What is an online ordering system?

July 2, 2019 — Cloudwaitress

An online food ordering system is software that allows restaurant businesses to accept and manage orders placed via a website or mobile app

Definition

An online food ordering system can be defined as software that allows restaurant businesses to accept and manage orders placed over the internet.

Online ordering systems generally consists of 2 main components. First is a website or mobile app for hungry customers to view the restaurant’s dishes and place an online order. Second is an admin management interface for the restaurants to receive and manage the customer’s orders.

Website & App

demo-store-dishes

The customer ordering website or app will generally have several key requirements to function adequately. These requirements are:

  • Accessible across all devices from tablets to PCs.
  • Easily search the restaurant’s menu and see what is available
  • Configure their order type such as delivery or pickup
  • Choose when they would like to receive the order
  • Make online payments via credit card, bank transfer, etc.
  • Stay up to date on the status of the orders they have placed
  • View all their past orders and quickly re-order their favourite items

Admin Management Interface

admin-order-management-board

The admin management interface is a crucial part of an online ordering system. It’s responsible for notifying the restaurants of new orders and helping them manage the order fulfilment process. The key requirements of this are:

  • Accessible across all devices for easy use in-store and on the move
  • Real-time order management interface that allows restaurants to see which orders to prepare
  • The ability to have staff accounts to restrict access for staff usage
  • Easy to understand settings and configuration options to tune the system
  • An array of notification methods to keep the restaurant up to date on new orders

Trying An Online Ordering System

What better place to start then this site right here. CloudWaitress is an all-in-one online ordering system that checks all the above requirements and more. Register for free and start accepting orders today.