At a multi-vendor venue, Child venue tuning lets you decide which of your child venues' (vendors’) drinks get pushed forward in your guests' recommendations. It's the same More, Less and Don't show controls used in Recommendations tuning, applied to a whole venue at once rather than to individual drinks.
This article covers how the parent-level and vendor-level controls work together, how to set your levels, and how to get good results without thinning out what your guests see. It's for parent operators at multi-vendor sites. Individual venues tune their own drinks through Recommendations tuning instead.
💡 Tip, in this document the terms “child venue”, “vendor”, and “individual venues” are used interchangeably.
Before you start
- Child venue tuning is a parent-level control. Only the parent operator has it, individual venues don't see it
- It uses the same four levels as Recommendations tuning, applied to a whole child venue
- It works alongside each child venue's own item tuning. The two combine, neither overrides the other
- It shapes your drinks recommendations, across the shared carousel and cart cross-sells at the parent
- You'll find it in the Manage platform on your parent venue, under Personalisation > Child venue tuning. If you can't see it, get in touch with your me&u contact
Topics
- The four levels
- How to set your levels
- How this fits with Recommendations tuning
- How the two controls combine
- Getting the best results
- Reporting
- Troubleshooting
- FAQ
The four levels
Applied to a whole child venue:
- More: that venue's drinks are recommended more often
- Default: no change
- Less: that venue's drinks are recommended less often
- Don't show: that venue's drinks are blocked from recommendations. Guests can still order from that venue's menu as normal, and can still reorder their own past favourites, its drinks just won't be suggested
How to set your levels
- In the Manage platform, go to Personalisation > Child venue tuning on your parent venue
- Find the venue you want, using Search venues if you have a long list
- Drag that venue's slider to More, Default, Less, or Don't show
- Repeat for each venue you want to change
Changes take effect within a few minutes.
How this fits with Recommendations tuning
At a multi-vendor site (like a food hall), guests see one shared set of personalised recommendations, drawn from across the child venues. There are two levels of control, and they work together:
- Each child venue tunes its own items, exactly like a standalone venue does. See the Recommendations tuning help article for how item tuning works.
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You, as the parent operator, tune whole child venues up or down with Child venue tuning
- For each child venue you have access to, Tune menu items will show on that venue’s row and takes you straight to its item tuning
me&u combines the two to influence what each guest sees in the drinks carousel and cart cross-sell drinks. So a vendor's own item tuning and your venue-level steer both count, neither one overrides the other (except in the case of Don’t show).
How the two controls combine
A worked example. Say:
- Your coffee vendor tunes their Mont Blanc coffee to More (their own item tuning)
- Your bar tunes its wine-of-the-month rosé to More (their own item tuning)
- You, as the parent operator, set the bar to More and the coffee venue to Less (Child venue tuning)
me&u blends both layers to work out the final recommendations. The vendors' item-level pushes and your venue-level steer both count, so in this example the bar venue's rosé is being boosted by both tunings, while the coffee vendor’s items are all suppressed by your venue-level Less, including the Mont Blanc item, although it would stay boosted when compared to other items from the same vendor.
As always, recommendations stay personalised to each guest. Both layers shift the odds, neither one forces or pins a specific item.
Getting the best results
- Be selective with what you boost. The greater the proportion of venues tuned to More the less impact the boost has on each venue. If all venues are tuned to More it means effectively no venues are tuned to More!
- Prefer Less to Don't show. Less gives you the same commercial steer without emptying out your recommendations, potentially harming guest experience and sales.
- Talk to your vendors. They're tuning their own items in parallel, so coordination helps, and especially so if they’re running promotions, specials, or other features/activations.
⚠️ Warning, Don't show at the Child venue tuning level pulls a venue's entire drinks range out of the pool every guest recommendation draws from (landing page carousel and cart cross-sells). Degraded recommendations mean less guest engagement and less spend, treat it as a last resort.
Take a food hall where the main bar only opens in the afternoon. Set every other vendor to Don't show and guests get no drink recommendations at all until the bar opens. Even once it's open, you've lost the ability to recommend a coffee, juice, or smoothie to a guest who isn't after alcohol.
Reporting
At present there isn't a parent-level view of your child venue tuning. Recommendations reporting sits on each child venue, under Personalisation > Recommendations metrics, so you'll need to open a child venue to see how its drinks are performing.
Troubleshooting
A venue set to Don't show still has its drinks appearing in the carousel
- Cause: either the change hasn't taken effect yet, or the guest is seeing a Reorder suggestion, which reflects their own past orders and isn't affected by tuning
- Fix: allow a few minutes for the change to take effect. If the drink is tagged Reorder, that's expected behaviour
You can't see Child venue tuning in Manage
- Cause: it's a parent-level control, so it only appears on the parent venue of a multi-vendor site
- Fix: make sure you're on the parent venue. If you are and it still isn't there, get in touch with your me&u contact
FAQ
Who can use Child venue tuning?
Parent operators at multi-vendor venues. Individual child venues don't see this control, they tune their own items through Recommendations tuning instead.
Does this replace my vendors' own tuning?
No. Each child venue still tunes its own items, and your venue-level tuning combines with theirs to influence what guests see.
If I set a venue to "Don't show" in Child venue tuning, can guests still order from it?
Yes. Only recommendations are affected. That venue's full menu stays available to order as normal.
Can I tune specific items at a child venue from the parent?
Not from this screen, no. You tune whole venues here, and individual items are tuned on each child venue through Recommendations tuning. If you have access to a child venue, the Tune menu items button for that venue will take you straight to its item tuning.
Can I tune specific categories for a child venue?
No. Your venue-level tuning applies to that venue's whole drinks offering.
Does Child venue tuning apply to food?
No, tuning applies to drinks. Personalised recommendations are drinks-focused for now, and this will broaden as personalisation extends to more of the menu.
Worth knowing for cart cross-sells: your venue-level tuning doesn't change food recommendations, drink suggestions do follow your tuning.
Does it work across both the carousel and cart cross-sells?
Yes. It shapes the shared drink recommendations at the parent, in both the carousel and cart cross-sells.
Does Child venue tuning affect "Reorder" suggestions?
No. Reorder reflects a guest's own past orders, so it isn't affected by tuning at either level, Don't show included.
Related articles
Your guests keep getting a personalised experience, now weighted towards the venues and drinks that matter most to your business.
Any questions? Reach out to us via email at support@meandu.com