How do guests choose their pre-order?

What a larger party sees when invited to pre-order, how they choose their dishes and notes for the kitchen, and how they pick set menus.

Part of How does pre-ordering work for large bookings?. This part covers the guest's side: what they see, how they choose their dishes, and set menus in a pre-order.

Pre-orders are on the Pro and Complete plans — not Free or Plus.

What guests see

Pre-orders are on the Pro and Complete plans — not Free or Plus.

While booking, once a qualifying party size and date are picked, the booking page shows a short notice — "Parties of N+ choose their food in advance — pre-orders close N days before your visit" (with required wording: "…must be chosen by {date}"). When pre-ordering is offered from 1 guest, it says "Every booking" instead — "Every booking chooses its food in advance" — and the same goes for the settings' own words (Let each guest choose their own food says "On — every booking gets a link for each guest") and the short-notice line ("Every booking chooses its food in advance, so we take online bookings at least 3 days ahead."). If the chosen date's pre-order window has already closed, the page shows a quiet grey "Pre-orders have closed for this date" note instead (on venues that require pre-orders and have a phone number set, it adds "— call us on {number} to arrange your party's food"; venues that block such bookings entirely show their call-us gate rather than both messages at once). Drinks-only bookings never see the pre-order notice, the confirmation screen's dishes card or the email invitation — pre-ordering is a food thing. After a qualifying party books online, the confirmation screen shows a prominent Choose your dishes card linking straight to their pre-order page, the confirmation email invites them to pre-order, and a Pre-order card appears on their manage-booking page. The organiser fills it in for the whole party.

How guests choose their dishes

Pre-orders are on the Pro and Complete plans — not Free or Plus.

Every screen a guest chooses on — the booking page, their manage-booking page and a party's own links — uses the same picker. It starts with Choose your food now or Choose later: "later" tells them how to come back (the link in their confirmation email, the manage-booking page, or their own party link) and by which day; a party that must pre-order sees its deadline there too ("Your party's food must be chosen by Friday 16 October."). "Now" opens your menu the way your Order & Pay menu works: a strip with a search box (a dish, a category, "vegan", or an allergen to avoid like "nuts") and a tab for each category that lights up as they scroll, then each dish with its description, its allergens in words and its dietary marks, and Add (or Choose for a dish with choices). On a table of several, chips along the top — Whole table, Guest 1, Guest 2 … — say whose plate the next dish is for (a name already on an older order keeps its own chip). A dish with choices opens a step-by-step picker from the bottom of the screen — one question per screen, each option with its short description underneath when you've given it one and its own allergens and dietary marks ("Contains: tree nuts", "Vegan" — see How do I add dishes and choices to my menu?), progress dots, the count stated plainly ("Pick 2 — 1 of 2 chosen"), a live running price, and an Allergies or a note for the kitchen box on the last screen; the priced Add to pre-order button stays off until every step's count is met. Where a step lets guests take the same item more than once, its options carry − and ＋ buttons instead of one-tap picks — the running count and any per-item limit are stated plainly, each extra one adds its cost again, and the order (and the kitchen's prep counts) show repeats once with a count, like "Hash brown ×3". Everything chosen is listed under Your food — each dish with one "Contains: …" line for the dish's allergens plus those of the choices picked — each with its own Allergies or a note for the kitchen box (one box per dish, up to 120 characters — "no peppercorn sauce, dairy allergy") and − / ＋ for how many, and the running total sticks to the foot of the screen as they go — then they submit. The note goes to your kitchen beside that dish (the ticket, the docket and the day sheet); it is the guest's own words, so your team should still ask about allergies as you always do. Whenever a pre-order is paid online, the organiser is emailed a receipt itemising every dish with its quantity, chosen options, price, any per-guest name and their own note for the kitchen; if they later increase a paid order, the extra charge gets its own receipt showing the order total, what was previously paid and what was just paid. If you've entered your VAT number on Settings → Payouts and Stripe, the receipt also breaks down the VAT included in the dish prices (using each dish's VAT rate as it was when the guest submitted). They can change the order (wholesale — the new version replaces the old) until pre-orders close. Reducing an order they've already paid for works differently — see "Refunds, changes and cancellations" in How does my team run pre-orders?. While the picker is open it also shows the standard allergen notice — allergen and dish information comes from your venue, guests are asked to tell you about any allergy or intolerance before ordering, and cross-contamination is flagged as possible. It always shows and can't be switched off; allergen accuracy stays your venue's responsibility.

Or each guest chooses their own food. If you've switched on letting each guest choose their own food (in the same pre-order settings), a big enough party — or every party on a special pre-order date — can do it differently: the organiser shares one link, each guest adds their name and chooses their own dishes on their own page, and, if you take pre-order money online, pays their own share. The kitchen still gets one order for the table, with every plate named. See How do guests choose their own food by link for a big party?.

For bookings your team records by hand (a phone booking, for example), open the booking and use Email pre-order request in its detail panel — or on the Pre-orders page (Email request on the party's row, or Take a pre-order → Email them the link to choose) — it emails the guest a link to choose their dishes, and you can re-send it until the cut-off. When your team creates a qualifying booking (or an edit makes one qualify — the party grows, say), the save asks "Invite the guest to pre-order?" — it's always a manual tick, never sent automatically. And if you use Food and drinks-only bookings, drinks-only bookings never receive pre-order invitations — pre-ordering is a food thing.

Set menus in a pre-order

Pre-orders are on the Pro and Complete plans — not Free or Plus.

How guests pre-order a set menu. Yes, they can — once a set menu is offered in your pre-orders (below), the organiser opens their pre-order (from their confirmation email, say) and presses Choose your food now. Under Set menus they press Choose on a set menu, pick a dish for each course and press Add to pre-order — one for each person — then submit. For everyone to choose their own on their own phone, see choosing food by link.

A pre-order can offer set menus as well as single dishes — "Christmas Day — Adults · £56.99 a head", then one dish per course from your real dishes. You build them on the Menu page under Set menus & deals (see How do I build set menus and deals?); a set menu is offered in a pre-order when you've said it can be ordered in pre-orders, or when a special pre-order date picks it for its own menu (a date can pick set menus as well as categories — Christmas Day's "Adults" and "Kids" set menus, say, kept hidden from your everyday menu). A date that picks only set menus offers no single dishes. A set menu with its own days and times is offered only when the booking's own day and time fall inside them. Set menus come with the Pro plan or above, like pre-orders themselves. The Set menus row on Settings → Pre-orders links straight there: make a set menu and tick “Pre-orders” under “Where it can be ordered” to offer it on every pre-order, or leave it unticked and tick it in one date's pre-order menu on Special dates.

What guests see. The picker shows a Set menus section above your dishes — "Choose one for each person, then a dish for each course." Each set menu says its price per person and how many courses. Choose opens it: every course on one screen ("Choose your starters", "Choose your mains"), each with its real dishes — their own description, allergens in words, dietary marks and photo — and any supplement beside a dish that costs more ("+£4.00" for the steak). A dish with choices of its own (how it's cooked, a sauce) asks them the usual way, with its own Allergies or a note for the kitchen box. The price at the bottom is one person's — the set menu's price, plus any supplements and paid choices — and Add to pre-order adds it for the person whose chip is selected (Guest 1, Guest 2 …). Each chosen set menu then shows under Your food with that person's courses, a note box for the whole set menu, Change courses, and − / ＋ for how many people chose exactly the same. Above the list the order reads per person: "2 adults' set menus · 1 kids' set menu — £134.97" (the "Adults" and "Kids" are each set menu's own "who's it for" word; without one it says "2 × Sunday lunch").

The money. Each person's set menu is priced from the set menu as it is when they submit — the price you set, plus supplements and paid choices — never from anything the browser sends. The pre-order total is simply every person's price added up, so your payment rules treat it exactly like dishes. Refunding dishes from a paid pre-order refunds a whole person's set menu (one at a time), never a single course. If you've entered your VAT number, the receipt splits each set menu's price across its courses by their menu prices and VAT rates.

What your team sees. The booking reads "Christmas Day — Adults × 2 · Kids × 1", then each person's courses ("1 × Christmas Day — Kids: Turkey nuggets · Ice cream — Max"). On the phone, Record a pre-order has the same set menus at the top of its dishes step: Add a set menu opens the same course-by-course box, and each one gets a Who's it for? box, its own note, Change courses and how many.

The kitchen counts real dishes. Kitchen prep, the kitchen tickets, the docket, the stock count and the kitchen/bar split all read each set menu's courses: fifteen "Christmas Day — Adults" set menus are prepped as Roast turkey × 15 (and whatever else they chose), never as "set menu × 15". On a kitchen ticket each course dish carries a small line saying which set menu and course it belongs to. Each course dish also keeps its own "Contains: …" line for the dish's allergens plus those of the choices picked (fixed when the guest submitted) on the kitchen tickets and the docket, and the booking's panel, the manage-booking page and the receipts show one line for the whole set menu. The day sheet prints each booking's set menus as a headline, then its plates grouped by course — "Set menus: Christmas Day — Adults × 2 · Kids × 1", "Starters: Parsnip soup ×1, Chicken liver pâté ×1", "Mains: Roast turkey ×2 (Sam, Alex)…" — with the names beside the plates (each guest's own, on a party choosing by link) and any note; ordinary dishes keep their one line each.

Related: How does pre-ordering work for large bookings? · How do I set up pre-orders? · How do guests choose their own food by link for a big party? · How do I build set menus and deals?