Delivery and takeaway menu planner
The delivery menu is almost always the dining-room card with the prices copied across. The fries arrive limp, the bun has steamed itself into the patty, the salad is dressed and dead, and the tartare has spent forty minutes at ambient temperature. The guest does not complain — they order somewhere else next time. Put your card in here, say how long the food is on the road, and you get per dish whether it makes the journey, what to change, which box it goes in and what it has to cost on that channel.
How it works
- 1
Say how long it is on the road
Collection, near, medium or far. That one number decides for every dish whether it makes the journey — and it is the number nobody carries into the menu decision.
- 2
Put your dishes in
Per dish: what it is and what it costs in the room. The tool needs nothing else; it derives the rest.
- 3
Read the verdict and the change
Travels, change it, or do not deliver — with the one change that does get the dish there, and the box it goes in.
- 4
Print the two sheets
The menu sheet for whoever writes the online card, the packing card for above the packing station. That is where the kitchen's decision otherwise gets thrown away.
What travels and what does not
How long a dish stays what it was, what goes wrong once it does not, and the one change that keeps it good for longer. The tool reckons with this; the table is the same table.
| What it is | Stays good for | What goes wrong | The one change | Packaging |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fried and crisp | 12 min | Goes soft in its own steam | Crisp element apart, vented box | Vented box + Extra pot |
| Burger or filled roll | 15 min | Goes soft in its own steam | Components apart, guest assembles | Vented box + Extra pot |
| Pizza or flatbread | 22 min | Goes soft in its own steam | Vented box, do not stack | Vented box |
| Off the grill or the pan | 25 min | Dries out | Sauce in its own pot | Rigid box + Extra pot |
| Plated and garnished | 15 min | The plating does not survive | Without the garnish that dies | Rigid box + Extra pot |
| Pasta or risotto | 18 min | Keeps cooking in the box | Pull it two minutes early | Rigid box |
| Stew, curry or sauce | 60 min | Travels well | — | Leakproof cup |
| Soup or anything liquid | 55 min | Leaks on the way | Sealed lid, fill to 80% | Leakproof cup |
| Salad or leaves | 20 min | Wilts in the dressing | Dressing in its own pot | Rigid box + Extra pot |
| Cold platter | 90 min | Travels well | — | Rigid box |
| Dessert | 30 min | Melts or sweats | On a cold pack, insulated bag | Chilled or insulated |
| Raw: tartare, sushi, carpaccio | 25 min | Off the cold chain | On a cold pack, insulated bag | Chilled or insulated |
| Drink | — | Travels well | — | Bag |
The terms, in one place
- Commission
- The share of the order value the platform keeps. Across Europe that runs from nothing on your own channel to around a third on a platform that also supplies the courier.
- Packaging cost
- What the box, the cup and the extra pot cost together, per dish. It is the cost that does not exist on the dining-room card and that nobody prices in.
- Hold window
- The number of minutes a dish stays what it was when it left the pass. Fries have twelve of them; a braise has an hour.
- Cold chain
- The unbroken refrigeration raw products need in order to stay safe. Once it is broken, it has stopped being a question of quality.
- Contribution per order
- What is left of an order once the commission and the packaging have come off. That is the figure you compare with the room — not the revenue.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my tartare not make it?
Because that is not a quality question but a safety one. A raw product that has been out of refrigeration for more than twenty minutes is not a dish that arrives a little warm. That rule sits above the arithmetic: no change and no packaging brings it back.
Surely you can deliver fries?
Nearby you can, as long as the crisp element travels separately and the box is vented. Past half an hour you cannot: the steam has nowhere to go and what arrives is no longer what you sent. The tool tells you at which journey it flips, instead of leaving you to discover it in the reviews.
Why is the delivery price so much higher than the dining-room price?
Because the platform takes a third and the packaging costs money too. To earn the same per dish as you do in the room, the price has to go up substantially. That is not a pricing problem but a channel problem, and the tool says so in one sentence so that you choose it deliberately.
Should I deliver the same card as in the room?
No, and that is the whole point. A shorter delivery card that travels well and is priced correctly earns more than a full card of which half arrives badly.
What does it cost?
Nothing. No account, no e-mail address, no trial period. Everything stays in your own browser.
This is a house document, not legislation: labelling, allergen declarations, temperature rules and what has to be printed on a delivery docket differ per country and per inspectorate. Follow your own HACCP plan and your regulator's requirements.