Online shop for pizzerias: online ordering for takeaway and delivery

Friday, 8 pm. The oven is full, two customers are waiting at the counter and the phone is ringing for the third time. On the other end, someone can’t decide between a ham and mushroom and a four cheese, and would like to know if you can leave out the mushrooms. Meanwhile, a pizza is getting a little too golden.

An online shop takes these orders for you: written down, paid for, and with no spelling mistakes in “calzone”. Here is how 123Ventes answers the questions that come with being a pizza maker.

Your menu online, with no commission

Delivery platforms bring in customers, but they take a commission on every order. On a pizza, the margin can’t always take that kind of sharing. With your own shop, you pay a fixed subscription, and every euro of the order stays with you, apart from the payment fees.

You don’t have to choose: many pizzerias keep a platform to get known and steer their regulars towards their own website. A customer who already knows your dough doesn’t need a middleman to find it again.

A menu sorted like your board

Tomato-base pizzas, cream-base pizzas, calzones, desserts, drinks: you create your categories just like on your blackboard. Each pizza has its photo, its description and its price. Feature the pizza of the month or a new one, and it appears at the top of the menu.

Customers look at the menu on their phone, on the bus or from the sofa. The shop adapts to small screens (see the shop on mobile), and that is where most evening orders are placed.

Extras, sauces and “no mushrooms”

This is the heart of the job. On each pizza, you offer lists of options:

• a single choice, such as the size or the base;
• multiple choices, such as extra toppings, each with its own price: 1 € for onions, 1.50 € for chicken;
• free choices, such as “no olives”, or an included sauce, with a maximum if you wish.

The price adjusts automatically. The customer sees what they are paying, and you get exactly what they want, without any “erm… and also” on the phone. Everything is set up from the catalogue management.

Meal deals and set menus

Pizza + drink, kids’ menu, lunch deal: a meal deal is built with the same lists. The customer chooses their pizza, then their drink or dessert from the list provided, and the extra for the deal is added to the price. They can also choose “no meal deal” if they already have something to drink.

Takeaway or delivered by you

Two options are enough for most pizzerias:

• Click and collect: the customer orders, pays online and comes to pick up their pizza.
• Your own delivery: you deliver yourself, or your driver does, to the towns and villages you choose.

For delivery, you group the towns into zones and set a price for each zone. The town centre can cost less than the village up on the hill. An address outside your zones can’t choose delivery: nobody orders a margherita from you 40 kilometres away. The details are on the delivery options page.

Pizza Jeannot, a pizzeria in Vence, works this way: the whole menu online, with a choice of sauces and options, for takeaway or delivery. Its profile is on the references page.

Orders open when the oven is

You open from 11 am to 2 pm and from 6 pm to 11 pm, closed on Mondays? You enter these time slots, day by day, in the shop’s settings. Outside these hours, customers can look at the menu, but they can’t confirm their order: a message shows them your opening hours. You won’t find a 3 am order waiting for you when you open the next day.

The shop doesn’t let customers choose an exact collection time. They can, however, leave a note with their order, for example “I’ll come by around 7:30 pm” or “ring twice”.

During the rush

Each new order sets off a sound alert in your dashboard, which also works on a phone or tablet. You open the order and see the pizzas with all their options. A button prints the order slip in large type on your computer’s printer, so you can pin it above the worktop. It isn’t kitchen software, but you can read it with flour on your fingers.

The order is already paid for, and the invoice is created as a PDF. The order statuses are described on the order management page.

Hygiene, allergens and loyalty

Selling online doesn’t change the rules for food businesses: hygiene, traceability, and allergen information, which is compulsory online just as at the counter. List the allergens in the description of each pizza, before purchase. If in doubt, check with your local food safety authority (in France, the DDPP of your département), your chamber of trades or your chamber of commerce (in France, the CCI).

As for loyalty, the customer file keeps the order history. Promotion rules give a free dessert after a certain number of orders, or free delivery above a set amount. A newsletter announces the pizza of the month. Text messages are available as an option.

How much it costs

The subscription costs 29 € a month or 319 € a year, with hosting and the security certificate included. 123Ventes takes no commission on your orders: only your payment provider’s fees apply, about 0.55 € on a 20 € order paid by card. If you would rather stay at the oven, the turnkey set-up costs 400 €, with your menu entered for you. The details are on the pricing page.

Your questions

Can my customers pay cash on collection?

No: the shop takes payment online, by card or PayPal, when the order is placed. Cash or payment on delivery is not available. Customers who insist on paying at the counter can still order as before, by phone or in person.

Can I limit delivery to a few towns?

Yes. You create zones with the towns of your choice and a price for each one. An address outside your zones can only choose collection.

Do I need special permission to sell my pizzas online?

The rules are those of your restaurant: hygiene, allergens, price display. Online ordering is one more way to sell. If you add delivery, check with your local food safety authority (in France, the DDPP), your chamber of trades or your chamber of commerce.

How long does it take to put my menu online?

The shop is created in a minute. After that, allow a few minutes per pizza, plus the time to create your lists of extras once and for all. A menu of thirty pizzas can go online in a day, between two services.