Order Policies

Written By Natalia Povrozniak (Administrator)

Updated at March 8th, 2024

πŸ“Œ Applies to app version 2023.02 or later

For catering orders to properly function, there must be at least one order policy for your organisations' building. It is used to restrict time frames of when catering items can be served and any associated preparation time needed.

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Create separate policies for all categories such as hot and cold meals, snacks and drinks to make sure that they are ordered with enough time in advance. Create a separate order policy for all-day items, another order policy could be for lunchtime menu items, and so on. Order policy makes the menu dynamic based on how far in advance the person books.

Order policy is primarily defined by the kitchen staff and applied to one or multiple menu items.

If you are defining the order policy for the kitchen staff, make sure to align with them first. It is essential to provide operation time (food preparation and delivery) and operating hours of the kitchen. Then the menus will be built accordingly, depending on whether there's sufficient time for preparation of the item.

On the Order Policy page, you can search for an existing order policy, delete, edit, or add a new one.

Adding an order policy

To add a new order policy:

  1. Click +Add
  2. Fill in the fields in the popup window.
    1. Define Policy Name.
    2. Add Policy Description.
    3. (inactive field) Policy ID is assigned by the system after you save the order policy.
    4. Define the time range for kitchen operating hours from and to. You can use this option to create different order policies for different menu items to later dynamically display items in the menu for a certain space.
    5. (required) Add your internal notice in plain text in the Advanced Notice field.
    6. Set preparation time in hours. Consider these examples:
CurrentΒ 
local time
Booking time Food slot Preparation time Kitchen time Result
10:30 any after 11:00 any 30 minutes 09:00 - 16:00 Can place an order after 11:00 but before 15:30 to allow for preparation
10:25 10:00 - 11:30 11:00 - 11:30 30 minutes 09:00 - 16:00 Can place an order to be delivered after 11:00
10:35 09:00 - 16:00
10:35 10:00 - 11:00 10:00 - 11:00 30 minutes 09:00 - 16:00 Can't place an order as there's not enough time for preparation
10:00 - 11:30 11:00 - 11:30 1 hour 09:00 - 16:00 Can place an order
12:00 - 13:30 12:30 - 13:00 1 hour 09:00 - 16:00 Can please an order for 12:30 due to food slot limitation
12:00 - 13:30 12:00 - 13:00 1 hour 09:00 - 16:00 Can place order for 12:00
16:00 - 17:30 16:00 - 17:30 1 hour 09:00 - 16:00 Can place order for 16:00 at the latest
16:30 - 17:30 1 hour 09:00 - 16:00 Can't place an order outside kitchen/building working time
10:00 on November 21 09:00 - 12:00 on November 23 10:00 - 12:00 48 hours 09:00 - 16:00 Can place an order, but only for delivery after 10:00
11:00 on November 21 48 hours 09:00 - 16:00 Can't place an order as there are only 47 hours left until expected food delivery
13:00 on November 21 08:00 - 09:00 on November 24 08:00 - 09:00 48 hours 09:00 - 16:00 Can't place an order outside kitchen/building working time
  1. Save your settings or cancel adding an order policy.

Deleting an order policy

To delete an order policy, first reassign a catering item attached to it. Do this in the popup that lists all related items that need to be sorted.

Click OK to confirm reassigning the order items, and then confirm all changes and deleting the order policy.