Moving to the new Master Catalog

If your locations already share products through GoTab’s previous Master Catalog, GoTab can move your group to the new Master Catalog.

What changes for you: with the previous version, a change at your parent location had to be republished to each location, and products could drift out of sync over time. With the new version, once a product is linked, every change you make at the parent flows to your locations automatically. Locations can still keep their own value for a field (a local override) when they need to.

How the switch happens: GoTab turns on the new Master Catalog for your parent location and every child location at the same time, in one off-hours window. It doesn’t happen store by store, and it isn’t something you turn on yourself. Your part is getting your catalog ready beforehand and checking it afterward.

Timeline at a glance

When	Who	What
2 to 4 weeks before	You	Clean up option groups at the parent (Step 1). This is the biggest task.
1 to 2 weeks before	You and your account manager	Confirm which locations are included, list intentional differences, decide on Force Sync, and pick the window (Steps 2 to 5).
Go-live window	GoTab	Switch every location over and run the first publish. Nobody edits the catalog during the window.
Same night or next morning	You and GoTab	Check products at each location (Step 6).

Plan for extra time if you’re also launching a new menu. Doing the menu rollout and the Master Catalog switch together in one off-hours event is often less disruptive than doing them separately.

Steps for your team

Step 1: Finish building your parent catalog

This is the most important step, and it must be done before the switch.

Your locations may have option groups (sizes, add-ons, modifiers) attached to their copy of a product that aren’t on the matching product at the parent. When the new Master Catalog goes live, each linked product takes its option groups from the parent. Any option group that only exists at a location is removed from that product.

1. Ask your GoTab account manager for a list of affected products at each location. GoTab can pull this for you.
2. For each product on the list, add the missing option groups to the parent’s version of that product. Create the option group at the parent first if it doesn’t exist there yet.
3. Split the work by location so several people can work through it at once.

If any of your locations still use legacy modifiers instead of Option Groups, they need to move to Option Groups first. Your account manager can confirm.

Step 2: Confirm which locations are included

Review the list of locations linked to your parent with your account manager. Look for:

• Retired or duplicate locations (for example, an old copy of a store that was later rebuilt). Tell your account manager whether each one is still operating. Retired locations can be unlinked so they aren’t affected.
• Locations that should be added but aren’t currently connected to your parent.

Step 3: List your intentional differences

If a location intentionally has a different value on a product than the parent, write it down now: location, product, field, and the value it should have.

Pay special attention to name, price, and description. After the switch, those fields are controlled by the parent and locations can’t edit them. If a location needs to keep its own price, name, or description on a product, tell your account manager before the switch so you can plan for it together.

Differences in other fields, such as staff notes or POS color, become local overrides and keep working at that location. Having the list helps your team and GoTab tell a deliberate difference from a mistake. It’s also what you’ll use to re-enter local values if you choose to use Force Sync during the switch (see Step 4).

Step 4: Decide whether to use Force Sync on the first publish

During the switch, GoTab runs one publish from your parent location. You choose whether that publish uses Force Sync:

	Without Force Sync	With Force Sync
Your locations’ existing differences	Kept. Name, price, and description can only be changed at the parent from then on.	Reset to the parent’s values
Starting point	Your current menus, with differences tracked as local overrides	Every location exactly matches the parent
Best for	Groups with deliberate local differences	Groups whose differences are mostly accidental drift

Force Sync can’t be undone. If you use it, plan to re-enter the intentional differences from Step 3 afterward.

Step 5: Pick the go-live window with your account manager

Choose a time when all your locations are closed, such as a weeknight after close. Confirm:

• The date and start time.
• A contact on your team who’s reachable during the window.
• That nobody on your team edits the product catalog at any location during the window.

Step 6: Check your menus after go-live

Once GoTab confirms the switch and first publish are complete, check a sample of products at each location, focusing on the products from Step 1:

• Option groups appear on the product on your live ordering menu and POS, not just in the Manager Dashboard.
• Prices, names, and descriptions are what you expect, including the intentional differences from Step 3.
• Products with variants (such as sizes with their own stock) show the right stock levels and availability.

Report anything unexpected to your account manager.

From now on

• Make menu changes at the parent. They flow to your locations automatically. Publish only when you add new products or categories.
• Name, price, and description come from the parent. Locations can’t edit them.
• Other changes made at a location stay put. That field stops syncing for that product until it matches the parent again.
• Force Sync is your reset button. If a product looks wrong at a location, publish it from the parent with Force Sync on.

See Master Catalog: manage one menu across multiple locations for the full guide.