Bakery online ordering: same-day pickup and cake pre-orders in one system

A bakery online ordering system has two jobs. It lets regulars order this morning's croissants for pickup in 20 minutes, and it lets a customer book a birthday cake for Saturday at 10 AM, with the size, flavor and message in writing. Menuthere does both from one menu and one link. Same-day pickup is on the Free plan. Cake pre-orders with notice, bake days and pickup windows, plus card payments to your own Stripe account, are on Lite at $17 a month. Menuthere takes 0% commission on every order.

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Two order flows in one bakery

Most bakery mistakes come from treating every order the same. A loaf and a wedding cake need different rules, and Menuthere keeps them apart.

Ticking a cake for pre-orders has one effect customers notice: a pre-order cake is ordered on its own. If someone puts a ticked cake and a coffee in the same basket, checkout asks them to split the order. The coffee can be ordered as normal.

Your cake order form, mapped to the menu

Paper cake order forms ask the same questions every time. Here's where each question lives in Menuthere, using an 8-inch birthday cake as the example.

A cake option costs the same whichever size the customer picks. If red velvet should cost more on a 10-inch than on a 6-inch, list the big cake as its own item or price the option at your average.

For one-off designs you'd rather quote, switch on Price as per Size / Custom for an item such as "Custom celebration cake". It shows on your menu with "As per size" instead of a price and no Add button, so customers read about it and call or message you. Price those jobs with the free cake price calculator and take the details on the printable cake order form.

Set the rules for cake pre-orders (Lite)

All of this is in Prebooking settings.

• Applies to: Specific items. Tick the cakes, pies and dozens that need notice. Everything else orders as normal.
• Earliest booking time. The notice, in minutes, hours or days. Set it for your longest bake, because it applies to every ticked item.
• Only made on. The days you bake these items, such as Thursday to Saturday. Leave it empty for any open day.
• Book up to. How many days ahead customers can book, such as 30.
• Start from tomorrow. Stops same-day cake orders.
• Time slots. Use fixed windows, such as 9 to 11 AM and 2 to 4 PM, on the days you choose. Slots are cut to your opening hours, so nobody books a time you're shut.
• Pre-orders while closed. Customers browsing at 10 PM can still book Saturday's cake instead of leaving.

On the morning, open the Prebookings list. Orders are in slot order, rows turn amber when due within the hour and red when overdue, and each ticket shows the booked time in bold.

The one-schedule limit

Every pre-order item shares one notice, one set of bake days, one date range and one set of windows. You can't give wedding cakes 7 days' notice and cupcake dozens 1 day at the same time. Most bakeries handle it in one of three ways:

• Set the notice for the longest item and accept that small items need it too.
• Pre-order only the cakes, and sell dozens of cupcakes as ordinary items you make the same day.
• Take wedding and tiered cakes by consultation, using the "Price as per Size / Custom" item above, and keep online pre-orders for the standard range.

Holiday rush: Thanksgiving pies, holiday cookies, Valentine's

Busy weeks are where online ordering pays for itself, because every order arrives with the date, the item and the payment already sorted.

1. Two weeks out: add the seasonal items, such as pumpkin pie and pecan pie, and tick them for pre-orders.
2. Set the date range to the days you'll hand them over, for example the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving, with pickup windows for each.
3. Take payment up front by switching off cash for pickup orders (Lite), so every pie is paid before you bake it.
4. When you're full, switch the pie off. There's no automatic cap per day, so check the Prebookings list and switch items off when your oven is booked.
5. Afterwards, untick the seasonal items and set your normal date range again.

Because the date range is shared, your regular cake pre-orders follow the holiday dates while it's set. Many bakeries pause standard cakes for that week anyway.

Delivery, or pickup only

Most bakeries keep cakes to pickup. If you deliver:

• Your own delivery: a flat fee on every plan; fees by distance or by zone, and free delivery over an amount, on Lite. Distances are set in kilometers (1 mile is about 1.6 km).
• Uber Direct: connect your own Uber Direct account and Uber couriers carry the order. Checkout shows Uber's live fee and the customer pays it. Good for cookie boxes, risky for tiered cakes. Read can I send cakes with a courier.
• Your own drivers with live tracking: the rider app is on Pro, $39 a month.
• Packaging: charge for cake boxes per order, per item, or a set amount for chosen items. It applies to pickup and delivery orders.
• Minimum order: set a minimum for delivery orders. It never applies to pickup.

Allergens and labels in the US

The FDA recognizes nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. Sesame became the ninth on January 1, 2023, under the FASTER Act. Menuthere lets you tag 14 allergens on each item, on every plan, and customers see them when they open it. The list covers the FDA's nine; wheat falls under the Gluten tag. Menuthere doesn't handle "may contain" warnings or allergen filters, so keep a printed chart at the counter too. The free allergen chart maker can load your item allergens from Menuthere.

Calories are optional for most bakeries. FDA menu labeling applies to chains with 20 or more locations. You can still add kcal to each item if you want customers to see them.

What it costs: a worked US example

A neighborhood bakery takes 250 online orders a month at $28 on average: $7,000 of pickup orders, cakes and dozens. Here is the monthly cost on each channel.

App rates are each platform's published commission and exclude any extra fees. Card fees are Stripe's standard US price, paid from your own Stripe account; you'd pay similar fees on any card payment. On pickup the saving is modest, about $125 a month against DoorDash. On delivery it's much bigger, but you then carry the delivery yourself or pass Uber Direct's fee to the customer. Check your own app statements before you decide, and see our DoorDash and Uber Eats commission pages.

Keep the apps if they bring new customers. Put a card in every app order: "Order direct next time" with your link.

Not a fit if

• You need deposits. Menuthere takes full payment at checkout or payment at pickup, not part-payments. For a wedding-cake deposit, send a payment link from your Stripe account and take the balance on pickup.
• You need a daily order cap. There's no automatic limit per day. Use bake days and switch items off when you're full.
• You supply cafes on standing orders or invoice wholesale accounts. Menuthere doesn't do recurring orders or production planning. Use a bakery ERP for that and Menuthere for retail orders.
• Customers must attach an inspiration photo. Checkout takes a written note, not an image. Ask customers to send the photo on WhatsApp or by email.
• You want US sales tax worded as "sales tax" on the bill. Menuthere charges one tax rate per store and labels it GST or VAT. Many bakeries set the rate and explain it on the menu.

Selling from home rather than a shop? Start with the home bakery website. For the bakery website itself, with your home page, photos and own domain, see bakery website and online ordering. Bakery in the UK? See bakery software for UK bakeries.

Set up bakery online ordering

1. Create your store. Find your bakery on Google to fill in your name, address and photos.
2. Add your menu. Import it from a photo or PDF, then split it into daily bakes and celebration cakes.
3. Build your cakes. Add sizes with servings in the name, then required flavor and filling groups, and tag allergens.
4. Set your hours and prep time. Add each day's opening hours and an average prep time for same-day pickup.
5. Turn on pre-orders (Lite). Tick the cakes, then set the notice, bake days, booking window and pickup slots.
6. Connect Stripe (Lite). Customers then pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, and the money goes to your own account.
7. Test both flows. Order a croissant for now and a cake for Saturday, and check both tickets.

Same-day pickup free, cake pre-orders from $17 a month, 0% commission.

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