How do I set up pre-orders?

Switch pre-ordering on, choose the party size, cut-off and when it applies, how the food is paid for, and which dishes can be pre-ordered.

Part of How does pre-ordering work for large bookings?. This part covers setting pre-orders up: the step-by-step settings, when pre-ordering applies, short-notice parties and reminders, inviting or asking parties, the three payment models and which dishes can be pre-ordered.

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

Setting up pre-orders, step by step

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

Everything lives in Settings → Payments and deposits → Pre-orders (the gear at the top right of the Pre-orders page opens it).

The quickest way is Set up pre-orders at the top of that page: a step-by-step window — the same kind as New promotion — that asks one question at a time: Who → By when → How firmly → The menu → Money → Each guest chooses → Kitchen → Review. The Review says exactly what will happen; click Save pre-orders to keep it. Every row on the page stays for fine-tuning. Or set the rows one by one:

• Switch on Offer pre-ordering. When on, bookings at or above the party size below are invited to pre-order their food.
• Set Offer pre-ordering from — parties of this many guests or more are invited to choose their food after booking (default 6, between 1 and 100). This is its own number, separate from Maximum party size (Settings → Bookings → How many at once) and Give a table automatically to parties up to (Settings → Bookings → Tables and seating).
• Set Pre-orders close — guests can add or change their pre-order until this many days before their booking (default 2, up to 30; set 0 to allow changes right up to the day). It's a separate deadline from your cancellation deadline.
• Choose How is a pre-order paid? — see the three models below. It's set with your other booking payments, in the Pre-order money section of Settings → Payments and deposits → What guests pay (this page shows your choice, with a link there), so you can see in one place what a booking pays and which payment wins.

The page also spells out how its pieces fit together, and it's worth knowing by heart: the switch offers pre-ordering every day; the Day and time rules under When it applies restrict it to just those days and times; Special pre-order dates always apply on their dates — even when the everyday switch is off. (Deposits and pay-in-full follow exactly the same model.)

Choosing when pre-ordering applies

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

• When it applies — click Add a day-and-time rule under Day and time rules: a step-by-step window asks Which days? (tick one or more) and Which times? (All day, or Between two times), then Save rule on the Review. Pre-ordering is then only offered for bookings on those days and times; each rule shows as one line with Change. With no rules it applies to every booking while the toggle is on. A booking outside the schedule simply isn't invited — your team sees "This booking's day or time is outside your pre-order schedule" if they try to send a request for one.
• Special pre-order dates — a date (Christmas Day, say) with pre-orders of its own is set on Settings → Bookings → Special dates: open the date and set its Pre-orders to Custom. It then takes pre-orders on that date even if the everyday toggle is off, ignoring the schedule, and this page lists it under Special pre-order dates with a link there. So a venue that only takes pre-orders on special dates still uses the rest of this page: the everyday party size, deadline and wording (wherever the date doesn't set its own), how the food is paid for and Show pre-orders on the kitchen screens all apply to those dates, and their rows stay live with the toggle off. Each date can override the everyday settings — anything you don't set follows them:
• its own party size (parties of N or more — set 1 to invite every party that day; a minimum of 1 always reads "Every booking", never "parties of 1 or more");
• its own deadline (closing N days before the date — a Christmas pre-order can close on 18 December while your everyday rule stays at 2 days; reminders, emails and the booking page all quote the date's own deadline);
• its own wording (tick Ask guests to pre-order (instead of inviting them) — see below);
• its own menu — tick one or more of your existing menu categories and that date's pre-orders come from just those categories (none ticked = your full pre-order menu). It can tick set menus too, under "The menu for this date — set menus" — see "Set menus in a pre-order" in How do guests choose their pre-order?. An explicit pick always wins: the date serves its picked categories even if one is hidden from guest menus or switched off for everyday pre-orders ("Available for pre-orders"). Everything else about pre-ordering works the same.

The hidden-menu trick: the Menu page's category form has a Hide from guest menus switch. A hidden category never shows on your public menu, ordering or TV screens — but a special date that picks it as its menu still serves it to that date's pre-ordering guests. Build your Christmas menu as a hidden category, point the special date at it, and it stays private until it's needed. (The same trick works for an event's linked menu and for shareable menus — see How do I share my menu and choose how it looks?.) The category form's separate Available for pre-orders switch does the reverse: the category stays on your ordinary menus but leaves the pre-order list — see "Which dishes can be pre-ordered" below.

Short-notice large parties, reminders and staff flags

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

• Ask larger parties to call at short notice — an optional switch on the same settings page (off by default). When on, qualifying parties can't book online inside your pre-order cut-off window — someone trying to book a party of that size less than "Pre-orders close" days before the visit sees a friendly note asking them to call you instead, so a big group can never arrive without the kitchen having had its pre-order window. Your team can still record these bookings as normal, and with "Pre-orders close" set to 0 there's no cut-off window so the switch has no effect until you set one.
• The last-chance reminder — a party that qualified but hasn't submitted a pre-order is automatically emailed a reminder on the last day their pre-order window is open, quoting their deadline. It sends once per booking; nothing is ever cancelled automatically. A party whose guests choose their own food by link doesn't get it — the party's own last-day reminders go to each guest instead, with a note to the organiser of who's still to choose.
• Your team is flagged too — the same day, an alert appears in the notification bell and the booking's row carries an amber Pre-order? chip, so front-of-house can chase it with a phone call if the food matters for that party. Neither happens for a party whose guests choose by link: its own view on the booking shows who's still to choose.
• Remind a whole day in one go — on the Pre-orders page, pick a day and Remind un-ordered (on the day's card) emails every booked party on it who hasn't chosen their dishes yet. A confirmation names who it goes to, and it's a protected action — you may be asked to confirm your password first. Anyone who has already ordered, has no email address, doesn't qualify for pre-ordering, or was already reminded that day — by your team or by the automatic last-chance email — is skipped automatically, and the result says how many were sent and skipped.
• Ask every booking on a date — for a date with pre-orders on (any date, not just the next fortnight), Email the pre-order request to every booking already made for it that qualifies and hasn't been asked yet: on the Pre-orders page pick the day and use the button on the day's card ("Email the pre-order request to 5 bookings"), or on Settings → Bookings → Special dates use it on the date's row or on its Review when you Change it. A confirmation names the date, how many it goes to and who's left out (already asked, already ordered, no email address, a party whose guests choose by link, or one that doesn't qualify — party size or the cut-off), with a tick to also email those already asked; it's a protected action, so you may be asked to confirm your password. Nobody is emailed twice on the same day, and each email shows on its booking's Messages tab.
• Chase at a glance — the Pre-orders page header counts the reminded-but-still-unordered parties in the next fortnight ("2 parties to chase"), the same parties whose booking rows carry the amber chip. Tap it to see the whole fortnight with those parties marked.
• Kitchen prep — the day's card on the Pre-orders page adds up the chosen day's pre-ordered dishes ("Sea bass × 14" — different choices count separately, refunded dishes never counted): the very numbers the printed day sheet's Kitchen prep section (pre-orders) shows, without printing anything.

Invite or ask larger parties to pre-order — can pre-orders be compulsory?

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

By default every guest message is a friendly invitation ("your party can pre-order…"). Switch on Say pre-ordering is required, not optional (it used to be called "Pre-orders are required for larger parties") and the wording firms up across every surface — the booking page says parties "must choose their food in advance", the emails say "please complete your pre-order" and quote the date it must be chosen by. Pre-orders can't be made compulsory — It changes the wording only: a booking is never cancelled over a missing pre-order — guests still get a reminder on the last open day and your team is flagged, exactly as before. Each special date can override the wording on its own date.

The three payment models

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

• Paid at the venue — nothing is paid online. Guests choose their dishes so your kitchen knows what's coming, and pay you on the day as normal.
• Deposit, then pay for the food online — your deposit rules stay exactly as they are. When the party submits their pre-order, the price of their chosen dishes is charged online there and then. If you also use per-person full payment (Pay in full): a party that chooses its dishes while booking pays its deposit and food instead of the full payment, and a party that paid in full when booking has that payment counted towards its dishes — never charged twice.
• The pre-order total is the payment — the price of the dishes they choose is their payment for the booking. If they choose while booking, that is the one payment they make — no deposit or full payment as well. If they book first, your usual deposit or full payment is taken to hold the table and counts towards the dishes they choose later, so they only pay the difference.

On a special date with The rest of the payment set (Christmas Day, say), the food a party chooses is recorded, not charged — the deposit is the only money when they book, and their pre-order's food total less what they've paid is "the rest", due by the date's own due date (online from their manage-booking page, or at your venue). See How do payment plans and paying at the venue work?

Nobody is charged twice for the same food. A priced pre-order chosen while booking is paid instead of a full payment. A party that books without choosing its dishes pays whatever your other settings ask when they book — in full if Require full payment applies to them (Pay in full), otherwise your deposit — and that money counts towards the dishes they choose later (under Deposit, then pay for the food online, only a full payment counts; the deposit stays its own hold). Money for paid extras never counts towards the food, and money already refunded never does. When the guest chooses their dishes, the pre-order card shows the booking money counted and asks only for the difference, and a reduction shows exactly what will be refunded. Guests are told plainly what they'll pay and when, whichever model you pick. Online pre-order payments go straight to your own Stripe account, and ResoFlow currently charges no platform fee on pre-order payments (Stripe's normal processing fee still applies).

Which dishes can be pre-ordered

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

Your whole menu is offered by default, priced exactly as it appears — including any choices a dish has (a dish's choices price precisely: the base price plus whatever priced choices the guest picks, so even "From"-priced dishes with choices come out at the exact price of the selection). To keep a dish off the pre-order list, open it in Menu and turn off Available to pre-order. To keep a whole category off, edit the category in Menu and turn off Available for pre-orders — the category and every dish in it leave the pre-order list (on the guest page and staff phone entry alike) while still showing on your ordinary menus. Categories you've marked Hide from guest menus are left out of the everyday pre-order list too — their dishes only appear when a special pre-order date picks that category as its menu. On a special date with its own menu, guests choose from just the picked categories (and the server enforces it — a dish outside the date's menu can't be submitted, and an explicit pick even serves a category you've switched off for everyday pre-orders). A category's serving times (set for at-table ordering — see How do I set up ordering at the table?) hold for pre-orders too, checked against the booking's own day and time: a 12:30 party can pre-order the weekday-lunch section days ahead, while a 7pm booking can't — the category stays visible in the picker with its serving times shown, its dishes just can't be added, and the refusal says why.

In Set up pre-orders, The menu step's Add a dish, Add a menu category and New set menu open the Menu page's own editors over the window, and your answers stay as they were. The links to Special dates and What guests pay keep them too: Back to Pre-orders reopens the window where you were.

Related: How does pre-ordering work for large bookings? · How do guests choose their pre-order? · How does my team run pre-orders? · What can guests pay when they book? (What guests pay)