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After-hours order taking · PlentyOrder

After-hours orders, written up before the morning crew walks in.

Restaurants order after service, between 9 PM and 2 AM, when nobody is at the desk. Built to turn the voicemails, texts, emails and chat messages that arrive overnight into tickets, so the morning starts with review instead of replaying and retyping.

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Sample order · voicemail · fictional restaurant · After-hours order taking
Voicemail SampleFri 12:47 AM
Voicemail
Amy KowalskiNorthfork Tavern · (631) 555-0158
12:47 AM
Transcript · 0:44

Hi, it’s Amy at Northfork Tavern, sorry it’s late. For tomorrow I need two cases of romaine, a fifty pound bag of yellow onions, forty pounds of the eighty-twenty, two cases of eggs, and a jug of fry oil. Thanks.

What the desk decides on this order
  • ShortRomaine hearts are out of stock.
  • Matched4 of 5 lines matched cleanly to the catalog.
SO-31152Fri, Oct 23 · AM route

Northfork Tavern

Needs review
Amy KowalskiC-2272Voicemail
  1. 2cs
    Romaine hearts, 24 ct
    ROM-24 · case
    “two cases of romaine”
    Short Romaine hearts are out of stock.
    Suggested: Green leaf lettuce, 24 ct LET-GRN — Catalog substitute: green leaf lettuce, 24 count.
    $72.00$36.00/cs
  2. 1bag
    Yellow onions, jumbo
    ONI-YEL · 50 lb bag
    “a fifty pound bag of yellow onions”
    $24.00$24.00/bag
  3. 40lb
    Ground beef 80/20
    BEF-GRD · 10 lb chub
    “forty pounds of the eighty-twenty”
    $216.00$5.40/lb
  4. 2cs
    Eggs, large grade A
    EGG-LG · 15 dz case
    “two cases of eggs”
    $108.00$54.00/cs
  5. 1ea
    Canola fry oil
    OIL-CAN · 35 lb jug
    “a jug of fry oil”
    $44.00$44.00/ea
5 lines · Est. total$464.00
1 flag to resolve
Sample order: the message on the left, the ticket a person approves on the right. Try the buttons.
The problem

Why overnight orders are expensive

01

Voicemail waits until morning

A voicemail left at 12:47 AM gets replayed at 6, typed in by hand and checked against stock while the trucks are loading. That’s the busiest half hour of the day, spent on transcription.

02

Shorts are found too late

If romaine is out, the morning desk finds out when it keys the order, or the picker finds out on the floor. Overnight write-up flags the short while there’s still time to pick a sub.

03

Nothing is written down

Late orders live on a voicemail box, a rep’s phone or a sticky note. Each one becomes a ticket with the original message attached, so nothing depends on memory.

How it works

What a night looks like

  1. 019 PM–2 AM

    Orders arrive on every channel

    Voicemail, text, email, WhatsApp, WeChat and KakaoTalk, all on the numbers and addresses restaurants already use.

  2. 02Within a minute

    Each one is written up

    Lines are matched to your catalog, stock is checked, and anything unclear is flagged.

  3. 036:00 AM

    The desk opens to a queue

    Clean orders are marked ready. The rest say exactly which line needs a decision and why.

  4. 04Before the route

    A person approves

    Nothing posts overnight. Every order waits for someone on your team.

Reference

What happens to each overnight channel

Each channel arrives differently, but every one ends in the same kind of ticket.

ChannelWhat’s capturedWhat waits for a person
VoicemailTranscript, audio length, caller numberUnclear quantities and cuts
Text messageEvery message in the thread, including add-onsUnits nobody wrote
EmailBody and attached PDF order formsLines it can’t match
WhatsApp · WeChat · KakaoTalkMessages, photos and voice notes, with translationItems not in your catalog
Photo of a paper listEach handwritten line, read separatelyCrossed-out or illegible quantities
FAQ

Questions about after-hours order taking.

Does anything post to my system overnight?

No. Orders are written up overnight but nothing posts or exports until a person on your team approves it.

Do restaurants need a new number to order after hours?

No. They keep calling and texting the numbers they use today. Your order line and inbox are forwarded.

Does it replace my phone system?

No. It’s built to work from the voicemails, texts, emails and chat messages your customers already send. Your phone system stays as it is.

What if an order comes in after the route is built?

It lands in the same queue with its time, so the desk can see it’s a late add-on and decide whether it makes the route.

Related

All solutions

Available by request

See it on your own orders.

Fifteen minutes is enough to run a few of your real messages through it, against your own price list.

Request access Book a 15-min demo

The restaurant, people and order on this page are fictional sample data.