With Packaging Preferences, customers can tell you which packaging items they need, such as utensils, napkins, bags, straws and condiments, when they place a Pickup, Takeout or Delivery order on your online ordering website or Branded App. You decide which items to offer and which are included by default, and each customer's choices appear on the POS order details, the kitchen ticket and the receipt.
In this article, you will learn how to set up Packaging Preferences in the Store Portal and where your staff will see each customer's choices.
📖 Tutorial
Open Packaging Setting
In the Store Portal, go to Settings > Packaging Setting. The page loads your store's saved settings and has four parts:
The Packaging Preferences toggle
Guest Message
Your list of packaging items
Display guest packaging selections on Peblla devices, with Show and Hide
[Preview] and [Save] stay fixed at the bottom of the page.
The page also shows this reminder: "Packaging requirements vary by location and business type. Peblla does not determine whether your configuration complies with local requirements. You are responsible for reviewing and following the rules that apply to your business."
Step 1: Turn on Packaging Preferences and add a Guest Message
Turn on Packaging Preferences. Customers see packaging options only when the toggle is on, at least one packaging item has been added, and you have clicked [Save]. New stores start with an empty item list, so turning on the toggle alone shows nothing to customers.
Guest Message (optional, up to 120 characters): a short note shown at the top of the packaging section at checkout, for example "Help us reduce plastic waste".
Step 2: Add packaging items
Each packaging item is one option customers can choose at checkout.
Click [Add item].
Fill in the fields below and submit. The new item is added to the end of the list.
Click [Save] at the bottom of the page. New items only go live for customers after you save.
Included by default? (required): whether the item is already selected (Yes) or not selected (No) when the customer reaches checkout. If you turn it off, customers still see the item and can choose it.
Category (required): choose one or more of Utensils, Napkins, Bags, Straws and Condiments. Each category can belong to only one item, so categories already used by another item can't be selected.
Guest-facing name (required, up to 50 characters): the name customers see on your online ordering website, Branded App and receipt.
Additional description for guests (optional, up to 50 characters): extra details shown under the name, at checkout only.
Custom name on POS devices (optional, up to 50 characters): the name your staff see on the POS order details and kitchen ticket. If you leave it empty, the linked category is shown instead.
Fields with a character limit show a counter. If a required field is empty or too long, the item can't be submitted. What you typed is kept, so you can fix it and submit again.
Once all five categories are in use, [Add item] becomes unavailable. Delete an item to free up its categories.
Edit or delete an item
Edit: click [Edit] on the item, make your changes and submit. The item keeps its place in the list.
Delete: open the item's edit dialog and click [Delete]. Its categories become available to other items.
Edits and deletions take effect only after you click [Save]. Items always appear to customers and staff in the same order as your list.
Step 3: Choose what staff see on Peblla devices
Display guest packaging selections on Peblla devices controls how packaging shows on the POS order details and kitchen ticket:
Show (default): every item is listed with the customer's final choice. Items the customer doesn't want show as NO {item name}.
Hide: items that are not included by default and that the customer didn't choose are hidden. Items included by default that the customer turned down still show as NO {item name}.
This setting doesn't change the receipt or the customer's own order details. Those always list every item.
Step 4: Preview and save
Click [Preview] to see how your current settings, including unsaved changes, will look in the Online Ordering, Receipt, POS Order Details and Kitchen Print views. Preview shows the default selections only. You can't try out a customer's choices in it.
Close Preview and click [Save]. [Save] becomes available only after you change something, and it saves the whole page.
After you save, customers who reach checkout from then on see your new settings. Orders that were already placed don't change. If saving fails, your changes stay on the page, so you can try again.
Note: If a coworker saved Packaging Setting from another window or device while you were editing, and their items already use a category you selected, your changes won't be saved and you'll see Category needs to be updated. Click [OK], change the category on that item, then click [Save] again.
What customers see at checkout
On Pickup, Takeout and Delivery orders from your online ordering website and Branded App, a Packaging Preferences section shows your Guest Message at the top, followed by each item's Guest-facing name and description. Each item starts as selected or not selected based on your default.
Customers choose yes or no for each item. There are no quantities. Packaging is free and doesn't change the order total.
If a customer leaves checkout and comes back, their choices are kept, unless you saved changes to Packaging Setting in the meantime. In that case, the defaults are shown again.
Where your staff see the choices
POS order details: a Packaging section below Order Notes, using the name for POS devices and following your Show / Hide setting.
Kitchen ticket: printed after the order note and before the items, under the heading Packaging, following your Show / Hide setting. If your kitchen tickets print in English and Chinese, the heading and category names print in both languages. Custom names print exactly as you typed them.
Receipt: printed before the item list, using Guest-facing names. Every item is listed, and items the customer doesn't want show as NO {Guest-facing name}.
Customer's order details on your online ordering website and Branded App: the same as the receipt.
Each order keeps the choices saved when it was placed. Reprinting a ticket doesn't change them.
When packaging doesn't show
Packaging Preferences only applies to Pickup, Takeout and Delivery orders from your online ordering website and Branded App. These orders have no packaging section:
Dine-in orders
Kiosk orders
Orders entered by staff on the POS
Third-party orders, such as DoorDash and Uber Eats
Orders placed before Packaging Preferences was turned on
On these orders, a missing packaging section means no packaging choices were collected. It doesn't mean the customer wants no packaging.
Also, with Hide selected, if every item is not included by default and the customer didn't choose any of them, no packaging section appears on the POS or kitchen ticket.
A customer says they didn't see packaging options
Check that it's a Pickup, Takeout or Delivery order from your online ordering website or Branded App.
Check that the Packaging Preferences toggle is on and that you clicked [Save].
Check that your list has at least one packaging item.
Ask the customer to update the app. Older app versions don't show packaging options.