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Rails Visibility

Olo Menu Management lets you control which ordering channels see which categories and items. When you build categories or items specifically for ezCater, you need to restrict their visibility so they don’t appear on your other ordering channels

When to set visibility

You need to set Rails visibility in two situations:

  1. You’ve created an ezCater-specific category. Categories you build for ezCater (catering packages, boxed lunches, trays sold at catering portion sizes) usually shouldn’t appear on your on-premise or single-serve channels.

  2. You’ve created an ezCater-specific item inside a shared category. Sometimes one or two items in an otherwise shared category are catering-only — set visibility on the item itself rather than the whole category.

If a category or item is meant to appear on every channel, no visibility configuration is needed; Olo’s default is to show on all channels.

Category-level visibility

Apply category-level visibility when the entire category is ezCater-only.

To restrict a category to ezCater:

  1. In Olo Menu Management, open the category and click Edit Category.

  2. Scroll to the Category Visibility section.

  3. Deselect every ordering channel except ezCater.

  4. Save.

The category and all its items will now appear only on ezCater menus.

Item-level visibility

Apply item-level visibility when only specific items in a category should be ezCater-only — the rest of the category is shared across channels.

To restrict an item to ezCater

  1. In Olo Menu Management, open the item by clicking its name.

  2. Scroll to the Menu Product Visibility section (typically below the basic product fields).

  3. Set visibility to ezCater only.

  4. Save.

The item will now appear only on ezCater menus, even if its parent category is visible on other channels.

Note: Placeholder — insert a screenshot of the Menu Product Visibility panel in Olo Menu Management, then delete this note.

How visibility interacts with RelishChannel and MarketplaceChannel

Rails Visibility and the channel tags (RelishChannel, MarketplaceChannel) control different things:

  • Rails Visibility is an Olo-side setting that controls which Olo channels see the category or item. It applies to the ezCater channel as a whole.

  • RelishChannel and MarketplaceChannel are ezCater-side tags that control which ezCater products (Marketplace vs. Meal Program) see the item.

For an item to appear on Marketplace, both must be in place: ezCater must be enabled in Rails Visibility, and MarketplaceChannel = T must be set on the item. The same pattern applies to Meal Program with RelishChannel = T. See Tag Reference for the channel tag details and Meal Program Menu Set Up for the channel combinations.

Common mistakes

  • Forgetting to restrict a catering-only category. The category appears on all your channels, customers see items they can’t actually order, and the menu looks confusing.

  • Setting visibility at the category level when only some items are ezCater-only. Use item-level visibility for selective control.

  • Confusing Rails Visibility with the channel tags. Visibility is Olo-side and gates which Olo channels see the menu. The channel tags are ezCater-side and gate which ezCater products see the item. Both need to be set correctly.

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