Advance Orders
Advance Orders is for regular guests who call or message ahead — "we're arriving at 8pm, please have our usual ready." Staff log the guest, arrival time, pre-ordered dishes and any special instructions here, so the kitchen gets a prep notice before the guest even walks in.
Overview
Each advance order moves through a fixed status flow: Pending → Confirmed → Preparing → Ready → Fulfilled, with Cancelled reachable from any non-final status via a "Cancel" button.
An order card turns urgent (red border and an "⚠ ARRIVING SOON" tag) once the guest's arrival time is within 45 minutes and the order is not yet Fulfilled or Cancelled.
The "Send to Kitchen" action (available once an order is Confirmed) simply advances its status to Preparing — it does not create separate KOTs in this screen; use it as the trigger to have your kitchen start on the pre-ordered items.
Guest Name supports the same customer search/autocomplete used elsewhere in the app — selecting an existing customer auto-fills their phone number; typing a new name still saves fine as free text.
Items are searched the same way as in billing (via the shared item search box) or typed freely — each line has its own quantity.
A "Prep List" print action compiles every active (non-cancelled, non-fulfilled) order for the selected date, sorted by arrival time, into a single printable sheet listing each guest, their items and any special instructions — handy for a single kitchen briefing covering all of that day's advance orders at once.
The stats row shows Total Orders, Total Pax, Arriving Soon (orders whose guest arrives within the next hour) and Confirmed count for the selected date; an "Arriving Soon" alert banner also appears above the filter bar when applicable.
If a Bill Order action is wired up by the surrounding app (passed in as an onCheckout handler), a "Bill Order" button appears on active orders to hand the order straight to billing — this is optional and depends on how the page is embedded.
Before You Start
- You must have the Billing feature enabled on your plan.
Step-by-Step Guide
1 Log a new advance order
- Open Events & Banquet → Advance Orders and click "New Order".
- Search for or type the Guest Name (selecting an existing customer auto-fills Phone) and confirm/edit the Phone.
- Set the Date, Arrival Time and Pax, and optionally a Table number if you already know where they'll sit.
- Add one or more Pre-ordered Items by searching or typing a dish name and quantity — use "+ Add item" for more lines.
- Add any Special Instructions (dietary needs, seating preference, occasion) and click "Create Order".
2 Confirm and send an order to the kitchen
- On a Pending order, click "→ Confirmed" to acknowledge the guest's request.
- Once confirmed, click "Send to Kitchen" — this moves the order to Preparing so the kitchen knows to start.
- When the food is ready, click "→ Ready", and once the guest has arrived and been served, click "→ Fulfilled".
3 Print today's prep list
- Set the date picker to the day you want (defaults to today) and click "Prep List".
- A print window opens listing every active order for that date sorted by arrival time, with items and any special instructions — hand this sheet to the kitchen for a single briefing.
4 Search and filter orders
- Use the search box to filter by guest name or phone number as you type.
- Use the status chips (All / Pending / Confirmed / Preparing / Ready / Fulfilled / Cancelled) to narrow the list further — each chip shows a live count.
Every Field & Button, Explained
| Field / Button | What it does |
|---|---|
Guest Name / Phone | Guest Name is required. Searching an existing customer auto-fills Phone; typing a new name is accepted as free text without creating a customer record. |
Date / Arrival Time / Pax | Date defaults to today. Arrival Time drives the "arriving soon" urgency flag and countdown shown on each card (e.g. "in 25m" or "45m overdue"). |
Table (optional) | Free text — leave blank to assign a table later at the time of arrival. |
Pre-ordered Items | One or more lines, each with a Quantity and a dish name (searched via the shared item search or typed freely); at least one item with a name is required to save. |
Special Instructions | Free text for dietary needs, seating preferences or occasion — shown on the order card and included on the printed prep list. |
Status | Pending → Confirmed → Preparing → Ready → Fulfilled, advanced one stage via the card button; Cancelled is available from any status except Fulfilled/Cancelled itself. |
Tips & Best Practices
- Confirm orders as soon as you take the call so they don't sit in Pending — only Confirmed orders show the "Send to Kitchen" action.
- Print the Prep List once in the morning (or per shift) rather than reading through individual cards — it consolidates every active order for the day into one sheet, sorted by arrival time.
- Keep Special Instructions specific and short — they appear directly on the printed prep list alongside the item list, so the kitchen sees them at a glance.