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Getting Started with Minimart

Some tips and tricks to help you get started and grow your business. Click any link in the table of contents to go to that section.

Table of Contents

1. How It Works

  • Pricing

    Every new Minimart shop is offered a free trial for 30 days or until the first $1,000 is sold. After that, the pricing is just $7/mo plus 1% of revenue from the previous month. There is no credit card or payment information necessary to get started so you won't be billed automatically or anything sneaky like that. Check out the pricing page for more details.

  • Accepting Payment

    Payment is handled by a third party service such as Venmo, Paypal, or even cash. Once an order is placed, the guest will be notified of the preferred payment methods and payment can be reconciled outside of Minimart.

  • Automatic Guest Notifications

    Once an order has been placed, an email invoice will be sent to the guest, including a link to view their invoice in their Minimart account. A new order alert email will also be sent to the shop email address. Shop owners can also choose to send guests notifications of order payment and order completion.

2. Getting Started

  • Customizing Your Shop Details

    📓 Note : For security you can only be logged in for 20 minutes at a time. Please save your work regularly.

    Your Shop Details are managed by using the Owner Settings page. To get there, visit your Minimart shop and click the "≡" navigation menu icon on the top right of the site and clicking "Owner Login". When you first start selling on Minimart, there are some things you'll need to do to start taking orders:
    1. Update your Shop Name, Home Page, Help Page, About Page & Email Address
    2. Enter instructions for Pickup, Delivery & Payment Info customers will see when placing orders
    3. Toggle features on/off including: New Order Alert emails, Email Customer Invoices, Require Email, Capture Payment Info & Send Welcome Email to new Customers

  • Setting Your Availability

    Watch Video
    Head to the Availability tab (formerly "Weeks") on your Airtable to setup your availability. You can add as many as you'd like, as far into the future as you'd like.
    1. Enter the name of the time you are available, example, “December 1st”.
    2. Select the Start Date – the first day orders can be placed for the new week or day.
    3. Select the Cutoff Date – after that date & time, orders can no longer be placed for that week.
    4. Add Fulfillment Options (Pickup and/or Delivery) – Each week, new fulfillment "slots" can be added and used to inform guests how and where they can receive your products. For example, you can specify "Uptown" delivery on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, "Downtown" Delivery on Thursday and Friday, and Pickup Saturday and Sunday only.

  • Creating a Menu - Part 1 : Sections

    Watch Video
    1. Select the "Sections" tab
    2. Name your first category, for example “Breads”
    3. Add a number in the "Order" column to update the order of the Sections on your menu
    4. Enter an optional description for your section

  • Creating a Menu - Part 2 : Items & Inventory

    Watch Video
    1. Select the “Items” tab
    2. Enter your first item name & details (units, price, optional description)
    3. Enter the stock number (total quantity of inventory available) or select "unlimited" (customers can order an unlimited quantity of this item)
    4. Assign your item to one of your newly created categories

  • Fulfillment - Part 1: Receiving & Viewing Orders

    Orders can be reviewed for fulfillment in the "Orders" & "Order Items" tabs within your Airtable base. The Order Items tab provides an itemized list of each Order Ticket including Taxes and Fees. Helpful views: The "Tickets" view in the "Orders Items" tab shows the items that are assigned to each order, and is a helpful tool when filling orders. The “Week, Day & Items” view is a great overview of the total items ordered for a specific day.

  • Fulfillment - Part 2: Recording Payment

    Watch Video
    Once a customer has sent payment via one of your preferred payment methods (Venmo, PayPal, Zelle, etc.), head to the "Orders" tab on your Airtable to complete the following steps:
    1. Check the box indicating the Order has been "Paid," and the Guest's invoice is updated immediately.
    2. An optional automatic "Payment Received" confirmation can be sent via email by using the "Automations" feature.

  • Fulfillment - Part 3: Completing Orders

    To complete orders, head to the “Orders” tab in your Airtable. There are some helpful tools here to assist you in fulfilling your orders:
    1. Select the "Apps" feature in your Airtable. Here you have the option to print tickets for each order, along with a map view of your orders for delivery assistance. Watch the video here for more instructions.
    2. Once an order has been fulfilled, check the box indicating the Order has been "Completed" and the Guest's invoice is updated immediately within their account.
    3. An optional automated "Order Completed" confirmation can be sent via email using the "Automations" feature.
    Customers can view their invoice status at any time by logging into their account and selecting “My Account”.

  • Photos

    You can add photos in two places: your home banner and your menu. Photos give your Minimart a personal touch and allow you to showcase your items to new and returning customers. Remember to click the orange "Publish Changes" button to save your work.

  • Photos: Upload from Instagram

    Select photos you’ve already posted on Instagram to save time from scrolling endlessly through your devices. You can upload Instagram photos to the Home Banner or Menu Gallery.
    1. Click the blue "Add Photos" button. 
    2. Click the Instagram icon at the top right of the uploader. 
    3. Click the “Connect to Instagram” button. 
    4. Click the “Allow” button. 
    5. Select a photo from your feed. Click the “Upload” button. 
    6. Click the orange "Publish Changes" button to save your work.

  • Photos: Home Banner

    Upload a photo to appear on the landing page of your Minimart.
    1. Under the "Home Banner" section, click the blue "Add a Photo" button.
    2. Use the uploader to select an image. Click "Done" if it doesn't close automatically.
    3. Click the orange "Publish Changes" button to save your work.
    4. Delete the photo by clicking the red trash can icon.

  • Photo Gallery: Menu Page

    Under the "Menu Page Gallery" section, you can add up to four photos to feature at the top of your menu page:
    1. Click the blue "Add Photos" button .
    2. Use the uploader to select up to four images. Click "Done" if it doesn't close.
    3. Optional: Add a description, which guests can view by clicking the image.
    4. Click the orange "Publish Changes" button to save your work.

3. Digging Deeper

  • Inventory Basics

    Watch Video
    Watch the video to learn how to enable inventory tracking and what it looks like from the guest's perspective.

  • Square and Credit Card Payments

    Watch Video
    Setting up Minimart to accept credit card payments through Square can be done in a few simple steps. You'll need send us a few bits of information that can be obtained through your Square Developer Dashboard: the Application ID, Access Token, and Location ID. This will require an active Square account, so if you haven't set yours up yet, please do so before following the instructions below. Create a new "app" called Minimart on your Square Developer Account
    1. Go to https://developer.squareup.com
    2. Sign In and head to your Developer Dashboard at https://developer.squareup.com/apps
    3. Click Developer Dashboard. Click on the big "+" to create a new application
    4. Name the application "Minimart" and click Save
    Obtain the Location ID The Location ID(s) for your Square account can be found in the Locations tab of your Developer Dashboard on the left hand side.
    1. If you're not already there, go to https://developer.squareup.com/apps
    2. Click the blue app card titled "Minimart" that was created in the previous section
    3. Navigate to the "Locations" tab on the left hand sidebar on a laptop, or using the navigation menu on mobile
    4. Before copying the Location ID, check that on the top of the page "Production" is selected. If it says "Sandbox," click "Production". Production credentials are needed for live sales
    5. Copy the Location ID from the row displayed
    Obtain the Application ID and Access Token
    1. If you're not already there, go to https://developer.squareup.com/apps
    2. Click the blue app card titled "Minimart" that was created in the first section
    3. If it's not already selected, navigate to the "Credentials" tab on the left hand sidebar on a laptop, or using the navigation menu on mobile
    4. Before copying the Application ID and Access Token, and Location ID, check that on the top of the page "Production" is selected. If it says "Sandbox," click "Production". Production credentials are needed for live sales
    5. Copy the Production Application ID
    6. Under Production Access Token, click "show"
    7. Copy the Access Token value once it has been revealed
    Add that stuff to your Shop Settings! Log into your Owner Dashboard and in the Shop Settings page find the Square fields under the "Payment" Section. Add your info, check the box that says "Enable Square Payment" and click the orange Publish button to save your work.

  • Oversold Items

    Overselling only really happens if your store sells out very quickly or operates with "flash sales." It occurs when you've actually sold out of a certain item, but a guest had landed on the menu page right before the last item sold out. To them, it still looks like there's inventory remaining. When the "Place Order" button is clicked, Minimart will check and update the available totals on their page and "reject" the order if there isn't enough inventory to cover it. This will allow a guest to adjust their order and try to place it again within the available inventory.

  • Reorder Sections and Items

    Watch Video
    This video covers how to update the order of the Categories/Sections on your menu, as well as the order of the items within those Categories/Sections.

  • Deleting Orders

    Sometimes you may need to delete an order that was placed by accident or that was canceled. Navigate to your the Orders tab in your Airtable and find the row you'd like to delete. Right click on any cell in that row and select "Delete Record". And you're done! If you're having trouble right-clicking, you can click the blue arrow icon on the far left of the row that appears when you move your mouse over the row. This will bring up an editing window just for this order. Click the large Order number at the top of this window and select "Delete Record" from the dropdown menu that appears.

  • Add an Item to an Existing Order

    To add items to existing orders, navigate to the "Ticket" view in your Order Items tab. Follow the video above to see the full process.

4. Troubleshooting

  • I can't edit the info on the "My Shop" tab in Airtable

    In January 2021, Minimart launched an easy-to-use Owner Settings panel that can be accessed by clicking on the Owner Login button on your Minimart navigation menu or going directly to "YOUR_URL_HERE.minimartapp.com/settings". Please see the "Customizing Your Shop Details" section in Getting Started above.

  • Orders can't be placed and the cart page says "Please email us with any questions."

    This message shows up when there are no "upcoming" times in the "Availability" or "Weeks" tab of your Minimart Airtable. Add some days or weeks to the Weeks tab that have both a Cutoff Time in the future and a Start Date of today or earlier. The text that shows up here can also be customized on your My Shop tab under "Not Taking Orders".

  • My Email Automations are failing or won't send. Why?

    This issue is most often due to a problem with the email settings on the Automation. You must select a Gmail Account to send the email with, and if there isn't one selected, the Automation can't run:
    1. Open the Automations panel in your Airtable
    2. Click on an Automation to configure it
    3. Expand the "Gmail : Send Email" action by clicking on it
    4. Connect your Gmail account or select an existing Gmail account from the list
    5. Click update

  • I've added items to my menu but they're not showing up

    Have you checked the following?
    • Is each item is assigned to a Section?
    • Are the items are not marked as "Hidden"?
    • Is your shop set on "Maintenance Mode"?

  • The videos tell me to go to the "Categories" tab but I don't see it on my Airtable

    Minimart is the process of changing the names of some things in Airtable. We haven't completed this transition for all the users yet so some of your shops will have a Categories tab, while others will see a "Sections" tab. Also, in your Items tab, the column "Category" will be called "Section". These two words mean the same thing so look for Section if you can't find Category.
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Still Stumped?

Send an email to hi@getminimart.com and we'll do our best to answer your questions quickly. Or if you'd rather join our office hours on Monday and Thursday, find a time on our calendar here.