Smarter Scheduled Ordering: Introducing Prep Time Influence on Store Hours
At Order with Flavor (formerly Kyoo), we're constantly refining our platform to help restaurants deliver realistic promises to their customers while optimizing operations. Today, we're excited to announce a powerful enhancement to our Scheduled Ordering feature that gives you even more control over your order fulfillment timing.
The Challenge: Opening Time vs. Ready Time
Here's a scenario that many restaurants face: Your store opens at 10:00am, and your average order prep time is 10 minutes. A customer schedules an order for 10:00am pickup—your opening time. But realistically, how can an order placed at 10:00am be ready at 10:00am when it takes 10 minutes to prepare?
This disconnect between opening time and actual order readiness can lead to frustrated customers waiting longer than expected, overwhelmed staff scrambling to catch up, and a rocky start to your business day. Until now, restaurants had to manually adjust their scheduled ordering slots or accept this inherent timing conflict.
The Solution: Apply Order Prep Time To Store Hours Start Time
Our new setting elegantly solves this problem by allowing you to automatically factor in your prep time when determining the first available scheduled ordering slot.
How It Works
Located in Store Settings → Scheduled Ordering, the new "Apply Order Prep Time To Store Hours Start Time" setting gives you two operational modes:
When Enabled (Recommended for Most Operations): Your store's average order prep time is automatically added to your opening time to calculate the first available pickup slot.
- Example: Store opens at 10:00am, average prep time is 10 minutes → first available scheduled slot is 10:10am
- Benefit: Customers can only select pickup times that are actually achievable, ensuring orders are ready when promised
When Disabled (Default State): Your prep time does not affect the opening time, and the first available slot matches your store's opening time.
- Example: Store opens at 10:00am, average prep time is 10 minutes → first available scheduled slot is 10:00am
- Use Case: Ideal if you prep items in advance or have processes that allow immediate order fulfillment at opening
Why This Setting Matters
Sets Realistic Expectations: Customers see only pickup times that your operation can actually meet, reducing disappointment and building trust.
Reduces Morning Rush Stress: Your team isn't immediately overwhelmed with orders scheduled for the exact moment you open the doors.
Improves Order Accuracy: When staff has adequate prep time built into the schedule, orders are more likely to be complete and correct.
Enhances Customer Satisfaction: Nothing beats the experience of arriving for a scheduled pickup and having your order ready and waiting. This setting makes that the norm, not the exception.
Operational Flexibility: Every restaurant operates differently. This optional setting lets you choose the approach that fits your specific workflow.
Understanding Scheduled Ordering
For those new to the feature, Scheduled Ordering is one of Order with Flavor's most powerful capabilities for managing order flow. When enabled, customers can place orders at any time and select their preferred pickup time during checkout—giving them convenience and giving you predictability.
Key Scheduled Ordering Features
Pickup Window Size: Customize your time slots down to the minute. Whether you prefer 15-minute, 30-minute, or custom intervals, you have complete control.
Show Window End Time: Display time ranges to customers (e.g., "10:15am - 10:30am") so they understand their pickup window.
Days in Advance: Set how far ahead customers can schedule orders—perfect for catering operations or busy periods like holidays.
Set to ASAP by Default: Automatically pre-select ASAP for customers who prefer immediate fulfillment.
Select Soonest Available Time: Automatically choose the earliest available slot, even when your store is currently closed.
Remove ASAP As A Pickup Time Option: For operations that exclusively want scheduled orders, this removes ASAP entirely from checkout.
Apply Order Prep Time To Store Hours Start Time: Our newest addition, giving you intelligent control over your opening-time order slots.
Getting Started
Enabling this feature is straightforward:
1. Navigate to Store Settings → Scheduled Ordering
2. Ensure Scheduled Ordering is enabled (required for this setting to appear)
3. Toggle Apply Order Prep Time To Store Hours Start Time to your preferred state
4. Your first available scheduled slot will automatically adjust based on your selection
The setting defaults to disabled to maintain existing behavior for current users, but we recommend testing the enabled state to see if it improves your morning operations.
Best Practices
To maximize the benefit of this feature:
- Review Your Average Prep Time: Ensure your system's calculated prep time accurately reflects your actual kitchen speed
- Test During Off-Peak Hours: Enable the setting and place test orders to see how it affects your schedule
- Monitor Customer Feedback: Pay attention to whether pickup wait times improve after enabling
- Adjust Seasonally: Consider disabling during slower periods when you have excess capacity at opening
- Communicate With Staff: Make sure your team understands why the first slot has changed
The Bigger Picture
This enhancement reflects our ongoing commitment to bridging the gap between customer expectations and operational reality. In the restaurant technology space, it's easy to build features that look good on paper but create challenges in real-world implementation. Our goal is the opposite: features that make your daily operations smoother while delighting your customers.
Scheduled ordering is already a game-changer for restaurants looking to manage order flow, reduce wait times, and provide customers with flexibility. This new prep time influence setting makes it even more powerful by ensuring that every scheduled slot is actually achievable.
Learn More
For detailed configuration instructions and additional scheduled ordering options, visit our Scheduled Ordering resource page.
We believe the best restaurant technology is invisible to customers—it simply makes everything work better. The "Apply Order Prep Time To Store Hours Start Time" setting does exactly that. Try it out and let us know how it improves your operation.Have questions or feedback about this feature? Our support team is always here to help you optimize your Order with Flavor setup.
