Yatoon Restaurant Menu & Online Ordering Pro with AI Assistant

Yatoon Restaurant Menu & Online Ordering Pro turns a WordPress restaurant website into a polished online ordering system without marketplace commissions. It includes every Free feature plus direct Square, Stripe cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Alipay, WeChat Pay, signed webhook recovery, and Twilio SMS verification/status updates. Restaurants can publish a photo menu, accept paid pickup or delivery orders, print kitchen tickets, send confirmations, and use loyalty, coupons, and follow-up tools to bring customers back. WooCommerce is not required. Yatoon Pro is designed for independent restaurants that want direct ordering, direct payments, and a simple dashboard their team can actually use during service. Premium capabilities are protected by Freemius licensing. Payment gateways, SMS, customer accounts, advanced fulfillment, reports, QR tables, CSV export, loyalty, follow-up campaigns, and cloud print features require an active Pro license. Try the live ordering demo at https://yatoon.com/menuorderingdemo/. WordPress 7.0 AI-ready ordering Yatoon 3.0 works with the WordPress 7.0 AI Client when an AI provider is connected in WordPress Settings > Connectors. Customers can describe cravings, budget, group size, spice preference, or dietary notes, and AI suggests clickable dishes from the restaurant's real menu.

• AI Food Assistant - customers describe what they want and AI recommends matching dishes
• Clickable recommendations - suggested dishes open the normal item modal so modifiers, quantity, stock, and checkout rules stay intact
• No plugin-owned AI billing - AI provider/API keys are managed by WordPress Connectors; usage costs depend on the site owner's chosen AI provider
• Provider fallback - Yatoon prefers OpenAI/GPT first, then Google/Gemini, then Anthropic/Claude
• Compatibility-first - WordPress 6.9 and older keep the regular ordering flow; AI generation requires WordPress 7.0 AI Client support

Highlights

• Setup Wizard with launch checklist and automatic page creation
• Responsive menu with photos, categories, featured items, and search
• Modifiers, cooking preferences, and special instructions
• Pickup, delivery, and dine-in / QR ordering
• Delivery zones with minimum order, zone fees, and ETA labels
• Closed dates / holiday controls for blocking orders on special days
• Coupons, tips, tax, service fee, scheduled orders, and slot capacity
• Kitchen Display shortcode and customer Order Status shortcode
• QR table tools, 30-day sales reports, CSV exports, and printable kitchen tickets
• Table reservations with time slots, party size, location, and admin confirmation
• Reservation capacity controls and customizable reservation emails
• Multi-location menu visibility and front-end location switching
• Browser-based auto-print helper for kitchen tickets
• Optional cloud print webhook for thermal print bridges
• Customer accounts with order history, favorites, profile, and address book
• Email notifications, Twilio SMS, and browser sound alerts for new orders
• Direct Square and Stripe cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay, WeChat Pay, and PayPal - no WooCommerce required
• Signed Square, Stripe, and PayPal webhook recovery for safer paid orders
• Restaurant Manager, Counter Staff, and Kitchen Staff roles with least-privilege access
• Loyalty points, birthday coupon planning, follow-up emails, and Google Business profile prompts

Shortcodes

• [yatoon_menu] - full menu with cart and checkout
• [yatoon_kitchen] - kitchen display
• [yatoon_order_status] - customer order tracking

3.3.0

• Redesigned: New brand-aware customer ordering interface with stronger restaurant identity, richer featured dishes, clearer service information, more readable menu cards, and polished mobile sheets.
• Improved: Adding an item no longer interrupts guests with an optional sign-in prompt; account discovery remains available without blocking menu browsing.
• Improved: Checkout validation now highlights and scrolls to the exact field that needs attention, with a visible error message.
• Improved: Category headings remain visible on mobile and category panels expose their expanded state to assistive technology.
• Improved: Added merchant-colour contrast protection, keyboard focus states, reduced-motion support, larger touch targets, image dimensions, and priority loading for the first featured image.
• Fixed: Featured Items now uses a reliable fallback title when a saved label is blank.
• Fixed: Cart drawer and category panel now keep aria-hidden and aria-expanded states synchronized.
• Fixed: Public menu inputs now opt out of browser/password-manager autofill and clear accidental admin sentinel values.

3.2.0

• Added: Direct Square Web Payments SDK and Payments API checkout with card and Apple Pay support; WooCommerce is not required.
• Security: Added server-side cart recalculation, captured-amount verification, payment idempotency, buyer verification, and signed Square webhook validation.
• Added: Restaurant Manager, Counter Staff, and Kitchen Staff roles so employees no longer need administrator access.
• Improved: Added ISO currency code configuration and removed Stripe's hard-coded USD currency.
• Fixed: Normalized the front-end CSS and JavaScript files to valid UTF-8.
• Fixed: "Track order" no longer opens a blank page showing "0" (was building the link with get_permalink() inside an AJAX request, which has no post context); tracking links now go through one shared, gateway-agnostic helper.
• Fixed: Checkout Service/Details/Pay progress pills had off-center text and are now marked non-interactive, since they're a status indicator rather than a button.
• Fixed: Page-scroll locking for the drawer/checkout/item-modal/account panel now uses a stack instead of a single flag, so an inner panel closing can no longer leave scrolling permanently stuck.
• Improved: Login/create-account and checkout fields scroll into view once the mobile keyboard opens instead of staying hidden behind it.

3.1.3

• Security: Fixed a CSV/formula-injection issue in the Orders CSV export so crafted customer input can no longer execute a formula when opened in Excel, Numbers, or Sheets.
• Security: The PayPal webhook now verifies PayPal's transmission signature (via a Webhook ID set in Settings) before acting on it, instead of trusting any request sent to the public webhook URL.
• Fixed: Added the missing Stripe (live/test keys, webhook secret), PayPal (live/sandbox client ID+secret, webhook ID), and Twilio SMS (SID, token, from-number) fields to Settings, which previously had no way to be entered.
• Fixed: Resolved all WordPress Plugin Check findings (BOM in main file, unescaped wp_die() text, missing translators comment, readme tag count, and a few reviewer false-positives that are now documented inline).

3.1.2

• Improved: Added local cart recovery so customers can refresh or return without losing an in-progress order.
• Improved: Streamlined checkout with optional coupons, tips, and notes tucked behind a clean expandable control.
• Improved: Added app-style toast feedback, stronger modal focus handling, ESC closing, and safer layer scroll locking.
• Improved: Mobile cart bar now sits flush against the bottom edge instead of floating above the menu.
• Improved: Mobile cart, item, and checkout sheets can be dismissed with a downward swipe.
• Improved: Polished the customer-facing ordering UI with cleaner menu cards, sticky search/category controls, tighter bottom cart actions, and more native-feeling item and checkout sheets.
• Improved: Polished the WordPress admin into a cleaner card-style operations workspace.
• Improved: Redesigned the Kitchen Display as an app-style live order board with metrics, lanes, larger tickets, and clearer action buttons.
• Improved: Added configurable currency symbol, position, and decimals.
• Fixed: Coupon entry no longer triggers front-end JavaScript errors when a code is edited or rejected.

3.1.0

• Improved: Category navigation now keeps active labels readable while honoring the saved theme color.
• Improved: Category menu opens as a lightweight in-page popover on desktop instead of a blurred full-screen overlay.
• Improved: Template colors now apply only when saved from settings, preventing stale industry template colors from overriding manual theme choices.
• Improved: Cleaned settings copy and menu layout controls for a tidier admin experience.

3.0.9

• Improved: Polished the customer-facing menu UI with softer search, cleaner AI assistant styling, pill-style category navigation, and more refined item cards.
• Improved: Adjusted desktop and mobile spacing, image sizing, category active states, and add-button contrast for a more app-like ordering flow.

3.0.8

• Improved: Refined the mobile app-style ordering interface and Freemius deployment package format.
• Fixed: Standardized the premium ZIP folder name and ZIP path separators for deployment uploads.

3.0.7

• Improved: Refined the mobile ordering interface with app-style sticky header, search, category pills, item cards, and bottom cart bar.
• Improved: Reworked item, cart, checkout, payment, and category panels into native-feeling bottom sheets with safe-area spacing.
• Fixed: Cleaned front-end placeholder text and category panel markup for a more standard plugin package.

3.0.6

• New: AI provider order and model choices can be configured for Google Gemini, OpenAI GPT, and Anthropic Claude.
• New: The AI privacy note under the customer input can be edited from the AI Assistant settings page.
• Improved: Gemini Flash is the default first AI choice, with OpenAI and Claude available as preferred providers or fallbacks.

3.0.2

• Improved: AI Food Assistant collapsed button keeps the merchant's custom title, size, color, and background controls.
• Improved: Admin list tables keep long values on one line with ellipsis instead of vertical wrapping.
• New: Desktop admin list tables support drag-to-resize columns with saved widths per table.

3.0.0

• New: AI-ready restaurant ordering experience for WordPress 7.0 AI Client.
• New: AI Food Assistant suggests clickable dishes from the restaurant's real menu.
• New: Dedicated AI Assistant admin page with switch, connector guidance, and provider priority.
• Improved: WordPress 6.9 and older remain compatible; ordering works normally without AI generation.

2.4.9

• Added Stripe Express Checkout support so Apple Pay and Google Pay can appear above the card form when eligible.
• Added clearer wallet checkout layout with an express checkout divider.

2.4.8

• Replaced browser clear-cart and PayPal error dialogs with app-style in-page feedback.
• Improved cart cleanup behavior so totals, coupon state, and payment elements refresh immediately after clearing.

2.4.7

• Added clearer checkout and payment error recovery with a visible alert above order details.
• Improved the order confirmation sheet with an order-number summary card.
• Added a test-order readiness step so merchants know to place one order before launch.

2.4.6

• Added smart prep-time estimates based on cart quantity and different dishes.
• Scheduled-order minimum time now uses the same smart prep estimate.
• Added admin controls for base prep time, different-item increments, and same-item increments.

2.4.5

• Improved the order success screen with pickup, total, and order tracking details.
• Added Stripe and PayPal tracking links to successful paid orders when an order status page is configured.
• Fixed the Stripe webhook URL shown in admin/setup guidance.
• Shortened the admin launch guidance and added a real-payment test checklist.
• Enabled online tip options for Stripe card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay checkout.

2.4.4

• Added front-end Stripe Payment Element checkout for card payments.
• Added customer-facing Card / Apple Pay / Google Pay payment selection when Stripe is configured.
• Completed paid-order confirmation from Stripe PaymentIntent to Yatoon order records.
• Added clearer wallet messaging for Apple Pay and Google Pay availability.

2.4.3

• Added mobile app-style polish for product sheets, checkout sheets, bottom cart bar, category pills, and menu item cards.
• Improved mobile touch density, safe-area spacing, and scroll behavior for iPhone-style browsers.
• Tightened mobile modifier typography again so special-request choices feel lighter and more native.

2.4.2

• Removed the desktop cart count badge from the template so no black corner dot can appear.
• Further reduced special-request option label and choice typography for a cleaner compact modal.
• Clarified coupon fallback messaging when customers type a coupon that is not applied or invalid.
• Bumped front-end asset versions so stores receive the cart and modifier refinements immediately.

2.4.1

• Hid the app-style bottom cart bar on desktop for a cleaner restaurant page.
• Kept the bottom cart bar mobile-only and visible only after customers add items.
• Added a compact desktop cart pill with item count and total after customers add food.
• Polished the cart drawer empty state and hid checkout controls when the order is empty.
• Clarified industry template setup in admin and made template selection update visually before saving.
• Removed the duplicate desktop cart badge that could appear as a black corner mark.
• Tightened special-request option typography and spacing for a cleaner modal.
• Added checkout AJAX recovery so coupon and order buttons always show feedback and reset after request failures.
• Made coupon handling non-blocking so invalid or un-applied coupon text cannot prevent a valid order from being placed.
• Bumped front-end asset versions so the cart bar visibility fix is not blocked by cached 2.4.0 CSS or JavaScript.

2.4.0

• Added Freemius-backed entitlement checks for Pro-only capabilities.
• Locked payment gateways, SMS, customer accounts, loyalty, follow-up campaigns, delivery/dine-in, reports, QR tables, CSV export, and cloud print behind active Pro licensing.
• Added request rate limiting for ordering, cart previews, reservations, OTP, account auth, and payment endpoints.
• Hardened free/pro downgrade behavior so stored premium credentials and settings cannot activate in the wrong edition.
• Fixed checkout UX issues: add-to-cart no longer triggers customer-name alerts, SMS phone verification only appears when SMS is enabled, email is required, and mobile sticky navigation avoids overlap.
• Kept phone number collection for restaurant follow-up while hiding SMS verification unless enabled; online tips now use percentage presets and custom tips only for online payment.
• Improved checkout clarity by hiding single-option pickup/payment rows, adding an Edit Cart action in checkout, making readiness todos clickable, and switching option choices to radio-dot styling.
• Added the live ordering demo link to the plugin metadata and readme.
• Added industry storefront templates for Apple Minimal, Sushi Bar, Chinese Takeout, and Cafe & Bakery menu experiences.

2.3.8

• Fixed QR table orders so scanned table labels are saved, treated as dine-in orders, and shown clearly in Orders and printed tickets.
• Preserved QR table metadata for PayPal-paid orders.

2.3.7

• Refined favorite heart styling to remove the circular background and use a lighter icon-only treatment.

2.3.6

• Fixed favorite heart visibility so CSS cannot expose the button before a customer is signed in.

2.3.5

• Hid favorite hearts for signed-out visitors and WordPress administrators; favorites now appear only for customer accounts.

2.3.4

• Added a productized admin launch dashboard with readiness progress, clear setup actions, and stronger restaurant-focused positioning.
• Added subtle front-end trust badges for direct restaurant ordering, secure payments, and customer order updates.

2.3.3

• Prevented browser username autofill from appearing in the menu search box.

2.3.2

• Changed favorites so heart buttons are hidden for signed-out visitors and shown only after sign-in.
• Fixed favorite click handling so saved items update reliably after login.

2.3.1

• Polished front-end icons, checkout copy, pickup notice styling, cart drawer height, and order confirmation details.
• Improved admin menu item and order screens with cleaner cards, table spacing, image styling, and action layout.

2.3.0

• Added Apple-inspired front-end polish with cleaner menu cards, softer shadows, rounded controls, and mobile cart improvements.
• Added an operations dashboard with order, sales, payment, delivery, print, and Google Business health cards.
• Added loyalty points, birthday coupon planning, follow-up email campaigns, abandoned-cart campaign settings, and Google Business profile prompts.
• Fixed paid-order slot capacity cache handling for Stripe and PayPal order finalization.
• Updated documentation to list PayPal as a Pro payment method.

2.1.0

• Added visual row editors for locations, delivery zones, closed dates, reservation slots, and QR tables.
• Added reservation capacity per time slot and location.
• Added reservation request, confirmation, and cancellation email templates.
• Added optional cloud print webhook for thermal/cloud print bridge integrations.
• Updated the front-end menu into a card block layout and added WordPress.org screenshot assets.

2.0.0

• Added table reservation form shortcode, reservation database table, and admin confirmation workflow.
• Added multi-location setup, front-end location switcher, and menu item visibility by location.
• Upgraded reports with date filters, daily sales chart, top item revenue, and range-based CSV export.
• Added browser auto-print helper for new kitchen tickets.
• Refined front-end and admin UI for cleaner restaurant operations.

1.9.5

• Added closed dates / holiday controls with custom customer-facing closure messages.
• Added CSV export for all orders and last-30-day reports.
• Added printable kitchen/order tickets from the Orders screen.

1.9.0

• Added delivery zones with address matching, zone fees, minimum order checks, and ETA labels.
• Added QR Tables admin page with printable table cards and dine-in prefill links.
• Added Reports dashboard for 30-day sales, order counts, fulfillment mix, statuses, and top items.
• Added table and delivery zone context to kitchen display cards.

1.8.0

• Added Setup Wizard with launch checklist and automatic page creation.
• Added full Pro payment setup UI for Stripe test/live keys, webhook signing secret, Alipay, and WeChat Pay.
• Added Twilio SMS setup inside the wizard and Settings.
• Removed Free-only upgrade messaging from the Pro package.
• Fixed Plugin Check database query findings for custom plugin tables.

1.7.0

• Improved mobile app-style ordering UI.
• Added safer order tracking with secure tracking keys and contact verification fallback.
• Added SMS OTP verification, scheduled-order validation, pause ordering controls, and time-slot capacity checks.

1.6.2

• Added item tag badges, hero promotional banner, visual coupon manager, and Twilio settings.
• Fixed cart quantity buttons for items with modifiers.

1.5.0

• Initial Pro release with Stripe and Twilio support.