How To Set Up An Online Ordering System For Your Restaurant

Add new item to Square For Restaurants online ordering site.

You may not want to offer all your dine-in items online. For example, you may not want to list cocktails for takeout and delivery. Most POS systems allow you to choose whether to offer items in-person and online or restrict items to in-person purchases only by checking off the available ordering type.

Edit menu item fulfillment method on Square online ordering site.

When editing items for takeout and delivery, you’ll also choose an estimated prep time to give customers an idea of how long they’ll wait for their order, decide whether customers can pre-order items, choose item pairings, add modifiers such as available toppings or dressing, whether customers can enter special requests, and include silverware options. Larger restaurants using franchise POS systems will also need to decide which locations menu items are available.

Restaurants may also create a specific catering menu, seasonal menus, and limited-time menus for takeout and delivery.

Choose takeout settings for a Square For Restaurants website.

Most restaurant POS systems guide you through setting up takeout and delivery. When choosing your takeout and delivery settings, you’ll need to make decisions about:

• Minimum and maximum order limits (e.g., “must spend at least $10 for delivery”)
• How far in advance customers can place orders
• Online ordering limits so staff won’t get overwhelmed by an influx of orders
• Restricting online ordering hours so staff have time for opening and closing
• Curbside pickup option (customers call or text when they arrive)
• Delivery and service fees, including rules for free delivery
• Delivery through your couriers and/or a third-party delivery service

If you don’t have the manpower to deliver orders, you have several options. POS system providers such as Square For Restaurants and Toast POS offer delivery services through an on-demand network of delivery drivers. You can also integrate your POS system with delivery services like DoorDash and GrubHub.

Read our Square For Restaurants review and our Toast POS review for more information on each provider’s feature set.

Customize Square For Restaurants online ordering site for an Indian restaurant.

Most POS systems with online ordering allow you to customize your online ordering site with drag-and-drop elements such as a single item page, featured items section, and your brand assets (such as logo and brand colors).

The level of customization often depends on your plan level and restaurant offerings, but most users can customize a restaurant’s:

• Address and hours for all locations
• Online ordering website domain name
• Branding such as site colors, fonts, and images
• Website URLs and page descriptions
• Social media links
• Driver tip percentages
• Featured/related item sections and daily specials
• Catering and event information requests/ordering pages
• Loyalty program signup page
• Email marketing signup section and popup placement
• Multiple location display (if applicable)
• Curbside pickup instructions (if applicable)
• eGift card purchase and redemption options
• Customer reviews for single items or an establishment in general
• Franchise information and contact forms
• Food truck locations (if applicable)
• Pre-ordering functionalities and instructions
• Upcoming event listings

We highly recommend incorporating an easy-to-customize loyalty program signup page. For example, the Toast POS loyalty program signup page below has its own webpage URL that was then linked to the restaurant’s dedicated online ordering website as well as marketing texts/emails.

Example of a customizable Toast Loyalty program signup page that connects to a Toast online ordering site.

The restaurant owner uploaded their business’s brand assets (name, logo, and background images) and custom loyalty program details.

We recommend these best loyalty programs for gaining repeat customers.

Online order display settings on Lightspeed Restaurant POS device.

You’ll need to route online orders through your POS system so that staff can receive, start, and complete orders efficiently.

To route online orders to your POS devices, you need to either install your restaurant POS app on an iPad or Android to create a tablet POS system or get a POS device with the restaurant software already installed on it. From there, you may have to route online orders to one specific POS device or you can view online orders on all devices. From your POS, you can choose to receive audible notifications when an online order comes in and have the ability to update an order’s status to “received”, “in progress”, and “complete.”

The following are some customization options to consider when setting up online order routing on your POS:

• Accept and print online orders at the POS automatically or require manual approval
• View in-house and third-party delivery platform orders through your POS
• Add POS notifications for when customers text upon arrival at a curbside pickup spot
• Change notification settings so kitchen staff don’t miss any incoming orders (increase notification volumes, add flashing notifications, etc.)
• Add more order status choices such as “ready for pickup”, “picked up”, “ready for delivery”, and “delivered”
• View customer information on orders
• Display time left to complete an order based on the quoted pickup time
• Customer communication capabilities from the POS
• Always print a kitchen ticket for orders or print manually when needed

To get printed kitchen tickets, connect your POS app to a compatible kitchen printer.

We believe that Lightspeed Restaurant offers intuitive online order management with a clean user interface. Read our Lightspeed Restaurant POS review for more on this POS system’s excellent order management features.

Revel Systems kitchen display system displaying online orders from third-party delivery platforms including DoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates, and Uber Eats.

Kitchen display systems are software and hardware that, when combined, remove the necessity of printed kitchen tickets, speed up order efficiency, and ensure that orders are correct and passed off to the right customers every time.

To route orders through KDS devices, you have to install your KDS software on an appropriate screen (Android screen, iPad, or proprietary KDS screen) and connect it to your POS account to view and complete online orders that come through your POS system.

KDS customization options include:

• Create prep and expo station KDS screens
• Mark orders as completed when the order is ready to go or when it’s picked up/delivered
• Change ticket layouts to optimize space but still get the necessary information across
• View modifier and special request information on tickets
• Change the language of KDS tickets (great for multi-lingual kitchen staff)
• Incorporate ticket color coding so staff know if an order item is late
• View pickup and delivery methods (Uber Eats, DoorDash, etc.)
• View customer and/or driver information within tickets

KDS screens are an important part of good quick-serve POS systems. Expo screens are excellent for restaurants that need drive-thru POS systems to accept orders at the counter, at drive-thru windows, and online.

We believe that Revel Systems offers one of the best KDS software products. Read our Revel Systems POS review for more on how this well-built restaurant management software can benefit your business.

Add pickup and delivery channels through the Square Online dashboard.

Most restaurant POS systems allow you to directly integrate your POS and KDS devices with the best third-party delivery services including DoorDash, Postmates, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. To integrate with these online delivery apps and get more online exposure, you will need to either find a POS system like Lightspeed Restaurant that has built-in integrations or find a third-party order aggregator like Chowly or Otter that will combine all your third-party delivery platform orders, then send them to your POS and KDS devices in a more streamlined way.

POS systems like Square and Toast also allow you to connect to Order With Google, a Google service that includes a link to your online ordering page from your Google Business Profile listing so customers can order directly from your local search listing. To do this, you must find a POS system that integrates with Order With Google or software like Deliverect that will integrate with Google and your POS system.

Example of Square POS Order with Google integration for an Indian restaurant.

Once you find a POS system that allows you to list your menu on all ordering platforms you want, you’ll need to provide your account credentials for both your POS system and your business profiles on delivery service platforms. From there, you’ll go through an onboarding process to get your menu set up and launch your restaurant on an online platform.

Set up Uber Eats integration on Toast POS.

Note: You may need to adjust your menu and fees to account for third-party platform fees charged to restaurants. You can also remove the delivery fee for customers and change your prices slightly to account for the “free” delivery.

Finally, add your online ordering link to your social media accounts so users who find you can easily locate your online ordering site from Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and other platforms.

To create a free online ordering system for restaurants, use a free restaurant POS system like Square POS, which offers a free online ordering platform along with free POS software.

Read our Square POS review to help you decide whether this restaurant POS is right for you.

Make sure your online ordering platform is visible on your website and social media accounts, works well for users, and offers perks like free delivery and special discounts to get customers to order online.