Item recommendations show you products from your distributor's catalog that you don't buy yet but similar customers do. Use them to find a better fit for something on your menu, catch an item you forgot to reorder elsewhere, or see what's popular with operations like yours before you place your next order.
Availability
Pepper turns on item recommendations, for all of a distributor's customers or for specific accounts.
Once they're on, recommendations appear after you've built up some order history with your distributor. If you're new, or you don't see a Based on your order history row in your Catalog, keep ordering and check back in a few days. If you still don't see them, ask your sales rep.
Where recommendations appear
Catalog. A Based on your order history row near the top of your Catalog shows up to 20 recommended items. Select See all to open the full list.
Cart. A You might also like row appears in your cart before you select Place order, so you can add something at the last minute.
Add an item straight from either row with the quantity controls, or select it to see its details first. Recommendations don't appear while you're offline.
How recommendations are chosen
They come from what similar customers buy. Pepper groups you with customers of your distributor who order similar products, then recommends items that are popular in that group.
They only show items you haven't ordered recently. Anything you've ordered in the last 60 days is left out, so recommendations stay focused on products that are new to you.
Popular items only. An item needs to be ordered by at least 10 of your distributor's customers before it can be recommended.
They refresh twice a week. Recommendations update every Tuesday and Thursday, so a new order won't change them right away.
Your distributor doesn't pick them. Recommendations are generated automatically from ordering patterns, not from item names or categories.
Item recommendations vs Item Connections
Two features show suggested products, and both can use the label You might also like.
| Item recommendations | Item Connections |
Who picks the items | Generated automatically | Your distributor, by hand |
Based on | What similar customers order | Which products go together |
Same for every customer? | No, each account gets its own | Yes, set per product |
Where it appears | Catalog (Based on your order history) and Cart (You might also like) | An item's detail page (You might also like and Similar items) |
If a suggestion appears on an item's detail page, it comes from Item Connections. See Item Connections.
Things to know
New accounts start without recommendations. You need a minimum number of different items ordered first. Your distributor's setting decides how many.
Recommendations can't be edited or pinned. To feature a specific product, distributors use Item Connections, Promotions, or Landing Pages.
Results can change slightly between refreshes, even when your ordering hasn't changed.
Frequently asked questions
I don't see any recommendations. Either they aren't turned on for your account, or you don't have enough order history yet. Keep ordering and check back after the next Tuesday or Thursday refresh. If they still don't appear, ask your sales rep.
I just ordered something and it's still recommended. Recommendations refresh on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The item drops off after the next refresh.
Why am I seeing an item I'd never buy? Recommendations are based on what similar customers order, so an occasional item won't fit your menu. Skip it and it won't affect your order.
Can I turn recommendations off? [VERIFY with PM: can an operator hide recommendations, or only Pepper at the account level?]
My recommendations disappeared. They're hidden while you're offline. Check your connection.
For distributors
Contact your Pepper account team to turn on item recommendations for all of your customers or for specific accounts. There's no setting in PMC.
To see which customers are receiving recommendations, run the Item Recommendation Status by Customer report in ReportHub.
Recommendations come from your customers' ordering patterns and can't be curated by hand. To steer customers toward specific products, use Item Connections or Promotions.