Note: The order guide is the most fundamental aspect of the storefront experience. While this article covers advanced aspects of using and customizing order guides, you can find more foundational information in our getting started article on order guides as well as our deep dive on the options users have when customizing order guides.
Order Guide Basics
Order guides significantly reduce the time it takes for Pepper users to build an order by bringing the most relevant products into a single focused view. Instead of searching the full catalog, customers start from a curated list of items they already buy regularly. By using default and custom guides, creating guides for different workflows and locations, and setting par levels for each site, users can streamline ordering and ensure the right products are ordered every time.
Multiple Order Guides
Pepper lets distributors create multiple order guides per customer and tailor them to various workflows. This flexibility supports different industries:
Restaurants: Weekend guides can include additional perishable items to handle higher diner traffic, while weekday guides focus on staples. A bakery might maintain separate guides for breakfast versus lunch prep.
Schools: Schools may need different products during the school year versus the summer, where a summer program guide might have smaller amount of items
JanSan: Operators might want to create distinct guides for cleaning supplies versus paper products. High‑traffic locations (stadiums) could have a high‑volume guide, while office clients have a smaller list.
Par levels per location
To avoid overstocking or running out, Pepper allows par levels to be set per item, and these par values can differ across groups or guides. By creating separate guides for each location and assigning different par values, distributors ensure each site orders the right amount:
Restaurant chain: A downtown location with heavy lunch traffic might set a par of 20 cases of chicken breasts, while a suburban location only needs 10. Both locations can share the same item list but have different par levels to suit their volume.
Schools: High schools that serve breakfast and lunch will set higher par levels for milk and produce compared with elementary schools that only serve lunch.
Healthcare facilities: A large hospital might maintain high par levels for sanitation wipes and gloves, whereas a small clinic keeps lower par levels but orders more frequently.
Because par values appear alongside each item in the guide, staff can quickly see how much they should have on hand and adjust quantities accordingly. If par sheets are enabled, they can print a list of items and par levels to take through the stockroom.
Using Order Guides as a Selling Tool
Updating Item Groupings to Drive Discovery
Item groupings within order guides make it easier for buyers to browse, but are a fast way of presenting information to buyers in their workflow
Instead of presenting a long, flat list of products, group items in ways that guide attention and spark curiosity. Common high-performing groupings include:
“New & Trending”
“Seasonal Favorites”
“Back-of-House Essentials”
“Discovered for You”
Note: This strategy is also what powers the “Discovered items” in Pepper’s Sales Hub Applying this same concept inside order guides helps surface items buyers may not actively search for—but are likely to add once they see them.
Creating item groupings of promotional items gets eyes on the right SKUs
Use Essential Items to Guarantee Visibility
Essential items are one of the simplest and most reliable selling levers in Pepper.
Before checkout, buyers are required to review their essential items. While these are usually everyday staples, this step also creates a built-in promotional opportunity.
You can mark items as essential that:
You have a strong price on
The customer has shown interest in
The customer may be purchasing from a competitor
By marking an item as essential, you guarantee it gets visibility before the order is placed without interrupting the buyer’s workflow.
Shelf-to-Sheet Setup as a Selling Opportunity
Every customer starts with an order guide built from their last ~90 days of purchases. That initial setup (or any Shelf-to-Sheet review) is a powerful moment to uncover selling opportunities.
When onboarding or revisiting a customer’s setup, reps can offer to walk through the customer’s store to customize the app and make ordering easier.
During this walkthrough, reps can:
Improve the ordering experience by organizing items the customer already buys
Identify back-of-house items the customer uses but doesn’t currently buy from you
Those uncovered items become:
A natural upsell list
Candidates for promotions or trials
Items to feature at the top of order guides or mark as essential
This strategy also works proactively: Reps can identify customers without Shelf-to-Sheet set up and use the setup as a conversation starter to discover selling opportunities without a cold pitch.
Knowing your customers workflow creates a natural competitive edge
Creating Order Guides to Get Attention
Beyond persona-based or department-based order guides, it’s a best practice to create at least one guide dedicated entirely to discovery.
Including new items, promotional products, strategic SKUs, and even Items the customer may be buying elsewhere, buyers will naturally move back and forth between order guides while ordering. Having a dedicated “visibility” guide ensures these items get repeated exposure without relying on timing or conversation.
In Pepper, creating additional order guides is easy - there are two main workflows users can follow:
Sales Rep-Created Order Guides
Sales reps can create targeted guides. Examples include:
“Promotions”
“On Your Mind”
“Don’t Forget These”
Effective for reinforcing recent conversations and personalizing recommendations for a specific account, reps can create order guides in seconds and use them to sell better or bring up in a conversation.
Marketing-Created Order Guides (at Scale)
Marketing and mass marketing teams can use Pepper’s Order Guide Generator to:
Create seasonal or event-based guides (e.g., “Valentine’s Day Favorites”)
Highlight top-selling or trending items
Duplicate and deploy guides across many accounts at once
Check out the following video on how easy it is to create and duplicate order guides across the customer base: