Receiving and Processing an Order
The main function for the Daily Operations user is to receive and process orders. The Restaurant App will automatically redirect back to the orders page after 5 minutes of inactivity to ensure that you never miss an order, and we have repeating telephone notifications which are automated to ensure that you are aware of an order regardless of the state of your tablet or where you are in the app.
Orders Page
The default orders page will indicate that there are No Orders waiting if you have no orders outstanding for today or in the future. This page will only show you orders that are for the current day or in the future and which have not been marked 'Complete' or 'Cancelled'. If you would like to view all orders including completed and cancelled orders or orders from past days, tap or click the 'View All Orders' button at the top right of the screen.
If you ever want to return to the Orders page from anywhere in the app, you can tap the 'Orders List' icon at the top of the page:
Processing a New Order
When you receive a new order, it will pop up on the screen and your tablet will begin to 'Ding' audibly (if your volume is turned up). If your tablet is not working for some reason or you are not on the order page, our system will automatically phone you with a robocall at 1 minute and 3 minutes after the order was placed. If the order is still pending after 5 minutes, our team will begin to phone you as well as using whatever other messaging tools we have available with your management team to ensure you do not miss an order.
The incoming order notification is intended to provide you the basic details required to accept an order. Orders are not confirmed to to the customer until you accept them through the tablet or admin panel.
Your order will be identified with the following details:
- Delivery or Pickup Order
- Delivery driver pickup time (for Delivery by Dine Niagara Orders)
- Delivery customer requested time (for orders you deliver yourself)
- Customer pickup time for pickup orders
- Customer details (name, phone number, and delivery address for delivery orders)
- Summary of the order items and prices
- Total charge on the order including taxes, delivery fees, and tips
Based on this information you need to action the order to confirm or reject it for the customer:
Accept an Order
If everything is acceptable on the order summary and you will be able to meet the customer's expected timing or delivery pickup time, simply tap or click the 'Accept' button to confirm the order. The order will be updated to confirmed status, payments will be confirmed with the credit card provider (if required), and the order will be moved into your order list.
Accept and Delay an Order
If you are busy and can't meet the expected customer or pickup timing, you can choose to Accept the order, but also notify the customer that it will be a bit longer than expected. While the times that can be selected may change from time to time based on our feedback from customers and restaurant partners, our default available delay times are:
- 10 Minutes
- 20 Minutes
- 30 Minutes
- 45 Minutes
Please use caution when selecting delay times that are significantly extended. If you are adding more than 20 minutes to the expected pickup or delivery time, we generally recommend contacting the customer by phone first to ensure they are ok with it.
If you are very busy and have extended pickup times, we recommend updating your Pickup At Ready time in the app so that customers are aware that their orders will be longer than normal.
Even if you are very busy when an order comes in, we highly recommend accepting the order with a delay, and then turning off new orders using the Quick Close option rather than Declining an order. Customers will choose another restaurant next time if they find that the effort they put into placing the order is rejected.
Decline an Order
If you are truly unable to accept an order, we have provided the ability to decline an order for three reasons. Depending on the option you select we will notify the customer by email and SMS of the cancellation, and update your restaurant settings.
Too Busy To Accept
You can choose to decline an order as 'Too Busy' and we will notify the customer that you are too busy to accept the order. We will also automatically pause orders to your location for 30 minutes to ensure that other customers do not try to place an order when we know you are too busy.
Closed
If you have closed early but haven't yet set the Quick Close for your location for the day, you can decline the order with the 'We are closed' option and we will notify the customer as such. We will also automatically close your location for the rest of the day. If for some reason you want to reopen the orders later int he day, you would need to use the Quick Close option to 'Reopen' your location later.
Out of Stock
If you are out of stock on an item and there isn't a reasonable substitute you can offer the customer by phoning them, you can decline an order indicating that you are out of stock on an item. In this case, we will simply notify the customer, but we will not automatically update any restaurant settings. We highly recommend that you then take the step to mark the item out of stock on your menu to prevent other customers from ordering it until it is back available.