What is an order guide?
An order guide is an automatically generated or customized list of frequently ordered items. Pepper uses recent purchase history to build a default guide for each customer (often based on the last 90 days of orders). When a user opens their order guide, they see familiar items just like how they would in a catalog, with pack quantities, descriptions and current pricing. Clicking a product displays more details, such as specifications and nutritional information.
Order guides exist to speed up routine ordering. Instead of searching the catalog each time, operators scroll through a list of core products and adjust quantities.
Shelf‑to‑sheet view: Matching the physical shelf
Pepper offers multiple sorting options, alphabetical, item code or most recently ordered, but shelf‑to‑sheet is particularly useful when speed matters. In shelf‑to‑sheet view, items appear in the order they’re stored in the operation’s kitchen: grouped by storage area (dry goods, freezer, produce) and displayed left‑to‑right, top‑to‑bottom. This layout mirrors the physical shelf, making it easy for staff to scan their storage area and update quantities without missing items. To enable shelf‑to‑sheet, open Display Options and select Shelf‑to‑Sheet.
Example layouts
Literal shelf‑to‑sheet: A cafe divides its storage into dry goods, chilled and frozen. In shelf‑to‑sheet view, the guide lists dry goods (flour, sugar, beans) first, followed by chilled items (milk, cheese) and frozen items (fish, ice cream), just as they appear on the shelves.
Workflow‑based groupings: Instead of storage areas, a restaurant could group items by roles: back of house (proteins, spices, cleaning supplies) and front of house (beverages, napkins, condiments). By grouping items this way, servers can quickly check the front of house section while cooks focus on back‑of‑house items. Shelf‑to‑sheet ordering combined with custom sub‑groups (see below) allows this flexibility.
Setting PAR levels and printing PAR sheets
PAR (Periodic Automatic Replenishment) values define the ideal quantity of each item to keep on hand. Setting par values helps operators order the right amount, reducing overstock, shortages and last‑minute recovery requests.
Heres how to edit PAR Values:
From the Edit Order Guide screen, tap into the PAR Value field next to an item and enter the desired quantity (e.g., 6 for whole chickens).
Tap Done to save. The par value will appear above the green Add button in your order guide.
To remove a par value, return to Edit Order Guide, delete the number and tap Done. The indicator will disappear.
Pepper also provides a Print PAR Sheet option from the order‑guide editing tools. This generates a printable checklist showing each item and its par level, enabling staff to walk the stockroom and record remaining quantities. The printed sheet acts as a physical “count sheet,” which can then be used to adjust quantities in the digital guide.
Example: Using par levels
Suppose a bakery wants to maintain a par level of 10 bags of flour and 20 dozen eggs. After entering these numbers, the staff can compare current stock against the par sheet; if there are only 6 bags of flour, they know to order 4 more. Printing the par sheet lets them record counts while offline and later update the digital guide.
Creating sub‑groups
Sub‑groups allow operators to organize items within an order guide by category or workflow. To create sub‑groups, open the Edit Order Guide tool, tap the pencil icon, enter a group name (e.g., “Produce” or “Frozen Items”) and save. The new group appears beneath the main categories in the guide. To assign an item to a subgroup, select it and choose the desired group. You can edit or delete sub‑groups at any time.
Example sub‑groups
Category based: A diner creates sub‑groups for Produce, Frozen, Dry Goods and Cleaning Supplies. When the buyer checks the produce group, they see all fruits and vegetables together, speeding up ordering.
Role based: A coffee shop divides its guide into Barista Station (espresso, milk, syrups), Kitchen (bagels, cream cheese) and Cleaning. Each employee can navigate to the section relevant to their role.
Marking items as essential
In busy kitchens, forgetting even one key item can disrupt service. Pepper’s Essential Items feature lets operators flag high‑priority items so the app reminds them before checkout. Only items already in an order guide can be labelled as essential. Marking an item as essential helps users:
Avoid costly mistakes: they are shown essential items during order placement.
Keep operations flowing: They review essential items before checkout.
To mark an item as essential, swipe left on it in the order guide and tap the yellow exclamation icon labelled “Mark as essential.” Essential items display an exclamation mark on the plus (+) icon.
Locked order guides
Some order guides are locked, meaning that their contents and order cannot be changed by end users. Locked guides are typically created by distributors or administrators to maintain pricing integrity and align with contracts or ERP integrations. When a guide is synced from an ERP system, Pepper treats it as the source of truth.