Scheduled Orders

Overview

Scheduled orders allow customers to place orders for future pickup or delivery times instead of ASAP.

Key Purpose: Enable advance ordering for future times.

Purpose

This feature lets customers place online orders for future pickup or delivery times by selecting from available time slots calculated from business hours and order capacity.

Key Concepts

Time Slots: Generated from business hours (or custom availability schedule) at intervals set by time_slot_duration_min (default 30 minutes), filtered by order capacity limits
Per-Channel Scheduling: Each channel (pickup/delivery) has independent enable/disable toggles and days-in-advance limits (max 365 days)
Capacity Checking: Available timeslots are validated against order capacity using database locking with retries (up to 3 attempts, 200ms between) to prevent double-booking
Send to POS Timing: The send_to_pos setting controls whether scheduled orders appear on KDS immediately upon placement or are held until the scheduled pickup/delivery time
Custom Scheduled Orders: Advanced mode with hours_in_advance and minutes_before_pickup_delivery_time thresholds for fine-grained control of when orders are sent to KDS

Actions

Enable Scheduled Pickup Orders

Toggle schedule_order_for_future_days.takeout.enabled and set days_in_advance (1-365) to allow customers to schedule pickup orders.

Enable Scheduled Delivery Orders

Toggle schedule_order_for_future_days.delivery.enabled and set days_in_advance (1-365) independently from pickup scheduling.

Configure Accept Orders Until

Choose "Closing Time" or "Closing Time Minus Prep Time" to control when the last time slot is available before the restaurant closes.

Enable Custom Availability

Toggle custom availability to define specific hours when scheduled orders are accepted, overriding the default business hours.

Configure Send to POS Behavior

Set send_to_pos to "pickup_delivery_time" (hold until scheduled time) or "order_placed" (send immediately). For custom scheduled orders, set hours_in_advance and minutes_before_pickup_delivery_time thresholds.

Location

Backoffice Route: /pickup-and-delivery/online-ordering
Vue Component: src/views/pickup-and-delivery/online-ordering/forms/FullfilmentAndScheduling.vue

Fields

Takeout Scheduling

Property	Value
Field ID	`schedule_order_for_future_days.takeout.enabled`
Label	Allow Scheduled Pickup
Type	Toggle
Default	true

Description: Allow customers to schedule pickup orders.

Takeout Days in Advance

Property	Value
Field ID	`schedule_order_for_future_days.takeout.days_in_advance`
Label	Days in Advance
Type	Number
Default	30
Min	0
Max	365

Description: How many days ahead customers can schedule.

Delivery Scheduling

Property	Value
Field ID	`schedule_order_for_future_days.delivery.enabled`
Label	Allow Scheduled Delivery
Type	Toggle
Default	false

Description: Allow customers to schedule delivery orders.

Delivery Days in Advance

Property	Value
Field ID	`schedule_order_for_future_days.delivery.days_in_advance`
Label	Days in Advance
Type	Number
Default	30
Min	0
Max	365

Description: How many days ahead customers can schedule delivery.

Time Slot Generation

Accept Orders Until

Property	Value
Field ID	`accept_orders_until`
Label	Accept Orders Until
Type	Select
Options	Closing Time, Closing Time Minus Prep Time
Default	Closing Time

Description: When to stop accepting orders.

Options:

Closing Time: Accept orders until closing
Closing Time Minus Prep Time: Stop accepting before closing to allow prep

Custom Availability

Property	Value
Field ID	`custom_availability`
Label	Custom Availability
Type	Toggle
Default	false

Description: Use custom schedule instead of business hours.

Business Logic

Time Slot Generation

Customer selects date
    │
    ▼
Get business hours for that day
    │
    ▼
Custom availability enabled?
├── Yes → Use custom schedule
└── No → Use business hours
    │
    ▼
Generate time slots based on:
- Time slot duration (from order capacity)
- Available capacity per slot
- Accept orders until setting
    │
    ▼
Filter out:
- Past time slots (for today)
- Fully booked slots
- Restricted dates
    │
    ▼
Return available time slots

Order Processing

Scheduled order placed
    │
    ▼
Store with scheduled time
    │
    ▼
Send to POS setting?
├── Pickup/Delivery Time → Hold until scheduled time
└── Immediately → Send now, mark as scheduled
    │
    ▼
KDS shows order at appropriate time

Business Rules

Past time slots are filtered out for today's date; fully booked slots are excluded based on order capacity limits
Days with no business hours or marked as restricted dates are unavailable for selection in the customer-facing date picker
The system uses database locking with retries to prevent double-booking of capacity slots during concurrent order submissions
Kiosk and dine-in (ForHere) orders bypass the time slot capacity system entirely and always use the current time
Prep time is calculated as: location average prep time + channel delay (delivery or pickup) + maximum individual item prep time, capped at 24 hours (1440 minutes)

FAQs

"Can scheduled orders be enabled for delivery but not pickup?" Yes, each channel has independent enabled and days_in_advance settings. You can enable one without the other.
"What happens if a time slot fills up while a customer is selecting it?" The backend checks capacity at order submission time using database locks. If the slot is full, the system attempts to find the next available slot or split across adjacent slots.
"How often are available time slots refreshed?" The available timeslots endpoint caches results for 60 seconds. Cache is cleared when a new transaction is processed for that location.
"What does 'Closing Time Minus Prep Time' mean?" It stops accepting orders earlier than closing time to ensure the kitchen has enough prep time before close. The last slot is offset by the average prep time.
"When does a scheduled order appear on the KDS?" Depends on send_to_pos: with "pickup_delivery_time" it appears near the scheduled time; with "order_placed" it appears immediately. Custom scheduled orders add further control via hours_in_advance thresholds.

Troubleshooting

No time slots available for a day → Check that the location has business hours configured for that day and that the day is not marked as a restricted date. Also verify order capacity limits are not set to zero.
Scheduled order not appearing on KDS → Check the send_to_pos setting. If set to "pickup_delivery_time," the order is held until near the scheduled time. If set to "order_placed," it should appear immediately.
Customer seeing "slot full" error → The time slot has reached its order capacity limit. Increase the limit in Order Capacity settings, or the customer can try a different time slot.
Days in advance not working → Verify schedule_order_for_future_days is enabled for the correct channel (takeout or delivery) and that days_in_advance is set to a value greater than 0.

Customer Impact

Online Ordering

Date picker for future dates
Time slot selection
Shows available slots only
Confirmation shows scheduled time

Kiosk

Option for ASAP or scheduled
Date/time selection
Slot availability shown

Time Slot UI

╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗
║  When would you like your order?      ║
╠═══════════════════════════════════════╣
║                                       ║
║  📅 Today, Dec 5                      ║
║                                       ║
║  ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ║
║  │  12:00  │ │  12:15  │ │  12:30  │ ║
║  └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ ║
║  ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ║
║  │  12:45  │ │  13:00  │ │  13:15  │ ║
║  └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ ║
║                                       ║
║  📅 Tomorrow, Dec 6                   ║
║  📅 Saturday, Dec 7                   ║
║  📅 Sunday, Dec 8                     ║
║                                       ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝

Relations

Depends On

Business Hours: Available times
Order Capacity: Slot duration and limits
Restricted Dates: Blocked dates

Affects

Transactions: Scheduled time stored
KDS: Order timing
Reports: Scheduled vs ASAP orders

Examples

Pickup Scheduling Enabled

json

{
  "schedule_order_for_future_days": {
    "takeout": {
      "enabled": true,
      "days_in_advance": 30
    },
    "delivery": {
      "enabled": false,
      "days_in_advance": 30
    }
  }
}

Both Enabled

json

{
  "schedule_order_for_future_days": {
    "takeout": {
      "enabled": true,
      "days_in_advance": 7
    },
    "delivery": {
      "enabled": true,
      "days_in_advance": 3
    }
  }
}

Available Time Slots Response

json

{
  "date": "2024-12-05",
  "time_slots": [
    { "time": "12:00", "available": true, "capacity": 3 },
    { "time": "12:15", "available": true, "capacity": 2 },
    { "time": "12:30", "available": false, "capacity": 0 },
    { "time": "12:45", "available": true, "capacity": 3 }
  ]
}

Scheduled Order

json

{
  "order": {
    "id": "order-123",
    "dining_option": "Pickup",
    "is_asap": false,
    "order_date": "2024-12-06 14:30",
    "items": [...],
    "status": "scheduled"
  }
}

Scheduled Orders ​

Overview ​

Purpose ​

Key Concepts ​

Actions ​

Enable Scheduled Pickup Orders ​

Enable Scheduled Delivery Orders ​

Configure Accept Orders Until ​

Enable Custom Availability ​

Configure Send to POS Behavior ​

Location ​

Fields ​

Takeout Scheduling ​

Takeout Days in Advance ​

Delivery Scheduling ​

Delivery Days in Advance ​

Time Slot Generation ​

Accept Orders Until ​

Custom Availability ​

Business Logic ​

Time Slot Generation ​

Order Processing ​

Business Rules ​

FAQs ​

Troubleshooting ​

Customer Impact ​

Online Ordering ​

Kiosk ​

Time Slot UI ​

Relations ​

Depends On ​

Affects ​

Related Features ​

Examples ​

Pickup Scheduling Enabled ​

Both Enabled ​

Available Time Slots Response ​

Scheduled Order ​

Scheduled Orders

Overview

Purpose

Key Concepts

Actions

Enable Scheduled Pickup Orders

Enable Scheduled Delivery Orders

Configure Accept Orders Until

Enable Custom Availability

Configure Send to POS Behavior

Location

Fields

Takeout Scheduling

Takeout Days in Advance

Delivery Scheduling

Delivery Days in Advance

Time Slot Generation

Accept Orders Until

Custom Availability

Business Logic

Time Slot Generation

Order Processing

Business Rules

FAQs

Troubleshooting

Customer Impact

Online Ordering

Kiosk

Time Slot UI

Relations

Depends On

Affects

Related Features

Examples

Pickup Scheduling Enabled

Both Enabled

Available Time Slots Response

Scheduled Order