Troubleshoot item issues with Square for Franchises
If items or modifiers from your central menu aren't syncing to franchise locations, or if items are missing from your online ordering menu, it can disrupt business operations and impact customer experiences.
This article provides troubleshooting steps for Merchant Super Admins and Store Operations roles to quickly resolve these common item-related issues, reducing downtime and ensuring smooth operations.
Before you begin
Troubleshooting during non-peak hours is recommended to minimise disruptions.
Changes made while troubleshooting (like disabling custom menus) may overwrite existing settings. Always back up customised data before proceeding.
Step 1: Check menu management settings
Sync issues often occur when franchisees have taken local control of specific menu fields. When a field – like an item’s name, price, SKU, or image – is edited by a franchisee, it no longer receives updates from the central menu.
To check which menu settings your franchisees are allowed to modify.
Sign in to your Square for Franchise dashboard and go to FranchisesManagement > Settings.
Review the enabled permissions under Menu Management.
If permissions like Modify item names and descriptions, Modify item prices, or Update SKU are turned on, franchisees may have edited the item directly, stopping the sync for that field. These edits are permanent unless you manually restore your version from the Square for Franchises dashboard at the franchisee’s location.
If this step resolves your issue, you can stop troubleshooting. Otherwise, move on to Step 2.
Step 2: Verify item availability and orderable settings
If items are missing from your online menu:
Sign into your Square for Franchise dashboard and go to Operations > MenuManagement.
Select the Items tab.
Search for the missing item.
Ensure the Availability and Orderable toggles are enabled.
If this step resolves your issue, troubleshooting is complete. If not, move on to Step 3.
Step 3: Check for archived items
Missing items might have been archived unintentionally:
On the Items tab, adjust the filter from Active to Archived.
Locate the archived item and select the three-dot menu (...), then click Edit.
Select Restore.
If your item reappears after restoring, the issue is resolved.