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Item Translation

How Pepper displays your catalog in a user's preferred language

Written by Nick Ziech
Updated today

Pepper automatically translates your catalog and app experience based on each user's preferred browser or device language. When a user opens Pepper with their preferred language set to French, Spanish, or another supported language, they see item names, descriptions, categories, and app navigation in that language — no manual setup required on their end.

This is especially valuable for distributors serving operators with kitchen and front-of-house staff who prefer a language other than English.

How It Works

Pepper detects the preferred language set in the user's browser (on web) or device (on mobile) and displays the app in that language automatically — no configuration needed from the user.

If a translation isn't available for a specific field, the app falls back to English so the experience never breaks.

What Gets Translated

Translation coverage depends on whether an item is connected to SALT (Pepper's product content library). SALT-connected items have the richest translation coverage, but key fields are translated for non-SALT items as well.

SALT-connected items

Field

Translated?

Item name

Yes

Item description

Yes

Ingredients

Yes

Allergen and dietary tags (e.g., "Contains Milk, Eggs, Wheat")

Yes

Product specification labels (Brand, Manufacturer, Pack Description, Net Weight, Country of Origin, etc.)

Yes

Category and subcategory names

Yes

Item group names

Yes

Unit names (Case, Each, Carton, Box)

Yes

Non-SALT items

Field

Translated?

Item name (distributor-provided)

Yes

Item description

No

Ingredients

No

Category and subcategory names

Yes

Item group names

Yes

Unit names

Yes

Across the rest of the app

The following translate regardless of SALT coverage:

  • App interface: navigation, buttons, labels, order history, stock messages

  • Order confirmation emails and PDFs

  • Search results: users can search in their preferred language and find matching items

Supported Languages

Pepper supports over 70 languages for item translation, including:

  • French (Canada)

  • Spanish (US)

  • Chinese (Simplified)

  • Portuguese (Portugal)

  • Vietnamese

  • Italian, German, Dutch, Polish, Russian

  • Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi

  • Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Bengali, Tagalog

…and many more, with additional languages added over time. Contact your Pepper representative for the full list of supported locales.

Setting a Browser or Device Language

Translation is triggered by the user's browser or device language. To view Pepper in a different language, users should update this setting:

On web (Chrome)

  1. Open Chrome Settings

  2. Go to Languages

  3. Add the desired language and drag it to the top of the list

  4. Refresh Pepper

Important: The browser language setting in Chrome is separate from your Google account language. Changing your Google account language will not translate Pepper — the browser language setting is the one that controls this.

For other browsers (Safari, Firefox, Edge), update your browser's language settings. Pepper will reflect the change once the page is refreshed.

On mobile (iOS / Android)

Update the device language in your phone's system settings. Pepper will automatically reflect the change the next time the app is opened.

OR

What Doesn't Translate

A few things remain in the source language by design:

  • Brand names and proper nouns (e.g., "Tyson Red Label®," "Del Monte®")

  • Manufacturer names and other identifiers

  • Nutrition facts labels when they appear as images rather than text

  • Country names and other values that are standardized across languages

Enabling Additional Languages for Your Catalog

If your business serves operators who would benefit from a language that isn't currently enabled on your catalog, contact your Pepper representative or implementation team. They can enable additional languages for your account.

After a new language is enabled, translations may take a few hours to populate across your full catalog.

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