Bringing online orders and the till into one flow

An order should close in the same till and land on the same customer record whether the guest placed it through a delivery platform, called it in, or sat down at a table. This article explains why order sources and the till need to run in one flow, and how that connection is generally built.

The problem: the order arrives, the customer record stays empty

An order placed through a delivery platform usually shows up on a separate screen or tablet; the cashier re-types it into the till by hand, writing the item names and total a second time. That second entry doesn’t just cost time — the guest’s name, phone number and order history never reach the business’s own customer record. Months later, the question “who are our top 20 customers by order count” gets answered without the platform orders in it at all.

The general fix: a webhook as the connection point

The link between an order platform and the till runs through a notification endpoint — a webhook — that fires the moment a new order is created: as soon as the order platform generates a new order, that information reaches the business’s own system instantly, with no need to open a separate screen at the till. This article does not name any specific order platform or till brand; what’s described here is a general connection model that holds regardless of which providers you use.

The till: each channel’s day closes on its own

A till shouldn’t close with one lump total at the end of the day — it should close by channel: cash, card, delivery platform, and running tabs where those exist. Without that split, the gap between what the delivery platform’s commission takes out and the till’s net figure gets recalculated by hand every month. Closing by channel shows exactly how much came from where, at a glance, at the end of the day.

End-of-day reconciliation

A delivery platform’s own report and the till’s own record occasionally disagree: a cancelled order might show up on one side and not the other. A reconciliation step that compares the two records at day’s end catches that gap the same evening, not weeks later.

Cancellations and refunds

An order cancelled on the delivery platform needs to show up as cancelled in the till at the same moment; otherwise the till keeps carrying that order as open, and the day’s total comes out higher than what the platform actually pays out. A refund works the same way: when a guest returns an item, the refunded amount needs to hit both the till record and, where it applies, the loyalty balance — points or a stamp earned on the refunded item should be reversed too. Handling both flows — cancellations and refunds — automatically through the webhook connection saves you from chasing down “why is there a gap” by hand at the end of every day.

Example

A restaurant takes 340 orders on a Saturday: 210 at the table, 90 by phone, 40 through a delivery platform. Without a webhook connection, each of those 40 platform orders gets re-typed by hand in about 45 seconds per order — close to 30 minutes lost during the rush. With the connection in place, those 40 orders land in the till automatically and the cashier only confirms preparation status; at day’s end, the 40 orders in the platform’s report match the 40 records in the till one for one.

How it works in Rotenta

1. Your order platform’s notification endpoint is registered in the API/Webhook module; a new order flows into the system automatically the moment it’s placed.
2. The incoming order links to the running account in Accounting, and to the guest’s card in Customers where the phone number matches.
3. The till record inside Accounting totals cash, card and platform channels separately at day’s end; each channel’s day closes on its own.
4. The platform’s own report is compared against the till record on an end-of-day reconciliation screen; any gap is flagged row by row.
5. The closed day turns into an account movement, and an invoice record where needed, inside Accounting.

Till records and the end-of-day close run inside the Accounting module. Before you close the till, see how loyalty runs in loyalty programs and stored balance, and for table booking read table reservations and floor plan; our cafe and restaurant software hub has the broader picture.

Frequently asked questions

Do you work with one specific delivery platform?

No, the connection is built on a general webhook model that works the same way regardless of which order platform or till software you use. We don’t claim an official partnership with any specific provider.

Does an order from the platform land on the customer record automatically?

Yes, as long as the order matches on phone number it links to that customer’s card; if there’s no match, a new card is opened.

What happens if the platform’s report and the till disagree at day’s end?

The reconciliation screen shows the gap row by row; cancelled orders or orders that only show up on one side are flagged separately and can be closed by hand.

Do we have to close the till by channel?

It isn’t mandatory, but it’s recommended; without a channel split it becomes hard to tell how much came from where.

Do we need to replace our till hardware?

No, the connection is built on top of your existing till flow; get in touch to talk through the setup details.