Create and share HQ stock products

HQ stock products save you time and reduce mistakes. Create and update stock products once at HQ and share them with one, many or all venues — no duplication required. 

This guide explains how HQ stock products work, how to create them and how to share them with managed venues.

Why use HQ stock products

HQ stock products make it easier to manage food & beverage and retail items across multiple venues. They:

1. Eliminate duplication by creating products once at HQ
2. Ensure consistency across venues and checkouts
3. Bulk edit products from HQ and publish updates everywhere
4. Use venue permissions for HQ control over which venues can edit specific properties

Who does what

Create an HQ stock product

Creating an HQ stock product is similar to creating one for individual venues, but with additional HQ options.

1. From your HQ Venue Manager, go to Products > Stock > Create stock.
2. Enter the HQ product name (eg Soft drinks). This product name is not visible to your managed venues.
3. Add a Product code (unique identifier for reporting and grouping). This can be the same as the HQ product name.
4. Select venue tags to define which venues can access this stock product. To create a new venue tag (venue group), see the guide Create and manage venue groups in HQ

Add content

In the Content section, add the details that venues and guests will see:

1. Name (eg Soft drinks, Latte, Pepperoni pizza). 
   Enter the name of the stock product (eg Pepperoni pizza or Cappuccino).
   
   Use the name for the main item guests will recognize and add variations for sizes or small differences (eg Pepperoni pizza > Small, Medium, Large). This keeps checkout lists short and easy to scan, while still giving you detailed reporting on variations.
    
2. Description
   This will display when a guest selects the product in the online checkout or mobile food & beverage checkout. Keep it concise so guests know at a glance what they’re ordering.
    
3. Image 
   Upload a product image (JPG or PNG, up to 1 MB, best size: 640 × 390 px). Drag the crop marks to frame your image — anything with a dark overlay will be cropped out.
   
   Choose bright, high-quality images that make the product instantly recognizable.
    
4. Tags
   Apply tags to group and organize your stock products. When you add or remove a tag from a stock product, the change automatically flows to any POS template or checkout using that tag — no manual updates needed.
   
   Use simple, consistent tags (eg pizza, drinks). 
   
   Note: Product tags are different from venue tags. Venue tags decide which venues can access a stock product. Product tags group products (eg “pizza,” “drinks”) to organize them in POS templates and checkouts.

Add your stock details

Once you’ve added the basic content, you can set up variations and key details for your stock product.

1. From the Stock details section, select Create variation.
2. Enter a Name (eg Small, Medium, Large — or Cappuccino, Latte).
3. Set the Price.
4. Choose Unlimited quantity if you don’t track stock levels. Otherwise, enter the Qty and PAR Qty (the minimum inventory level to keep on hand).
5. (Optional) Open Advanced options to add a variation image, barcode ID, user-defined cost, hide from online sales or set cost of goods.
6. Repeat for every variation you want to add.
7. (Optional) Tick the box to assign a Reporting category.
8. Don’t forget to Save.

Repeat the steps above for every stock variation you want to add.

Finally, you can include a Reporting category by ticking the box. And, don’t forget to Save!

Add HQ stock products to managed venues

Once you’ve created your HQ stock products, you can share them with managed venues. Venues then add the products to their own stock catalog (stock list in Venue Manager) before selling them online or at POS.

What's next?

Once you’ve created your HQ stock products and added them to your managed venues, you’re ready to add the products to HQ POS template menus and HQ checkout sections. Read the guides below to get started!

1. Manage HQ POS templates
2. Create and manage HQ checkouts