Question

I would like to know what is the easiest way to create a restaurant menu with Drupal 7.

It would only be the plates name and their prices, all divided in sections on the same page as appetizers, main courses and desserts.

I would like it to be very user friendly for the restaurant owner to update the plates weekly.

Answer 1

Use Module CCK & views module. If you haven’t heard of these modules, then you should go to a site like http://drupalmodules.com (way better than searching drupal!!) – and research modules.

Once you have these modules installed, create a content type called “Menu Item”. Give the content type the following fields:

1. Item Name
2. Item Description
3. Price
4. Menu Category (Appetizer, Entree, etc..)
5. Picture (Optional)

Then, use views to render the items how you want. Probably use a table, or grid layout. You should probably make a view for each category ( One for Appetizers, One for Entrees, etc..).

For each category’s view:

• Make sure to add a “Block” display.
• Make sure you select to filter by “Published”, that’s how your Restaurant manager will decide whats on the menu and what isn’t. For instance, they may have 50-60 items in the system, but only 15 published to the menu at any one time..

Then, create a regular “Page” content item. Call it something like, “yourdomain.com/menu”. This is where all the menu blocks will go.

Finally, go to the blocks section, and you should see a block for each menu category – all you have to do is order them how you want them to appear. Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to edit each block, and using the filter at the bottom, tell it to only display on page “menu”, or else your menu items will show on every page.

You can give the manager access to edit & add Menu Items, where he/she can publish and unpublish them. And also, be able to add new menu items. As they do this, it will automatically update the views on the menu page.

Viola!