Running pre-orders from start to finish

A pre-order is food, drink or a package a guest chooses before they arrive - bottles for a booth, pizzas for a party, a set menu. In Sidedoor it lives on the reservation itself, so the order, what’s been paid and what’s still owed are always in one place, for your team and for the guest. This guide follows a pre-order from the day you build the menu to the night itself.

The life of a pre-order

1 · Set upBuild the menu

What can be ordered, which bookings offer it, and how it’s paid.

Inventory, access profiles, payment policy

2 · BookingGuest orders

A required step or an optional extra while booking.

Widget and the Sidedoor app

3 · Before the visitAdd and change

Guests add more from a link. Your team edits, discounts and requests payment.

Reservation → Pre-order tab

4 · On the nightServe and settle

Prep from one list. Paid items come off the bill. No-shows follow your policy.

Pre Orders view, the bill

1. Set it up

Work in this order, so each step can pick the one before it.

1Build the menuSettings → Inventory / Bundles

Bundle: A named group of items, for example Bottles or Pizza. Set Applies to to Table profiles
Items: Name, price, an optional Max qty per booking, an image, and optional choices (for example a mixer) that can add to the price
Staff only: Tick it for things only your team adds - corkage, a cake service, a mixer jug. Guests never see it; staff can add it to any reservation

2Decide how it's paidSettings → Policies → General → Payment Policies

Pre-orders & add-ons: Pay in venue, Card on file or Capture - see the table below
Pre-orders & add-ons on a no-show: Capture (keep or charge them) or Release / refund

3Offer it on a bookingPolicies → Access Profiles → Table Access Profiles

Pre-order: Guests must choose at least one item to finish booking, unless you tick Optional (guests can skip). Pick the bundles and drag them into order
Optional add-ons: Offered as extras the guest can skip
Payment & Policy: The payment policy from step 2

4Set the last callSettings → Tables → General

Pre-order cutoff: Minutes before the start time that guests stop adding to their pre-order, for example 1440 for 24 hours. Blank means up to the start time

5Remind guests automaticallyMarketing → Automations

Pre-order request: Sends the guest a link to add a pre-order a set number of days before the booking (3 by default). Bookings your team already sent a request for are skipped

How the items are paid

Pre-orders are always their own payment, separate from any table deposit.

Pre-orders & add-ons	At booking	On the night	No-show or late cancellation
Pay in venue	Nothing taken online	Paid at the till	Nothing to charge
Card on file	Card saved, nothing charged	Paid at the till	Charged to the saved card with the no-show fee, if set to Capture
Capture	Charged now	Taken off the bill	Kept, or refunded down to the booking’s no-show guarantee if set to Release / refund

Card on file for pre-orders needs Card on file as the table payment too. For the full comparison, including what a no-show or late cancellation keeps when a table deposit and a pre-order are both in play, see Choosing a payment setup and Deposits & payments.

2. The guest orders while booking

Guest books a tableThrough a rule whose profile has pre-orders or add-ons

Pre-order

Choose your pre-orderAt least one item before Continue, unless the profile is Optional, in which case the guest can tap Skip instead.

Optional add-ons

Add-onsThe guest can add items or move on.

The confirm step shows how the items are paidWorded from your policy, before they confirm

Pay in venue

Nothing takenBooked. Items are paid at the venue.

Card on file

Card savedNothing charged unless they don’t turn up.

Capture

Charged nowShown as Paid at booking, and taken off the bill.

The reservation is tagged Pre-order automatically, and the order shows on its Pre-order tab.

3. Before the visit

The guest adds more

Guests add to their own pre-order in two ways: from the booking in the Sidedoor app, or from a pre-order request link. Your team sends the link from the reservation’s Actions menu (Send pre-order request), or the automation sends it for you. It goes out by email, app push and text, on the channels you’ve turned on for deposit requests.

Guests can add items. Only your team can change or remove them.
Payment for what they add follows the same setting: Capture asks them to pay, Card on file asks them to approve the amount on their saved card, and Pay in venue just adds the items.
Everything closes at your Pre-order cutoff, or at the start time if there isn’t one.

Your team edits the order

Open the reservation’s Pre-order tab and choose Add items (or Edit items). You can add from any bundle on the booking, including staff-only ones, or use Add custom item for something that isn’t on the menu - it’s added to this booking only and never appears on your menu. Before you save, Sidedoor spells out what will happen to the money.

Staff save a changed pre-order

Items added

Payment requiredChoose Request payment to send the guest a link, or save and collect it at the venue.

Paid items removed

RefundedCard payments go back to the guest’s card. Cash is returned at the venue.

Card on file items removed

Amount loweredThe agreed amount on the card drops. Nothing is charged.

Discounts (Add discount) take a percentage or an amount off the items your team added that aren’t paid yet. Any open payment request is re-priced to match.
Taking payment another way: from the Payment tab, request a Pre-order payment by card, or record Cash (taken at the venue). Recording cash marks the items it covers as paid.
The table deposit is never refunded by a pre-order change - only the items’ own payments.
Staff can’t edit items once the booking has started.

What the Pre-order tab tells you

You see	It means
Paid at booking / Paid via pre-order link	Paid online. Comes off the bill
Card on file	Agreed on the guest’s card. They pay at the venue; it’s charged only for a no-show
Pay at venue	Nothing taken online. Collect it on the night
Payment not collected	Your team added it and nothing has been paid yet
Part paid	Some of a payment has been made
Covered by deposit	Paid for by the table deposit the guest already paid
No payment to collect	A free item (£0) - there’s nothing to charge or collect

Bookings with unpaid items your team added are tagged Pre-order not paid, so they stand out on the grid and in the list.

4. On the night

Prep from one list. Reservations → Pre Orders shows every pre-ordered item across the dates you choose, grouped by reservation, item, time or seating area, with Item totals for the kitchen and bar. Filter it to what’s unpaid and print it. See The Pre Orders view.

When the guest arrives, check them in as normal. Items paid online come off their bill, and anything agreed on the card or marked Pay at venue is paid at the till with the rest of the bill.

The booking ends without a visit

Cancels in time

Refunded in fullPaid items are refunded and card agreements released.

No-show or late cancel, set to Capture

You keep itPaid items add to the no-show guarantee. Items on the card are charged with the no-show fee.

No-show or late cancel, set to Release / refund

Refunded down to the guaranteePaid items are refunded, but never below the booking’s no-show guarantee. Card agreements are released.

Recommended settings

Setting	Recommendation
Pre-orders & add-ons	Capture for packages and bottles you buy in or hold stock for. Card on file for food ordered ahead, where low friction matters more
On a no-show	Capture. With no table deposit, a pre-order is your only protection
Pre-order cutoff	24 to 48 hours (1440 to 2880 minutes), so the kitchen and bar can prep
Pre-order request automation	On, 3 to 7 days before. It skips bookings you’ve already sent a link for
Max qty	Set it on items with limited stock, like magnums or a cake service
Staff-only bundles	For extras your team adds often at a fixed price (corkage, mixer jugs)
Custom items	For one-off requests only. Add anything you’ll sell again to the menu

For guests

A short version for your team to share:

While booking: guests pick items in the widget or the Sidedoor app. The confirm step says exactly what’s charged now, and when.
After booking: they add more from their booking in the Sidedoor app (the Add-ons tab, Manage add-ons) or from the pre-order link you send, until your cutoff.
Paying: anything your team asks them to pay appears as one Pre-order payment in the app and on the link, and is never more than what’s still owed.
On the night: what they’ve paid comes off their bill. Anything else is paid at the venue.
If plans change: cancelling in time refunds pre-order payments. Missing the booking follows the venue’s policy, shown before they booked.