Subtotal Discounts vs. Item Discounts

Background

To provide for all guest-interaction scenarios, Focus has two types of Discounts

• Subtotal Discounts
  • A subtotal discount is a Discount that is applied at the "check level" and does not directly impact the menu items on the check.
  • You can have up to 20 Subtotal Discounts on a check (See Using Apply to Subtotal Discounts) and these discounts can be either based on a percentage (See Subtotal % Discounts) or a simple dollar amount.
  • Unlike Item Discounts, Subtotal Discounts can't be appliable to certain items only, since the discount does not "apply" to menu items.
  • When dealing with Subtotal Discounts, it's important to remember that the value of the items remains intact and the value/price of the individual menu item is not modified. Therefore report group totals are not modified via the discount. Instead, a negative value is assessed to the total of the check, and the total of the check is calculated with this negative value factored in.
  • Restaurants will commonly use this discount when they want to take a set dollar amount off the check.
    • For example: $5 off your entire bill
  • Note - it has become common practice to not use Subtotal Discounts when an Item Discount can be used. Focus has a Discount feature called Item Dollar Allocate, which replaces nearly all circumstances where a Subtotal Discount would be used. However, there are edge cases where a restaurant would have no choice but to use a Subtotal Discount (i.e. needing to apply multiple discounts to a check or items).
• Item Discounts
  • Whereas Subtotal Discounts apply at a "check level", Item Discounts apply at an "item level". 
  • Item Discounts will directly impact the price/value of a menu item and will therefore directly impact report group (sales category) totals.
  • You can only have a single Item Discount per item.
  • Item Discounts can apply to only certain Menu Items on a check (See Using Item Discounts with Application Items).
  • You can have Item Discounts be a percentage off an item, or a specific dollar amount off the item.
    • You can also set dollar amount ceilings. For example: 50% off a Medium Pizza up to $5.00. (see Item Discount: Percentage with Max Amount