Taking phone and WhatsApp orders without the mistakes

Most phone order mistakes happen in the first thirty seconds, while you're still finding a pen. The fix is a fixed order of questions, one place to write it down, and a read-back before you hang up. WhatsApp needs the same thing, plus one rule about messages. None of it costs anything, and it's the difference between a quiet Friday and three refunds.

Here's what goes wrong at the counter, and what to do about each one.

The driver can't find the address

Somebody rings, orders, and gives "14 Park Road" as the address. There are two Park Roads within your delivery area. The driver picks the wrong one, the food's cold by the time they find the right house, and you're refunding the lot.

Ask for the postcode first, before the order. Say it back letter by letter. Then the house number, then the street, then anything the driver will need: a flat number, a side door, "the one with the blue gate". Starting with the postcode also tells you straight away whether they're inside the area you deliver to, before anyone's spent five minutes choosing a pizza.

The item that never got written down

The customer reels off four dishes quickly. You write three. The fourth was the one their kid actually wanted.

Write each item as it's said, and don't let the customer race ahead. "Two chicken, yes, and then?" works fine. When they've finished, read the whole order back slowly, with the quantities: "So that's two chicken, one lamb, one chips, two cans of Coke." People often correct something at this point. That's the read-back doing its job.

"No onion" that turned into onion

Changes to a dish get lost because they're said in passing and written in the margin. Write them on the same line as the dish, every time, in the same place. "1 x chicken, NO ONION" is hard to miss. A note three lines below that says "no onion" isn't.

If your kitchen uses printed tickets, ask the cook which way round they want it and stick to that.

The ticket nobody can find

A phone order taken on the back of a receipt roll is one gust of the extractor fan from gone. A spike on the pass, a clip rail or one dedicated pad by the phone, used for nothing else, means every phone order is in the same place. Write the time you promised on the top of each one, and the time it came in. When a customer rings to ask where their food is, you can answer in a second.

The customer who doesn't pick up

Take the phone number before anything else on a delivery, and check it's a mobile. If the driver's outside a block of flats at nine at night, that number is the only way in. For collection, it's how you tell them it's going to be ten minutes late. Read it back too.

Paying on the doorstep

Cash on delivery is fine for regulars you know. For a first-time caller, ask how they want to pay while they're still on the phone, and write it on the ticket. "Cash, has a £20" saves the driver a trip back for change.

WhatsApp orders

WhatsApp feels easier because it's written down. It brings its own mistakes, though. The order arrives in six messages over ten minutes. One gets edited. One is a voice note. The address comes last, or not at all.

A few habits help:

• Ask people to send the whole order in one message, with the address and postcode in it. Put that in your WhatsApp Business greeting so you don't have to type it every time.
• Reply with the order written out and the total, and wait for a "yes" before you start cooking. That's your read-back.
• Don't take orders from voice notes. Ask them to type it.
• Copy each confirmed order onto a ticket at the pass. A phone screen in someone's pocket isn't where the kitchen can see it.

When the phone is ringing off the hook

All of the above works. It also takes a person off the floor every time the phone rings, and on a Friday that's the person you need on the fryer.

The other option is to let your regulars do the typing. Reply to a WhatsApp with a link to order on your own site, or say it at the end of a phone call: "You can order on our website next time, it's quicker." The customer types their own address and postcode, picks from the menu with your prices on it, and pays as they order or chooses cash on collection. Nothing gets misheard, because nothing gets said.

With Rowbo, those orders land on the same screen as the rest of your orders, ringing until someone accepts them, with an email copy as a kitchen ticket. The phone still rings for the people who like to ring. There are just fewer of them on a busy night. See how ordering works.