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Operators eye advance-order functions
Advance ordering can help boost sales, but operators need to ensure they aren't caught by surprise.
October 30, 2007
Years ago, a large order for a school pizza party or other catering event usually was handled by means of a note in the pizzeria logbook or taped to the point-of-sale system. Occasionally, those notes got lost or overlooked, resulting in chaos when the customer came looking for their order.
Today, the POS system at many pizzerias accepts orders days or even weeks in advance as one way to ensure the order doesn't get lost in a pile of papers on the manager's desk.
"We can take orders up to two months in advance," said Paul Knaysi, owner of Pablo's Pizza in Grand Junction, Colo. "Sometimes we get a (sales rep) who knows they will be in town in a month, and will put their current order plus a future order in at the same time."
Often, customers placing large orders simply want a repeat of their previous order, Knaysi said. His POS system, supplied by Lynden, Wash.-based SpeedLine Solutions Inc., keeps track of a customer's previous order, eliminating the need to go through the process each time that customer calls.
"(The reps) love the fact that we have their previous 20 orders in our system," he said. "It saves time and they don't have to remember what they ordered last time for the office."
Many companies have combined advance-ordering capability with online ordering, allowing customers to place advance orders via the Internet.
Papa John's introduced advance ordering for all of its restaurants in March 2006. Domino's and Pizza Hut quickly followed suit.
"Before launching this 24/7 platform, online ordering only was available during restaurant operating hours, generally 10 a.m. to midnight eastern time, putting us out of reach for our customers at a time when they might be thinking of placing a plan-ahead order," said Papa John's president and CEO Nigel Travis in March 2006.
Being prepared
Although many POS systems offer some form of advance-ordering capability, operators need to think about several factors when considering a POS purchase, said Jennifer Wiebe, SpeedLine marketing manager.
"Some POS systems will allow you to defer an order, but don't give you any way to recall or edit those deferred orders – or any tools to plan for them," Wiebe said.
SpeedLine's system, for example, offers the ability to go in and make changes to advance orders.
"If the order is for a large pizza later tonight, that's no big deal," she said. "But if you're deferring multiple large catering or school orders, you need a way to recall and make changes to those orders."
An unexpected catering order popping up in the middle of a busy Friday night can send an operation into chaos, Wiebe said.
The system allows operators to print a deferred order-production report they could use for purchasing and prep planning, ultimately enabling them to plan more efficiently to handle those orders.
"You need a production report, forecast and prep plan to ensure that you're staffed and stocked to handle the orders," Wiebe said. "And on a busy night, it really helps to have a reminder prompt you in advance to make sure that you're ready for a big order that's coming up."
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