thread Re: Automating Pre-Order Cutoff Times/Dates in Food & Beverage

Automating Pre-Order Cutoff Times/Dates

larissa166 — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 14:30:53 GMT

I have searched prior threads and didn't see this exact situation. If I missed it, please redirect me.

Our situation:

We use our Square website to accept pre-orders for home deliveries on Fridays and pick-up at the farmers market on Saturdays. Orders are due by 5pm on Thursdays. Orders received after 5pm are rolled over to the next week.

Our problem:

I cannot figure out a way to configure the site so if an order comes in at 5:01pm on Thursday (or after) that it tells the customer it will be ready the following Friday or Saturday.

Right now, if this happens, it tells the customer it will be ready that Friday or Saturday (depending on what they picked) and then I have to email the customer to correct the site's auto response.

The only way I have figured out how to do this is at 5pm on Thurday, to go into the site and make the upcoming Friday and Saturday dates unavailable.

Ideally, I'd like to set up the site so it automatically closes orders at 5pm on Thursday and anything that comes in after goes into the next week. Is that possible?

Our website: https://www.allabouttheferments.com/

Re: Automating Pre-Order Cutoff Times/Dates

streetsideky — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 16:33:14 GMT

I have a similar situation in which I’d like to stop online orders automatically when our restaurant closes each night. Currently if we don’t manually turn off ordering then anyone that places a food order after hours is still able to place the order but then it tells them pickup will be the next day when we open. Some customers see that message, most do not and call or arrive at the restaurant when we’re closed to pickup their order. There definitely needs to be a more customizable system for the many different needs of different businesses.

Re: Automating Pre-Order Cutoff Times/Dates

faheem — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 02:00:57 GMT

The cutoff time feature is now in beta https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Square-Online-Discussion/Recruiting-for-Beta-Batch-Production-Cutoff-Times-for-Square/td-p/321818

Re: Automating Pre-Order Cutoff Times/Dates

seattlesam — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 20:35:57 GMT

This issue is one of a few long-standing, glaring problems that is why I am going to switch from Square to Toast. Even if a fix is 'in-beta' this has gone on too long, and I have wasted countless hours contacting customers to clarify order fulfillment times over the past year. Also been stone-walled by Square support when trying to troubleshoot.

Re: Automating Pre-Order Cutoff Times/Dates

gemcityjunction — Thu, 12 May 2022 14:17:57 GMT

What if you changed your hours to say you were closed on Fri and Sat, then set the item prep time to "1 business day"? This would automatically bump orders placed after 5p Thurs to the following week. You should then just need to have notes that deliveries are done on Fri and Sat. I'm not sure if Square's system will allow you to turn on deliveries for days you're closed, but that may help too.