Pre-orders and table booking
Restaurant pre-order system
Take orders now for a later time — tomorrow's lunch, a Saturday cake, Friday's takeaway — and let guests book a table. Customers pick a slot at checkout, even while you're closed, and pay 0% commission. From $17 a month on Lite.
Pre-orders and table booking start on Lite, with a 14-day free trial.
Not on Google? Create it manually
In short
What a pre-order system does
A pre-order system lets a customer order food now for a later time — a set date and time slot — instead of only ordering for right now. With Menuthere it runs in the phone's browser, so nobody downloads an app, and you pay 0% commission on every order.
It covers three things: ordering ahead for collection or delivery, ordering while your kitchen is closed, and booking a dine-in table with the dishes you let guests pre-order. Pre-orders and table booking start on Lite, $17 a month (billed in US dollars), which has a 14-day free trial. On the Free plan, customers order for as soon as possible.
- Order now, collect or get it delivered later.
- Order while you're closed, for a slot inside your opening hours.
- Book a dine-in table and pre-order the dishes you allow.
- 0% commission on Free, Lite and Pro.
- No app to download — it runs in the browser.
How it works
Set up pre-orders in three steps
Prebooking lives in Settings › Ordering › Prebooking settings. Here is the whole set-up.
- 1
Switch on Prebooking
Turn it on in Prebooking settings and choose fixed time ranges — such as lunch 12:00–14:00 and dinner 17:00–21:00 — or rolling slots counted from now, such as ready in 30 minutes.
- 2
Set the rules
Choose how far ahead customers can book, how much notice you need, and which dishes need notice. A celebration cake can need a day; a sandwich needs none. See prebooking settings.
- 3
Turn on orders while closed
Let your menu keep its Add buttons when you're shut, so a customer can order at 10pm for 8am. Every slot offered falls inside your opening hours. See take pre-orders while closed.
- 4
Add table booking (optional)
Switch on dine-in slot booking so guests reserve a table for a date and time, say how many are coming, and pre-order the dishes you allow. See table booking.
- 5
Prepare on time
Pre-orders collect in the Prebookings tab, with the ones due within the hour at the top. They ring on the partner app when they arrive, and kitchen tickets show the time the order is for.
Who uses it
What food businesses pre-sell
Pre-orders suit any kitchen that makes to order or sells for a set time.
| Business | What they pre-sell |
|---|---|
| Cafés and sandwich shops | Morning coffee and office lunches, ready at a set time. |
| Bakeries and cake makers | Celebration cakes, festival orders and weekend bread, with a day's notice where needed. |
| Takeaways | Friday-night orders placed at lunchtime, before the rush. |
| Pubs and bars | A Sunday roast with a table booking, or a party menu for a booked slot. |
| Caterers and meal prep | Weekly orders by a cut-off day. See Menuthere for caterers. |
A listed pre-order dish schedules on its own: a basket mixing a notice-only dish with same-day items is split at checkout, because one order carries one slot.
While you're closed
Keep taking orders overnight
With pre-orders switched on, your menu keeps its Add buttons after your working hours close it. A customer browsing at 11pm can order lunch for tomorrow; the checkout then forces a slot, and every slot it offers falls inside the hours you are open. Nobody can order "now" from a kitchen that is dark.
Your own manual switch still wins. If you set the shop to not taking orders, the store stays browse-only — pre-orders do not reopen it. The same is true for an order type you have switched off, or one with no bookable slot in the next 30 days.
- Add buttons stay on after hours, for later slots only.
- Every offered slot sits inside your opening hours.
- Your "not taking orders" switch keeps the store browse-only.
- Table orders are for now, at the table — never pre-ordered.
Compare
Pre-ordering with Menuthere vs the alternatives
How taking pre-orders on your own menu compares with a delivery app and a dedicated reservation system. The last column is Menuthere.
| Compare | Delivery apps | Reservation systems | Menuthere (Lite) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission on the order | 15–30% per delivery order (DoorDash US tiers) | Usually none, but a per-cover fee applies | 0% on every order |
| Monthly cost | Often $0 up front, paid as commission | From $149 a month plus per-cover fees (OpenTable US) | $17 a month on Lite, billed in US dollars |
| Order ahead for a slot | Scheduled delivery on some apps | No — reservations, not food orders | Yes: fixed or rolling slots, with notice per dish |
| Order while you're closed | No | Not applicable | Yes, for a slot inside your opening hours |
| Table booking with a pre-order | No | Table booking, but not your food pre-order | Book a dine-in slot and pre-order allowed dishes |
| Whose customer it is | The app's | Shared with the platform | Yours: your menu, your link, your data |
| App to download | Yes, for the diner | Often yes | No — it runs in the phone's browser |
Delivery commission: DoorDash's published US tiers are 15%, 25% and 30% (DoorDash, read 25 October 2026). Reservation cost: OpenTable's US plans start at $149 a month with per-cover fees (OpenTable, read 25 October 2026). Menuthere takes 0% commission; card fees go to your payment provider.
An example
A bakery's festival weekend
A bakery takes 80 cake pre-orders for collection on one Saturday, each needing two days' notice. Before, the orders came on paper and by phone, with names missed and cakes double-booked.
With pre-orders, each customer picks a 15-minute collection slot and can pay online by card (Lite, through your own payment provider). The Prebookings list shows what to bake each day, and on the Saturday bags go out in slot order. Menuthere takes 0% commission on all 80 orders; card fees go to the payment provider. An illustration, not a real bakery's figures.
Good to know
What it doesn't do yet
No booking deposits or no-show fees. To cut no-shows, take card payment up front for pre-ordered food (from Lite you can switch off cash for an order type), or send the guest a payment link.
No table plan or waitlist. It is slot-based booking built into your menu, not a full reservation system like OpenTable or Resy. If you need a floor plan and a waitlist, pair Menuthere's ordering with a dedicated tool.
Which plan has it
Pre-orders start on Lite
Free — $0
50 orders a month, 0% commission, your menu and ordering website. Customers order for as soon as possible; no pre-order slots.
Lite — $17 a month
Everything in Free, plus Prebooking: pre-orders, orders while closed and table booking. Your own domain and online payments. 14-day free trial.
Pro — $39 a month
Everything in Lite, plus WhatsApp on your own number, loyalty, reviews and your own riders. See pricing.
Questions owners ask
Answered, plainly.
Sources (2) · checked 2026-10-25
- DoorDash partnership plans and pricing · DoorDash for Merchants, 25 October 2026
- OpenTable restaurant pricing plans · OpenTable, 25 October 2026
Start taking pre-orders
Build your menu and ordering website, switch on Prebooking, and take orders for later and table bookings. Pre-orders start on Lite, $17 a month, with a 14-day free trial and 0% commission.
