Order ahead & pickup

Order ahead (pickup / takeaway) is prepaid remote ordering: the guest pays (or authorizes a card) before they arrive, and your team accepts or rejects the order from the CRM. It is gated by its own plan feature (order_ahead) and still uses your Stripe Connect account.

Before you begin

Your plan must include order ahead, and you must enable pickup under Delivery & Takeaway → Settings (off by default — same pattern as enable table ordering). Payments should show Payouts active if guests prepay online (pay-on-collection can work without Stripe). Staff need permission to read orders to open Delivery & Takeaway. Table payment mode does not replace this flow — order ahead is a separate channel from booking and from table QR.

How it differs from table QR and booking

	Table QR	Order ahead	Book a table
Where	Seated at a table	Remote / takeaway	Reservation
Entry	Table QR	Landing Order or /…/order	Landing Book a table
Menu UI	Same public menu templates	Same public menu templates	(menu page)
Kitchen	After pay (per round) or submit (at end)	After staff accept	—
CRM	Floor map / table order	Delivery & Takeaway	Bookings

Also see Restaurant delivery for home delivery (zones, drivers, live tracking).

Pickup is opt-in: turn on Enable pickup orders in Delivery & Takeaway → Settings. Once enabled, the landing page shows Order for pickup by default. You can hide that button from the Booking page editor (Hide pickup button) without turning the feature off — direct /…/order links still work while accepting. Hiding table booking does not hide the pickup button (and vice versa).

Guest flow (high level)

1. Guest opens your public site and taps Order (or a direct /order link).
2. They browse the same menu look as your public menu / table order, build a cart, enter details and pickup time.
3. They prepay online or choose pay-on-collection (if you allow it).
4. The order lands as received; staff accept or reject from Incoming orders.

Staff: Incoming orders

1. Open Delivery & Takeaway in the left sidebar (only visible when the plan includes order ahead). Configure pickup under its Settings tab.
2. On the Orders tab, review new prepaid pickups waiting for a decision.
3. Accept when you can prepare the order — payment is captured and stock rules for pickup apply.
4. Reject when you cannot fulfill — the authorization is cancelled so the guest is not charged.

Incoming orders: prepaid pickups waiting for the restaurant to accept or reject.

Tip

Watch notifications for new pickup orders and expiring authorizations. If an order sits too long in received, the card authorization can expire — accept promptly during service or reject cleanly.

Stock and kitchen

• Stock (when tracked) places when you accept the pickup — not merely when the guest’s payment is authorized. See Ingredient stock.
• Kitchen / fulfillment steps after accept follow your restaurant’s order statuses for order-ahead tickets.

Related

Set up payoutsStripe must be ready before prepaid pickup.

Payments overviewHow order ahead sits next to table pay.

Ingredient stockWhen pickup acceptance deducts stock.