In most restaurants, a mistake gets blamed on whoever cooked the food or handed it over. But trace a wrong order back to its start and you will usually find it was born before it reached the kitchen: when someone heard it on a noisy call, read it from a long chat message, or tried to decipher handwriting on a damp slip. That is where the fix begins.
Phone calls: the easiest channel to get wrong
The caller is talking, the kitchen is shouting behind the employee, and they are writing at the same time. Nothing guarantees that what was written is what was said. Guests do not always remember what they asked for either, and the employee cannot tell whether “no onions” was for the first sandwich or the second.
- Have staff read the full order back to the guest before ending the call, extras and total included.
- Use a fixed order slip with boxes: item, size, extras, notes, address, phone.
- Do not accept “the usual address” without writing it out in full.
- At peak hour, let one person answer the phone rather than turning everyone into a call taker.
Chat messages: the buried order
An order on WhatsApp or direct messages gets spread across ten short messages, and the guest edits some after sending others: “No, make it two.” Among all the other conversations, the last change gets lost. Make it a habit to end every order with a summary message: “Your order: ... total ... address ... is this correct?” and do not start preparing until the guest replies yes.
Handwriting and hand-offs
Every time an order passes from one pair of hands to another, the chance of error grows. The receptionist writes it, the cashier is called over, the cashier rewrites it for the kitchen, and then the driver copies the address. That is four hand-offs, each a chance to swap a number or drop an extra. Ask yourself how many times an order gets copied in your restaurant, and try to bring it down to once.
When the guest enters their own order
The simplest way to remove hand-offs is to let the guest pick their items and extras, then review the total and address themselves before confirming. The order then reaches you written and organised without passing through anyone's hands. That is what an ordering website or app offers, including those in Ordavya: options and extras chosen by the guest, and orders that appear in the management dashboard and app.
Three habits at hand-over
- Check the order slip against the bags before sealing them, counting items and extras.
- Put the slip or receipt on the outside of the bag so the guest or driver can check it easily.
- Label items that look alike, such as spicy and not spicy, with a sticker or a mark.
When a mistake happens anyway
It will. What matters is how you respond. Apologise in one sentence without a long explanation, correct it immediately by sending the missing item, and offer a make-good that fits the mistake: a discount on the next order or a small item. A guest whose problem is fixed quickly usually comes back, and one who has to argue will not.