Categories and subcategories are how you organize your catalog. Categories set the structure of your menu and control how Meadow treats a product for compliance and taxes. Subcategories are the extra labels that help customers find what they want.
Quick overview
Categories are a fixed list you manage in Settings. Every product has one Primary Category
Subcategories are labels you add to individual products. A product can have as many as you need
Add, rename, delete, and reorder categories in Settings > Product Categories
Category settings also control whether cannabis content is measured in grams or milligrams, and whether a category counts as cannabis at all
Create a subcategory from any product page, or apply one to many products at once in Multi Edit Products
Subcategories show on your menu, and customers can filter by them
Categories vs. subcategories
These two get mixed up often, so here's the difference.
Category | Subcategory | |
What it is | The product's Primary Category. One per product | An extra label. A product can have several |
Where you manage it | Settings > Product Categories | The product page, or Multi Edit Products |
Examples | Flowers, Edibles, Concentrates | Sungrown, insomnia relief, live resin |
What it affects | Menu structure, inventory grouping, cannabis content units, tax rules, discount rules | Menu filters, discount rules |
Subcategories are shared across your whole catalog. Once you create one, it's available for any product, no matter which category that product is in.
Tip: Customers see subcategories on your menu and use them to filter, so name them the way a customer would search. "Sungrown" works. "SG-2024-batch" doesn't.
Default product categories
New Meadow accounts start with these categories:
Flowers
Concentrates
Edibles
Pre-Rolls
Topicals
Seeds
Accessories
Your list may look different if someone on your team has already customized it.
How to add, edit, or delete a category
Go to Settings > Product Categories. From there you can:
Add a new category
Edit an existing category's name and settings
Delete a category you no longer use
Reorder the list to change how categories appear
You can also get there while working on a product. Click the purple Edit button next to the Primary Category field and Meadow takes you straight to the settings page.
Tip: The order of this list sets the order categories appear on your menu and in your inventory. Put your best sellers near the top.
How category settings affect compliance and taxes
A category isn't just a menu label. Settings on the category itself change how Meadow handles every product inside it.
Concentrated or Non-Concentrated
This setting decides whether cannabis content is measured in grams or milligrams. Flower is non-concentrated and measured in grams. Concentrates and edibles are measured in milligrams. Getting this wrong throws off THC totals, and Meadow uses those totals to keep orders inside state purchase limits.
Cannabis Type
Set Cannabis Type to None for anything that isn't cannabis. Accessories, apparel, and merch all belong in a category with Cannabis Type set to None.
Weedmaps mapping
If you run the Weedmaps integration, this is also where you map each Meadow category to a Weedmaps category and subcategory. See Map Meadow product categories to Weedmaps categories.
Important: Taxes are configured by category. If your excise tax isn't set to exclude your accessory categories, you'll overcharge customers on non-cannabis items. Check your exemptions in Settings > Taxes.
How to add a subcategory to a product
You can label a product with a subcategory straight from the product page.
Go to Products and open the product you want to label
Find the Subcategories field
Start typing the subcategory name
If it already exists, select it from the list. If it's new, Meadow creates it and makes it available for your other products
Save the product
There's no limit on how many subcategories a single product can carry.
Adding or removing subcategories in bulk
Labeling products one at a time gets old fast. Multi Edit Products applies a subcategory to a whole batch at once.
Go to Products > Multi Edit Products
Filter or sort the table to find the products you want. You can filter by category, brand, status, and more
Check the box next to each product. Hold shift to select a range
Click Edit Products and choose the subcategory action
Confirm the change
Important: Multi Edit has no undo. Double-check your filters and your selection before you confirm, because fixing a bad bulk edit means going product by product.
Multi Edit is only available to admins with full permissions, or with the "Multi Edit Products" permission turned on. For the full walkthrough, see Multi Edit Products.
How to delete a subcategory
Subcategories don't have their own settings page, so there's no delete button. A subcategory exists as long as at least one product uses it. Remove it from every product and it's gone.
The fastest way to clear one out:
Go to Products > Multi Edit Products
Filter by the subcategory you want to remove
Select every product in the filtered list
Click Edit Products and choose Remove subcategory
Once no products carry that subcategory, it disappears from your catalog and your menu filters.
Important: This also means you can delete a subcategory by accident. If you run "Remove subcategory" across every product that uses it, that subcategory is deleted, not just unassigned.
Common questions
How many subcategories can one product have?
There's no limit. Add as many as make sense for your customers.
Can I use the same subcategory on products in different categories?
Yes. Subcategories are shared across your catalog. A subcategory you created on a flower product is available on a concentrate product too.
Can I use categories and subcategories in discounts?
Yes. Product discounts, BOGO deals, and discount restrictions can all target a Category or Subcategory. See Choosing the right discount type in Meadow.
Do subcategories show up on my menu?
Yes. Customers see them and can filter your menu by them.
Where do I manage product categories in Meadow?
Category settings: Settings > Product Categories
Bulk subcategory edits: Products > Multi Edit Products