Explain takeout and tables on your restaurant website

Show what can go home

Let someone read the menu before choosing a table or pickup. Mark which dishes you offer to take out and which are available only when eating in. Ask the kitchen which dishes travel well, then use that answer to explain the takeout selection. Keep the advice about choosing from your menu.

Show any differences in portions, sides or prices beside the dish. Say whether takeout means picking up from the restaurant or whether delivery is available. If the menus are separate, label their links clearly and keep them both readable on a phone. A photograph of the dining menu should not be the only way to check an order.

Keep pickup times inside kitchen hours

Show pickup hours alongside the restaurant’s opening hours. Explain when the kitchen stops accepting orders and the latest time someone can pick up. Check that every time offered by the ordering form falls within that window, including on days with shorter hours.

Say whether a customer chooses an available pickup slot or suggests a time for you to agree. Put any advance-order instructions before the order button. Show where to pick up and whether to come to the counter or another entrance. Update holiday hours and ordering choices together so someone cannot request a pickup after the restaurant has closed.

Make the order and its confirmation clear

Name the ordering route you use: a phone call, a form or an ordering platform. For phone orders, make the number tappable and say when calls are taken. For a form, ask for dishes, quantities, a preferred time and a way to reply. If ordering continues elsewhere, label the link and open it to check the destination.

Explain what confirms the order, how the agreed pickup time reaches the customer and when payment happens. If you need to check availability first, call the submission a request. A receipt message should not tell someone to set off before the kitchen has accepted it.

Explain tables, walk-ins and busy evenings

Say whether tables can be reserved or are offered to walk-ins, and explain how larger groups should ask. Keep a table request separate from a takeout order. Show which details you need for each, including the party size for a table and the preferred day and time.

Explain what customers will see when the kitchen cannot take more orders. Close unavailable pickup slots and show whether to choose a later time or try another day. For a full dining room, say how to ask about a wait. Check both routes on a phone, including the messages shown when no time is available.