If you are choosing an online ordering system for your restaurant, focus mainly on 7 things: who controls the customer, how you are charged, how easily you can update the menu, whether it fits your kitchen flow, how you manage delivery and collection, what experience the customer has and how simple it is for your team to use.
Online ordering is not “add a link and you’re done”. If it is set up properly, it reduces mistakes on the phone, helps organise peak hours better and gives the customer a clearer way to order. If it is set up carelessly, it can create confusion, delays and complaints.
Below, you’ll see in practical terms what to check before choosing a solution, how to organise your menu and which points are worth testing before you announce it to your customers.
1. First clarify what you want to achieve
Before you compare tools, write down the real goal. A grill house that is swamped with phone calls every Friday needs something different from a café that mainly works with takeaway, or a restaurant with limited delivery.
Write down:
- Do you want fewer phone orders?
- Do you want to increase direct orders without intermediaries?
- Do you want better control over the menu and extras?
- Do you want to organise collection from the shop?
- Do you want to build your own customer list?
If you do not know what problem you are solving, you will end up paying for features you do not use, or missing things you need every day. For example, if you have many dishes with options, such as size, garnishes, sauces and allergens, the most important thing is not the “nice look”, but whether the customer can order without ambiguity.
2. Watch the charging model and customer control
One of the most critical points is how you are charged. Some solutions work as a marketplace, where the restaurant appears next to many others and pays commission per order. Other solutions work as your own ordering system, with your own link and your own customers.
Ask clearly:
- Is there commission per order or a fixed charge?
- Who keeps the order money?
- Is the customer considered “yours” or the platform’s?
- Can you have your own link for Instagram, Google and QR code?
- Is there a commitment or can you stop whenever you want?
On large platforms, charges are usually linked to commission per order and there is not always a public, fixed percentage for everyone. In Cyprus, restaurants reported 19–25% per order with delivery and 10% for collection, according to Cyprus Mail in January 2025. This does not mean it applies everywhere, but it shows why you need to ask in detail before you agree.
3. Build a menu that is easy to order from, not just nice to look at
The online menu needs to be practical. The customer does not have a waiter in front of them to explain details. So every dish needs to be clear, complete and easy to choose.
For each product, check whether it has:
- A clear name, without internal abbreviations.
- A short description with key ingredients.
- A clear price and the right options.
- Extras in a logical order.
- An allergen note where needed.
- A vegetarian note, if relevant.
- A photo that looks like what the customer will receive.
Avoid general descriptions such as “special”, “rich” or “chef’s” without explanation. If you have a burger, write the bun, meat, cheese, sauce and side. If you have a salad, write the key ingredients and dressing. This reduces clarification calls and wrong expectations.
4. Set up options, extras and sold-out products properly
Most mistakes in online orders do not happen because the customer “doesn’t understand”. They happen because the menu does not guide them properly. Options should be compulsory only when needed and optional when they are truly extras.
Example: on a pizza, the size may be a compulsory option. Extra mozzarella is an optional extra. In a coffee, the type of sugar or the quantity may be a necessary option, while a plant-based milk option may be a charged extra, if that is how you work.
Run a check with your team:
- Is there a product that can be ordered “wrong”?
- Is a compulsory option missing?
- Are there extras that confuse people?
- Can you quickly hide a dish that has sold out?
- Are discounts per dish shown clearly?
The ability to immediately hide products that have sold out is very important. It is better for a dish not to appear for an hour than to accept orders and then call customers to make changes.
5. Organise opening hours, timings and delivery rules
The system needs to follow your operation, not force you to work differently. If you accept delivery until 23:30 but the kitchen closes at 23:00, that needs to be clear. If you are under heavy pressure every Saturday, the average preparation time needs to be realistic.
Set up in advance:
- Online ordering hours.
- Delivery, collection or both.
- Delivery charge by area or a general rule.
- Free delivery limit, if you offer it.
- Minimum order.
- Average preparation time.
- Temporary order pause during busy periods.
Do not promise times you cannot keep. If you usually need 35 minutes, do not write 20 just to look fast. A customer will more easily forgive a realistic time than a delay they were not expecting.
6. See how the order will work inside the kitchen
The online order does not end when the customer presses “send”. That is where the internal flow starts. Who sees the order? Who accepts it? When is the kitchen informed? When does it go out for delivery?
Create a simple process:
- One person is responsible for checking new orders.
- The order is accepted only when you can fulfil it.
- If something is missing, you reject it or communicate immediately, depending on your flow.
- The kitchen clearly sees products, options and comments.
- When it is ready, the order stage is updated.
A live order board with stages such as accepted, ready and out for delivery helps orders not get lost between the counter, kitchen and driver. The important thing is that the flow does not depend on “I remembered” or “I said it verbally”.
7. Do not forget the driver and the customer experience
If you do your own delivery, the experience is not only the food. It is also whether the customer knows what is happening with their order. When they are updated at every stage, calls such as “where is my order?” are reduced.
For drivers, make sure:
- They can clearly see customer details and address.
- They can easily open the address on a map.
- They know which order they have taken.
- Multiple orders do not get mixed up with each other.
For the customer, the important points are:
- They know whether the order has been accepted.
- They can see when it is being prepared and when it has gone out for delivery.
- They have a correct view of charges before they complete the order.
- They can easily repeat a good experience.
If you are looking at solutions for your own channel, you can also see the guide Online ordering system for restaurants, so you can compare what a system that works with your own link and QR code means in practice, rather than a marketplace.
8. Test it before you announce it everywhere
Before you put the link on Instagram, in the window and on delivery bags, test it as if you were a customer. Do not look at it only from the owner’s side. Take a mobile, go through the process and actually try to place an order.
Test at least the following:
- One small order for collection.
- One delivery order with extras.
- One product with allergens.
- One product that you temporarily hide.
- One time outside opening hours.
- One order with a minimum amount.
- One order that is rejected.
Ask 2-3 people from the team to test it without instructions too. If they get stuck somewhere, the customer will get stuck there as well. Fix names, descriptions, category order and options before you start promoting it strongly.
Finally, create a short internal instruction for the team: who checks the orders, when they accept them, what they do if a product sells out, how they update the driver and when they press “ready”. This way, the system becomes part of your operation, not yet another screen that stresses the staff.