Order Scheduling

Scheduled ordering lets customers book a collection or delivery for a later time instead of right now. This article explains how TypeMenu decides which time slots to offer, how slot capacity works, and what happens to a scheduled order once placed. For the settings themselves see Ordering Settings.

How scheduling works

Every scheduled order carries an expected time: when it should be ready for collection, or ready to leave for delivery. Customers pick it from a list of 15-minute slots, and TypeMenu only offers slots your kitchen can actually hit.

Timing is controlled from Settings → Ordering → Timing & Scheduling:

• Timing Mode: ASAP Only (the default), Scheduled Only, or ASAP & Scheduled
• Maximum Advance Booking: how far ahead customers can book (2 hours up to +30 days; the default is 2 hours)
• Minimum Notice Required: the earliest a slot can be (defaults to your prep time)
• Collection Prep Time (minutes) and Delivery Prep Time (minutes): default 15 and 30
• Slot Capacity: Max Collection Orders per Slot and Max Delivery Orders per Slot

Turning scheduling on

1. Go to Settings → Ordering and open Timing & Scheduling.
2. Set Timing Mode to ASAP & Scheduled or Scheduled Only.
3. Choose a Maximum Advance Booking and a Minimum Notice Required.
4. Check your prep times are realistic; they set the earliest slot and the last slot before closing.
5. Optionally set Slot Capacity for collection and delivery.
6. Make sure each location, and any delivery zone with custom hours, has opening hours set. Slots are only generated from configured hours.

How slots are generated

When a customer opens the schedule picker (Select Time on the menu, or Change scheduled time at checkout), TypeMenu builds the list fresh for that cart:

1. Pick the right hours. Collection uses the location’s opening hours. Delivery uses the delivery zone’s hours; a zone inherits its location’s hours unless you give it custom hours.
2. Work out the earliest slot. With Minimum Notice Required on its default, this is now plus the total prep time (for delivery, prep plus the zone’s travel time). 2 hours and 4 hours add that much to now. Tomorrow, 2 days, 3 days and 7 days jump to the start of that calendar day. The result is rounded up to the next 15-minute mark.
3. Work out the latest slot. 2 hours is now plus two hours; Today is the end of today; +N days is the end of the day N days from now.
4. Step through in 15-minute increments, keeping only slots that pass the rules below, then remove full slots if you have set slot capacity.

If the earliest possible slot is already past the latest allowed one, the picker shows No Available Time Slots.

The rules every slot must pass

• Collection: slot time plus collection prep time must still fall inside the location’s opening hours, so the order is ready before you close.
• Delivery: slot time plus the zone’s travel time must fall inside the zone’s hours. Zone hours are the latest drop-off time, not the latest time to leave the kitchen.
• Holidays and exceptions: a date marked closed produces no slots; a partial-day closure removes the affected slots; recurring holidays apply every year. See Locations.
• Future only: a slot that passes while the customer is still browsing is rejected with “The scheduled time you chose has already passed. Please pick a new time.”

Slot capacity

Slot Capacity limits how many scheduled orders can share one 15-minute window, set separately for collection and delivery (1 to 100, blank for unlimited). TypeMenu counts the scheduled orders already booked for that exact expected time, ignoring cancelled and abandoned orders, and hides the slot once the count reaches your limit.

The check runs twice: when the picker is built, and again when the order is placed. If two customers race for the last space, the second sees “Sorry, the slot you chose has just filled up. Please pick another time.”

Cancelling a scheduled order frees its space straight away. ASAP orders are not counted against slot capacity.

Products and scheduling

Each product has two switches in its Availability section: Available for ASAP orders and Available for scheduled orders. If a customer switches their cart between ASAP and scheduled, any product not available for the new mode is removed with the message “Removed from cart — not available for scheduled orders: …”.

Worked examples

Collection before closing. You close at 22:00 and Collection Prep Time is 15 minutes. A 21:45 slot is ready at 22:00, so 21:45 is the last slot offered. If you raise prep time to 20 minutes, 21:45 would be ready at 22:05, so the last slot becomes 21:30.

Delivery into a zone. Your zone closes at 23:00 and its travel time is 20 minutes. A 22:30 slot arrives at 22:50, so it is offered. A 22:45 slot would arrive at 23:05, after the zone closes, so 22:30 is the last delivery slot.

Earliest slot versus ASAP. It is 18:02, Delivery Prep Time is 30 minutes and the zone’s travel time is 20 minutes. With default minimum notice, the 50-minute lead time rounds up to 60, so the first scheduled slot is 19:15 (19:02 rounded up to the 15-minute grid). An ASAP order placed at the same moment gets an expected time of 18:05 (now rounded up to 5 minutes) plus 50, which is 18:55.

What customers see

• With ASAP & Scheduled, the menu offers ASAP or Select Time, which opens Schedule Your Order. With Scheduled Only, the storefront shows Advance booking required instead.
• The picker shows a hint such as “Orders need at least 2 hours notice” or “Orders need to be placed at least 1 day in advance”.
• The cart and checkout show Collection scheduled for: or Delivery scheduled for: with a Change link, and the confirmation page labels the time Scheduled Collection or Scheduled Delivery.

How scheduled orders appear to your team

• The Orders page has a Scheduled tab listing active orders whose scheduled time is still in the future. The Expected column shows the booked time, and a Late marker appears once an active order passes it. See Orders.
• The kitchen display shows a countdown to the expected time on each ticket. It changes colour in the last five minutes, then shows LATE and pulses once the time has passed. See Kitchen Display.
• You can edit the expected time on the order if the customer agrees a new time.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Customers see “No Available Time Slots”

• The location (or zone with custom hours) has no opening hours set.
• Minimum Notice Required pushes the first slot past Maximum Advance Booking; 3 days notice with +2 days booking can never produce a slot.
• Prep or travel time is so long that no slot fits before closing.
• The date is a holiday exception, or every remaining slot is full.

Can I change the slot length?

No. Slots are always 15 minutes apart.

Can I set different prep times for busy periods or per day?

No. There is one collection prep time and one delivery prep time per business, applied at all times.

Can I limit slots per product, or per day rather than per 15 minutes?

No. Capacity is per 15-minute slot and per order type only.

When is a scheduled order charged?

Card payments are taken when the order is placed, the same as ASAP orders.

A customer wants to move their order to a different slot

Customers cannot reschedule after placing an order. Agree the new time with them and edit the expected time on the order, or cancel and ask them to reorder.

Related

• Ordering Settings — timing mode, advance booking and minimum notice options
• Locations — opening hours and holiday exceptions
• Delivery Zones — zone hours and travel time
• Orders — the Scheduled tab and editing expected times
• Kitchen Display — countdown timers on tickets