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 options
- Order notes
- 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.
Managing the Order Queue
The order queue is divided into four main sections which are only visible depending on what orders are in your queue.
New orders will always appear to the left of the screen and will have a different background colour for Delivery and Pickup orders to make them more noticeable for you and your users.
Orders which are scheduled for driver or customer pickup in the next 30 minutes will be in the 'Make Now' section of the page which will have a flashing red header to indicate that you have an order which needs action.
Pre-orders are any order in the future and they will be ordered by soonest order first. These orders will be clearly marked with when the pickup day/date and time is to prevent errors.
On delivery orders are orders which are being delivered with the Delivery by Dine Niagara network but which have not yet been dropped off at the customer location. We keep these here for your own visibility in case the customer calls or you would like to view the delivery tracking.
Delivery by Dine Niagara Orders - Automatic Dispatch
Orders that are being delivered by the Dine Niagara network will be clearly marked with our Delivery by Dine Niagara logo. Any order that has our logo indicated has already had the delivery driver requested and dispatched for you. For locations where we have enabled automatic dispatch, the delivery will automatically be set up when you confirm the order and the details will be populated into the order detail.
The order detail for each order will clearly mark:
- Customer Name (Order Number)
- Driver Pickup Target Time
- Customer Delivery Time / Customer Phone Number / Total Payment / Payment Method
- Delivery Address
- Current Order Status
- Order Details, Options and Comments
If you ever want to display the full details of the order you can tap the 'Magnifying Glass' icon at the top right of the order card, and you will be taken to the Order Detail page.
For orders which are being delivered by Dine Niagara, we will automatically update the order status based on the updates we get from the delivery partner.
- Delivery request accepted = 'Confirmed'
- Order confirmed and scheduled = 'Preparation'
- Order picked up and out for deliver = 'Delivery'
- Order delivered complete = 'Completed'
Delivery by Dine Niagara Orders - Manual Dispatch
If you use the Delivery by Dine Niagara service, but have opted for manual dispatch, or you use our delivery only for some of your delivery orders, you will need to manually request a driver through the system from the order.
Note that this order also shows an 'Order Note' entered by the customer. These notes can be added at the order level for any type of order in the system when the customer is checking out.
In order to request a Dine Niagara delivery driver, you will need to tap or click the 'Car' icon at the top right of the order card which will take you to the scheduling page.
We will highlight any differences in the delivery fee charged to the customer and the actual delivery cost from the provider. These differences are generally caused by a delivery discount you have configured for your customers on the system (in our test case we offer $1 off delivery over $20 so this is the expected difference).
You need to specify the time that the food will be ready for pickup, confirm whether the order/item requires ID (we default this based on the items in the order), and tap or click the 'Save & Request' button at the top of teh page. We will request the delivery with the provider and return you to the orders page where your order will now be marked as a 'Delivery by Dine Niagara' order and will receive the same standard status updates as if it had been dispatched manually.
Pickup or Self-Delivery Orders
For pickup orders or orders which you are delivering yourself, you will need to provide updates to the customer on the status of their order. When the status changes, we automatically notify the customer via email and SMS text message so that they are aware of the timing of their order.
To update the order status, simply click the buttons at the top of the delivery card:
- Prep = Preparation (Your order is being prepared or is scheduled to be prepared)
- Ready = Ready for Pickup (Your order is out of the kitchen and ready for pickup) Pickup Orders Only
- Delivery = Out for Delivery (Your order is out of the kitchen and out with your delivery driver) Delivery Orders Only
- Completed = Order is complete
We do not send a notification for 'Complete' to the customer. Once an order is marked complete it will be moved from your active orders page.
Tracking a Delivery by Dine Niagara Order or Driver
From your orders page you can easily track a driver that is expected for arrival, or track their progress on their delivery using our GPS window.
Once the GPS tracking is available for your order you will see the map icon appear on the order card:
If you tap the Map / Tracking icon, we will load the current GPS tracking page. This is the same page and information as is shared with the customer so you are viewing the same information they have available at all times.
Support
If at any time you have trouble processing an order please contact our support team at 289-438-8061 or by email at support@dineniagara.ca.