Custom daily ordering software for fresh food specialist shops
At a bakery, butcher's, fishmonger's or deli, orders for tomorrow arrive by phone, WhatsApp, at the counter, by email and sometimes through an app. Someone copies them onto the production list, and at the end of the day it turns out what was missed. Appfront builds software for the shop: all order channels in one list, a cut-off time per product, a production list built around that cut-off time, collection slots with a maximum, standing orders from hospitality customers and the invoice that follows.
What is daily order software for a fresh food speciality shop?
Daily order software is the system behind the counter. Every order that comes in, through whatever channel, goes into a single list with the day, the collection slot, the customer and the products. The production list for the morning follows automatically from that list: how much of each product needs to be made, sorted by when it has to be ready. At the counter, every order is waiting with a label, and for a hospitality customer the invoice goes out automatically after delivery.
Without a system like that, half the orders are on a note by the till and the other half are in the owner's head. The production list is put together from those notes at six in the morning, an order that came in via WhatsApp at half past five the previous evening is missed, and a hospitality customer who orders the same thing every Tuesday has to phone every Monday. The more channels and regular customers you have, the more slips through the cracks.
We build custom software because every shop works differently. Which products have a cut-off time, how many orders the shop can handle per collection slot, which catering customers have a standing order, whether you deliver, and which till and accounting package you use all determine what the software needs to do. The ordering app for your customers is a separate component; this page is about the system the shop uses to process all orders, including those from customers who simply phone.
One list
All channels in one place.
Production adds up
A list built from the orders.
Counter ready
A label for every order.
How we build daily-order software for a fresh-food speciality shop
We start in the shop: how orders currently come in, who writes them down, how the production list is put together and where it goes wrong. Then we build a first version with the order list and the production list, because that is where most of the manual work is. You use it for a few weeks. Collection slots with a maximum, standing orders from catering customers, labels and the integration with your till and accounting follow once that is running well. After that, we keep the software up to date as your range or your business changes.
Channels, list, production.
The first version.
Standing orders, till, accounting.
Go-live, monitoring, and maintenance when things change.
What daily-order software for a fresh-food speciality shop actually does
The components below appear in almost every ordering system for a fresh-food speciality shop. Which ones you need depends on your channels and your customers.
Order list
All channels, one overview.
Cut-off time
Per product, per day.
Production list
Quantities per product.
Collection slots
With a maximum per slot.
Standing orders
Catering, created automatically.
Invoicing
After delivery, to accounting.
Who we build daily-order software for a fresh-food speciality shop for
The software is designed for shops that produce to order every day and receive orders through more than one channel. The more channels and the more catering customers you have, the more it pays off.
Bakers
Cakes, bread to order.
Butchers
Barbecue, gourmet, rolled roasts.
Fishmongers
Platters and orders for holidays.
Caterers
Catering and regular hospitality customers.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we make your idea tangible in a single day for €1,150, so you know whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we deduct the cost in full.
View OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page is about the system inside the shop. For the app your customers use to order themselves, see our page on an ordering app for fresh-food speciality shops; for deciding what to make each day, see our page on fresh production software; and for bakeries, see our page on bakery software. You can read about our approach at custom software development.
Why Appfront for your daily-order software for a fresh-food speciality shop?
A missed order, a customer waiting at the counter while a member of staff searches through the bags, or a production list pieced together from scraps of paper at six in the morning all cost a shop revenue and peace of mind. That is what we build around: all orders in one list, a production list that adds up, and a counter where everything is ready.
Nothing missed
Every channel in the list.
A calm morning
Production list from the system.
Catering sorted
The order appears automatically.
Security and privacy for daily-order software for a fresh-food speciality shop
The software contains customer data, orders and prices. Access is set up by role: the counter sees today's orders, production sees the quantities, and the owner sees everything, including invoicing. Every change is logged with a name and timestamp.
The software runs in a European data centre, with encrypted connections and storage and daily backups. If the connection in the shop drops, today's production list remains available on the tablet.
Frequently asked questions about daily-order software for a fresh-food speciality shop
Questions that owners of fresh-food speciality shops ask before getting started.
It gathers all orders for tomorrow or this evening in one list, turns them into the morning's production list, keeps track of pick-up slots and makes sure every order is ready at the counter with a label. Catering customers with a standing order no longer need to phone in.
The app is for your customers: they use it to order for themselves. The software is for the shop: it brings together all orders, including those from customers who phone or order at the counter. The app is one of the channels that feeds the software.
Yes. A member of staff enters the order during the call, with the customer, products and pick-up time. After that it follows the same route as an order from the app.
For each product you set how late orders can be placed for tomorrow. A cake has a different cut-off time from a platter of filled rolls. After the cut-off time, an order automatically moves to the next available day.
Yes. For each customer you record what they receive on which day. The order is created automatically and the customer can change it until the cut-off time. After delivery, the invoice follows.
Usually, yes. The till and accounting package you use determine how we build the integration. We look at that in the first step.
For shops with dozens of orders a day across several channels and with catering customers. For a shop with a handful of orders a week, a diary is often enough.
All orders in one list?
Tell us how orders currently reach you and how the production list is made. We'll show you how the software can handle that.