Save/Publish your Online Ordering Menu for this change to take effect)
Product (OPTIONAL): If the product variant value is a product (eg. you make a muffin & coffee combo where the variant value is a specific muffin), add the product here so that any attributes (printer location, stock number, more product variants) of that product (the specific muffin) will be linked. Note: This is not the same as adding a product variant group to a product, which will be explained later.
Price: any augmentation or reduction of the price when this value is selected (eg. +$2 for "extra sauce", -$2 for "no sauce")
Stock Management
Usage (OPTIONAL): the quantity of product used when the product variant value is selected.E.g. Product "Coffee" has a product variant value "With Almond Milk" which is linked to the product "Almond Milk" with usage "2". Whenever coffee is ordered with almond milk, "Almond Milk" is used twice. This usage information is available in the usage report (Reports > Usage Report).
Table Ordering app ("Include Quantity" must be ticked)
Minimum quantity (OPTIONAL): The minimum quantity that will be selected in the Table Ordering application.
Maximum quantity (OPTIONAL): This is the maximum quantity that can be selected in the Table Ordering application.
Default quantity (OPTIONAL): This is the amount that is automatically selected in the Table Ordering application. If you have this option enabled for a product on the POS, it will make the the product variants free up to that quantity, then incur whatever price you have attached.
Printing
Print Name (OPTIONAL): This is the name that will appear on dockets and receipts. If you leave this empty, it will be the product name by default.
For example, you might be highlighting the product variant name, in which case you would have as the Print Name:
<invert-color> Your product variant name </invert-color>
Make sure that you always use the correct HTML tag and formatting, with the right closing tag, otherwise you may have printing issues.
Print Format: where the variant will print on the docket. By default, a new line will be added for the product variant, eg.
Cappuccino > Almond milk > Regular
When "append to left" is selected for a given value (eg. "Almond milk"), it will be forced to the left of the product name on the docket, eg.
Almond milk Cappuccino > Regular
When "append to right" is selected for a given value, it will be forced to the right of the product name on the docket, eg.
Cappuccino Almond milk> Regular
Appearance
Background (OPTIONAL): the background colour of the tile. Select a colour, click Apply.
Add image (OPTIONAL): to add an image to the product variant tile, you need to click the plus sign under "Add image", and then expand the extra menu underneath, before clicking on the upload button.
Add tag (OPTIONAL): With the extra menu expanded (shown above), you can add a tag, from the list of tags on the Product Variant Tags page (Products > Product Variant Tags)
8. Repeat for every product variant value.
9. Save
10. Under Products, enter the name of the product you want to apply the product variant to, then click Add Product.
11. It will appear in the table.
12. (OPTIONAL) You can exclude a product variant value from a product by entering it in the Excluding List. This means that it won't be shown as an option when that product is selected.
For example, you won't need milk to pop up as an option when someone is ordering an espresso, so enter "Almond milk" next to espresso.
13. Save.
14. Sync all products and extras on your POS.
Other ways to attach Product Variants to Products
In step 10 in the previous section, you are advised to add the product by searching it in the Product Variant page.
However, you can also add the product via the Products list. This also gives you different ways to copy product variants from different products and to auto-select values.
Simple method
Go to your Products page
2. Click the checkboxes next to the products that you want to attach the product variant to
3. Click Settings
4. In the Product Variant field, you can select what product variant group you want to add to your selected products.
5. Click Add. It will be added to all the selected products.
6. Sync all products and extras on your POS.
Advanced method
Go Products
Click the pencil button next to the product that you want to add product variants to.
Click the Product Variant tab
Under Add Variant Group, select a product variant group
Click Add.
6. Sync all products and extras on your POS.
Copy variants from a different product
If you already have a product with the relevant product variants, select it here and click Copy variants.
E.g. You have just introduced a mocha, but it will have the exact same variants as a cappuccino (size, milk type).
Auto Select Values
If you want particular product variant values to be automatically selected, type the variant value under Auto Select Values.
Rearranging Product Variants
In the main Product Variants page, drag and drop the product variant groups into the order that you want them to appear.
Expand a Product Variant Group to see its values, which you can also drag and drop to rearrange.
Step-by-step instructions
In the main Product Variants page, drag and drop your different product variant types into the order you want them to appear on the POS.
2. Click on a triangular arrow to expand a group.
3. Drag and drop the product variant values to rearrange them.
Set up default product variants
Let's say you have different sizes set up as product variant values, but you want "Regular" to always be selected when your customer makes an order.
There are two ways you can do this:
Set default for all products
Set default for specific products
Set default for all products
Go to the Product Variants page
Expand the group of product variant values
Click and drag your desired default value (eg. "Regular") to the top of the list
4. With your default value at the top of the list, click the pencil button
5. Tick Force Selection and Single Selection. The first value in the list (eg. "Regular") will always be selected.
6. Save
7. Sync all products and modifiers in the Abacus application
Set default for specific products
Let's say you only want cappuccinos to be regular by default.
Go to Products
Click the pencil button next to the specific product that you want. This will take you to the individual product's details.
3. Click the Product Variant tab.
4. Ensure that the Product Variant is already added to the table (eg. Size).
5. Under Auto Select Values, type the name of the value (eg. Regular). It will appear as a selection; click it.
6. Save
7. Repeat steps 2-6 for any other products.
8. Sync all products and modifiers in the Abacus application
Disable automatic access to product variants
By default, the Abacus POS will automatically access product variants when a product is added to an order. For some environments, this can speed up the order process.
However, if you wish to stop automatically accessing product variants every time you add a product to an order, you can disable this automated access. There are two disabling methods, depending on whether you wish to disable automatic variant access for all products, or whether you wish to disable automatic access to only particular products.
Disable automatic variant access to all products
Go to Settings
Enable A5. SELECT EXTRAS/VARIANTS UPON DOUBLE TAP
When this setting is enabled, it requires the user to tap a product twice in order to view its product variants.
3. Tap Save to Server so this setting is remembered
Disable automatic variant access to particular products
On the POS, tap the fork and spoon icon, and then the gear icon next to your menu. You must have an administrator system role to do this.
2. Tap the product tile to access the product's details.
3. Scroll down the product details and untick Auto Access Variants.
4. Press Update.
5. Repeat for any other products that you wish to disable automatic variant access for.
6. Press BACK TO MENU when you are satisfied with your changes.
Hide Product Variants
Hide entire product variant group
To hide a whole product variant group from your iPad menu:
Go to the Product Variant Group details page and tick the "Disabled" checkbox
Save
Sync All Products on your POS
Hide product variant options
To hide a value/option from the product variants list:
Go to the Product Variant list page
Click the arrow to expand the values of a group
Tick the Disabled column
Sync All Products on your POS
Delete product variants
To delete a whole product variant group:
Go into the Product Variant Group details page
2. Click Delete
To restore a deleted Product Variant Group:
In the Product Variant list, change Display to Deleted
Go to the Product Variant Group details (via the pencil button)
3. Click Recover (where the Delete button used to be)
Marking product variants as sold out on the POS
To mark a product variant as sold, you must ensure that the variant is linked to a product.
Note: product variants can only be marked as sold out on the POS.
Linking a variant to a product
To link a product variant to a product, follow these steps:
Go to Products > Product Variants.
Click the pencil icon on the variant you want to link.
Go to Variant Value. Under Product, enter the product you want to assign to the variant.
Mark a product as sold out on the POS
Once you have linked your variant to your product, mark the product that the variant is linked to as sold out on the POS.
There are two ways to do this:
Add portions to your products. Please visit Portions to learn how to do this.
Manually mark products as sold out.
To manually mark products as sold out on the POS, follow these steps:
Hold down on the product you would like to mark as sold out. The Product Details pop up window will appear.
Tap the SOLD OUT button.
3. The product will be greyed out.
4. When the product back in stock, go back to the product details window and tap RESET.
