> Portal Navigation:
> 
> - Append `.md` to any URL under `https://dev.wix.com/docs/` to get its markdown version.
> - Pages are either content pages (article or reference text) or menu pages (a list of links to child pages).
> - To get a menu page, truncate any URL to a parent path and append `.md` (e.g. `https://dev.wix.com/docs/sdk.md`, `https://dev.wix.com/docs/sdk/core-modules.md`).
> - Top-level index of all portals: https://dev.wix.com/docs/llms.txt
> - Full concatenated docs: https://dev.wix.com/docs/llms-full.txt

## Resource: Introduction

## Article: Menus Introduction

## Article Link: https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/introduction.md

## Article Content:

# About the Menus API

The Menus API provides all the functionality required to create and manage the menus of any food related business, such as restaurants, food trucks, meal prep, and catering. It includes dedicated support for food catalog management, such as labels, modifiers, price variants, and more.

The Menus API contains the following APIs:

- [Menus](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/menus/introduction.md): This API allows you to create and manage restaurant menus. Menus don't contain menu items directly. Rather, they're divided into sections.
- [Sections](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/sections/introduction.md): This API allows you to create and manage menu sections. Sections represent parts of a menu such as "Appetizers", "Mains", or "Desserts". Each section contains a list of corresponding menu items.
- [Items](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/items/items/introduction.md): This API allows you to create and manage individual menu items. Items can be labeled and customized with item variants and item modifier groups.
- [Item Variants](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/items/item-variants/introduction.md): This API allows you to create and manage item variants.
- [Item Modifier Groups](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/items/item-modifier-groups/introduction.md): This API allows you to create and manage item modifier groups.
- [Item Modifiers](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/items/item-modifiers/introduction.md): This API allows you to create and manage menu item modifiers.
- [Item Labels](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/items/item-labels/introduction.md): This API allows you to create and manage labels with icons for important item properties or ingredients like "Spicy," "Vegan," or "Gluten-Free."

## Before you begin

It's important to note the following point before starting to code:

- The Wix user must install the Wix Restaurants Menus app.

## Use cases

- [Build a complete menu](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/build-a-complete-menu.md)
- [Retrieve a complete menu structure](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/retrieve-a-complete-menu-structure.md)
- [Export a complete menu structure to an external POS system](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/sample-flows.md#export-a-complete-menu-structure-to-an-external-pos-system)
- [Export a complete menu structure to a CSV](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/sample-flows.md#export-a-complete-menu-structure-to-a-csv)
- [Import a menu from a POS system to Wix Restaurants](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/sample-flows.md#import-a-menu-from-a-pos-system-to-wix-restaurants)
- [Update Wix Restaurants menus according to changes in an external POS system](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/menus/sample-flows.md#update-wix-restaurants-menus-according-to-changes-in-an-external-pos-system)

## Business locations

Entities in this API can be linked to one or, in certain cases, multiple restaurant locations. To learn how this information is managed, see [About Business Locations](https://dev.wix.com/docs/api-reference/business-solutions/restaurants/about-business-locations.md).

You can create menus without location information and ordering functionality just to showcase restaurant offerings.

## Sharing item entities

Each item, item modifier, item variant, item modifier group, and item label can be shared between different instances of its parent entity. For example, an item can be used in multiple sections, and an item modifier can be used in multiple item modifier groups.

If a restaurant has multiple locations all serving the same exact items, they can simplify item management by using the same items and their sub-entities across each related menu section. Then, when an item is changed, that change is reflected across every menu at every location.

## Availability

The Menus API supports multiple layers of availability control to give you flexibility in managing when menu items are available for ordering. Availability can be configured for entire menus, entire sections, and individual items.

For an item to be available for ordering, it must be available at all levels. That means the menu and section containing the item must be available, as well as the item itself. A lower level availability setting doesn't override higher level restrictions. For example, if a menu is unavailable, items within that menu won't be available regardless of their individual availability settings.

You don't need to use all availability levels. For example, you could choose to configure availability only at the menu and item level, skipping section-level availability.

Be careful when configuring availability settings across multiple levels, as misconfiguration can prevent items from being available when you expect them to be. Always verify that your availability settings work together as intended.

## Terminology

- **Item**: A menu item served at a restaurant.
- **Item modifier**: An additional option that customers can select for an item, such as "Almond Milk" or "Soy Milk" for coffee.
- **Item modifier group**: A group of related item modifiers that can be applied to an item.
- **Item variant**: An alternate version of a menu item with different properties, such as size, base ingredients, or quantity (such as 200 grams or 500 grams). Item variants can have a different price from the base item item. For example, for a salad with a price of $10, you could have the following variants:
    - Small - $8
    - Large - $12
    - With chicken - $15
- **Section**: A distinct part of a menu that categorizes and groups related items, such as "Appetizers", "Mains", or "Desserts".