Generate a restaurant menu plugin
Restaurants need a menu page that is easy to update (because dishes and prices change weekly), readable on mobile, and printable on demand. Most generic page builders let you mock this up, but the editor experience for staff who are not designers is rough.
A purpose-built plugin gives restaurant staff a "Dishes" admin list where they add a dish with price and allergens, tag it by category, and see it live on the menu page.
Why generate it instead of installing an existing plugin?
Restaurant Menu by MotoPress and Five Star Restaurant Menu both work. They assume a specific layout and come with styling that may or may not match your brand theme.
A generated plugin registers a dish CPT with the exact fields you need: price in your currency format, allergen checkboxes using FDA/EU symbols, seasonal start/end dates (so dishes auto-hide off-season), and a tag for "chef's pick" markers.
The public menu page is a single shortcode rendering dishes grouped by category. There is a print stylesheet (triggered by the /menu?print=1 URL) that formats a clean A4 two-column printable version for staff to hand to customers.
Example prompt
This is the kind of description that generates this plugin. You can start from it and tweak whatever you need before hitting generate.
Plugin name: Acme Menu
Dish CPT acme_dish with fields:
- price (decimal, EUR), price_display (string for "12,50 €" formatting)
- description
- allergens (multi-check: gluten, lactose, eggs, nuts, peanuts, shellfish, fish, soy, celery, mustard, sesame, sulfites, lupin, molluscs)
- seasonal_start, seasonal_end (MM-DD, optional)
- is_chef_pick (bool)
- gallery (optional images)
Taxonomy: acme_dish_category (hierarchical: Starters > Cold/Warm, etc.).
Shortcode [acme_menu] renders dishes grouped by category, sorted by menu_order within category. Skips dishes outside seasonal window.
Allergen icons rendered next to each dish (SVG sprite, accessible labels).
Print view at /menu?print=1 uses a print stylesheet: A4, no images, compact, chef's pick marked with a bullet.
Admin: dish list with price/allergen columns, bulk category assignment.
Optional WPML/Polylang compatibility for bilingual menus.What the generated plugin typically includes
- Dish CPT with price, allergens, seasonal window
- Hierarchical category taxonomy
- Single shortcode [acme_menu] rendering grouped menu
- SVG allergen icons with a11y labels
- Print stylesheet for on-demand paper menus
- Multilingual compatibility if WPML/Polylang present
Allergen list, categories, currency format and print layout are prompt-defined. For wine lists or tasting menus, a dedicated CPT variant lives alongside dishes.
Frequently asked questions
Can staff update dishes without designer help?
Yes. The admin is a normal post list — title, price, category, allergens. Zero design knowledge needed.
Does the print view include photos?
By default no (saves ink). You can enable photos per category from a settings toggle.