Menu Hours

Overview

Menu hours are added to your menu(s) in the Otter Dashboard to ensure your menu is available only during your restaurant’s correct hours of operation wherever your menu is published— including delivery partners.

Publishing Menu Hours

A menu cannot be published in the Otter Dashboard without menu hours set for that menu. If menu hours are not set for a menu, you will receive an error message while attempting to publish.

Setting Menu Hours

The hours set for a menu will reflect when that menu is available for eaters to order from. You can set different hours for each menu you have available.

Step	Process	Image
1	From the Otter Dashboard, select Apps > Menus.
2	Select the menu you’d like to edit. Go to the Hours tab.
3	Click [Edit] under the location you’d like to edit hours for.
4	Select hours of operation for each day of the week— click on hours to select time from the drop down box or typing time.
5	Optional If your business has a break in the day, you can add more hours to a day. Click the 3 dots next to the day, then click +Add hours. Example: On Tuesdays— Your restaurant is open 10am- 2pm for brunch. Then your business closes from 2pm- 5pm, but opens back up at 5pm- 10pm for dinner.
6	Check the Closed box for days your business is not open for operation.
7	Click [Publish] to confirm menu hours set.

Copying Menu Hours

If your business operates the same hours every day of the week, you can quickly set the time for each day at once.

Step	Process	Image
1	Set the hours for a single day by selecting time from the drop down box or typing time
2	Click the 3 dots next to the day, then select Copy to all days.
3	Copied hours will be set for every day listed. Click [Publish] to confirm menu hours set.

Note Copying Hours for Certain Days

The action to copy hours is only available to copy to all days. Currently, there isn’t a feature to select specific days to copy hours to.

Special Menu Hours

If your business is going to have hours or closures different from your regular set menu hours— due to holiday or temporary closures— you can schedule special menu hours to accommodate those needs.

Step	Process	Image
1	From the Otter Dashboard, select Apps > Menus.
2	Select the menu you’d like to edit. Go to the Hours tab.
3	Click [Edit] under the location you’d like to edit hours for.
4	Select the Special Hours tab.
5	Click +Add day to set special hours.
6	Select date for special hours to apply to.
7	Check the Closed box for all day closure or select Opens at and Closes at hours for special hours
8	Click +Add day to add more days to apply special hours, if needed. Click [Publish] to confirm special menu hours set.

Viewing Special Hours

You can view any scheduled Special Hours set for a menu from a selected menu from the Hours tab. Under the menus Regular Hours listed, you’ll see Special Hours listed.

View Special Hours

Bulk Editing Menu Hours

From the Hours tab for a menu, you’ll be able to bulk edit:

Regular menu hours for multiple locations
Special hours for multiple locations

Check out more information about each bulk action below.

Step	Process	Image
1	From the Otter Dashboard, select Apps > Menus.
2	Select the menu you’d like to edit. Go to the Hours tab.
3	Click [Bulk edit hours].
4	Select to edit regular hours.
5	Set regular menu hours. Select locations to publish menu hours for. Note: Hours set for bulk hours edit will override existing hours for selected locations.
6	Click [Publish hours] to confirm menu hours set for bulk update.

Step	Process	Image
1	From the Otter Dashboard, select Apps > Menus.
2	Select the menu you’d like to edit. Go to the Hours tab.
3	Click [Bulk edit hours].
4	Select to edit Special hours.
5	Click +Add day. Select date for special hours to apply. Check the Closed box for all day closure or select Opens at and Closes at hours for special hours. Click +Add day to add more days to apply special hours, if needed.
6	Select locations to apply bulk special hours to. Note: Special hours set for bulk hours apply for all selected locations.
7	Click [Publish hours] to confirm menu hours set for bulk update.

Troubleshooting

If your menu hours are displaying incorrectly, first double-check that your device is set to the correct timezone. If the device is in the correct timezone, then review your menu hours set in the Otter Dashboard for that menu & location to ensure they are correct.

If both timezone on your device and menu hours set in the Otter dashboard are correct, and your hours are still displaying incorrectly— reach out to the Otter team for help.
If menu hours are not set prior to attempting to publish a menu to a delivery platform, the publishing event will fail.

To resolve this issue, just click [Edit] and set the menu hours. Then try republishing the menu.

FAQs

No— Currently, there is not a feature to set menu hours per ordering platform or for specific items. However, if you’d like to have different menu hours for a specific platform or items— you can create a separate menu and set the offering hours you’d like to publish to that specific platform/location.

Yes— When you import a menu from a delivery platform, the menu hours will also be imported. After importing that menu, double-check that the hours shown in the Otter Dashboard are the correct hours you want to set for that menu before publishing.

Still need help? Reach out to our team: