To the customer
Order A-412 is confirmed.
Thank you, Sara. 2 × Flat white, 1 × Butter croissant. Card machine on delivery. Use the link to see your order.
Cloud kitchens
Cloud kitchen software for a kitchen that only delivers
GetMenu is cloud kitchen software for a kitchen with no dining room. Customers order on your own web page and pick their building from your list. Managers and riders get each order on WhatsApp the moment it is placed. With the POS add-on, orders from your page, the phone, WhatsApp and connected delivery apps show on one kitchen screen.
Delivery only
What cloud kitchen software must do for a kitchen with no shop
Cloud kitchen software, also called ghost kitchen software, has to do the work a shop would do. It takes the order, tells the cooks what to make, tells the riders where to go, and gives the customer a reason to order again.
A delivery-only kitchen, or dark kitchen, never meets its customers. Orders arrive from several places: your own page, the phone, WhatsApp chats and the delivery apps. Riders need an exact address, in buildings that may have no clear name. When a dish runs out, nobody should be able to order it.
GetMenu covers each of these steps. Your own ordering page takes the order, and your managers' and riders' WhatsApp groups see it at once. Phone and WhatsApp orders are typed in at the GetMenu POS (the point-of-sale app on a tablet or phone) and go out the same way. A dish with no stock left shows as sold out. A kitchen screen shows the cooks what to make next. A reminder at each customer's usual mealtime brings them back.
Online ordering
Cloud kitchen online ordering on your own web address
GetMenu gives your cloud kitchen its own ordering page, at an address such as yourkitchen.getmenu.ae. It opens in the customer's phone browser, so there is no app to download, and you pay no commission on the orders it takes.
You choose one of 12 layouts for your menu. Each dish can have a photo and choices such as a size or extras, and a choice you mark as required cannot be skipped. If you count a dish, it shows as sold out when the count reaches zero. You can set a minimum order, and free delivery above an amount you choose. When the kitchen is closed, the page shows your opening hours.
Customers pay cash or by card machine when the food arrives. GetMenu checks every price again when the order is placed, so nobody can change a total from their phone. If customers can reach your door, the page takes collection orders too, with no building and no delivery fee.
Delivery
Cloud kitchen delivery: how the rider finds the right building
At checkout, the customer picks their building from your list and types their unit number, and can also share their location. Your riders get all of it in their WhatsApp group the moment the order is placed.
Each building on your list has its own delivery fee, which the customer sees before they order. The riders' ticket shows the building, the unit, the customer's phone number and the dishes. It also says whether to collect cash or bring the card machine, with the amount. A map link is added when the customer shared their location.
Your managers' group gets the full order at the same time, and the customer gets a confirmation from your own WhatsApp number.
Choose a rider on the orders board or on the POS. When the order goes out, the customer's message carries the rider's name and phone number. After handing over the food, the rider opens the ticket's link and presses Confirm delivered. Riders need no app.
Managers' group
NEW ORDER A-412
2 × Flat white · 1 × Butter croissant · Garden Court, unit 1204 · map link
Riders' group
DELIVERY A-412
Garden Court, unit 1204 · map link · customer phone · Bring the card machine · Delivered? Tap the link to confirm.
Sent from your own WhatsApp number
The POS
Cloud kitchen POS: phone, WhatsApp and online orders on one screen
With GetMenu's yearly POS add-on, an iPad, an iPhone or an Android tablet becomes your cloud kitchen POS. Orders from your ordering page show on the POS screen, next to the phone and WhatsApp orders your staff type in.
When a customer phones, or sends their order in a WhatsApp chat, your staff type it in once. They pick the building from the same list your checkout uses, then add the unit number and the customer's phone number. When the food is ready, choose the rider on the POS. Your riders' WhatsApp group then gets the same ticket as for an online order.
Every online, phone and WhatsApp order reaches the kitchen as one kind of ticket, on a kitchen printer, a kitchen screen or both. Special requests such as "no onions" are printed in bold on the kitchen ticket. So the cooks read a phone order, a WhatsApp order and an online order the same way, from one place.
Kitchen ticket · A-418 · Delivery
2 × Chicken biryani
Extra raita, no onions
1 × Mango lassi
Online, phone and WhatsApp orders on one ticket
Delivery apps
How delivery app orders reach your kitchen screen
A tablet or phone paired as a screen in the kitchen shows every order, wherever it came from. Orders from your own page are marked Delivery, and orders from the delivery apps you connect sit beside them.
GetMenu takes orders from Talabat, foodpanda, Deliveroo, Careem, Keeta and GrabFood, through your own partner account with each app. noon Food offers no connection, so its orders are typed in by hand on the Delivery apps page. Unless you let GetMenu accept them on arrival, the cook accepts or refuses each app order on the kitchen screen, and the app is told.
An app order keeps the app's own total and is marked as paid to the app, so it never touches your cash count. Wherever an order came from, it gets your next order number and sits on your orders board. On the kitchen screen, a colour on each order shows how long it has waited. When you switch a dish off, GetMenu tells the delivery apps that accept it. This works for dishes you have linked to the app's own menu.
What reaches the kitchen screen
Your ordering pageEvery order, marked Delivery
Phone and WhatsApp ordersTyped in at the POS
Talabat, foodpanda, DeliverooWith your partner account
Careem, Keeta, GrabFoodWith your partner account
noon FoodTyped in by hand
Time waitedGreen, then amber, then red
Several brands
How to run several brands from one cloud kitchen
In GetMenu, each brand is its own restaurant, with its own menu, prices, opening hours, ordering page and WhatsApp groups. Ask us and we will group your brands. Then one owner login shows the sales of every brand side by side.
A cloud kitchen often sells under several brand names from one kitchen. Each brand must look separate to the customer, while you still see the whole kitchen. Here, a customer who orders from your burger brand sees that brand's page, and the messages carry that brand's name. Staff logins only see the brand they work for. You, as the owner, open one screen and compare the sales of every brand for the same days.
Starting a new brand is quicker too. An owner can copy one brand's menu into another, with its categories, dishes, photos, prices and choices. The copy only adds what is missing, so a dish that is already there stays exactly as it is. Stock counts are not copied, because each brand counts its own stock.
Repeat orders
How a cloud kitchen gets repeat orders with no shop window
Every order on your own page gives you the customer's name and WhatsApp number, so you can message them again. After a delivered order, GetMenu sends the customer a reminder at their usual mealtime, with a link straight back to your page. Customers who have stopped ordering get a message that asks them to come back.
You can also write your own campaign and send it to everyone, or only to customers who have gone quiet. A loyalty card gives people a reason to come back. Customers keep it in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, and it updates itself when a stamp is added. The pricing page shows which plans include each of these tools.
Orders from a delivery app work differently. The app keeps the customer, and the phone number it passes on is usually hidden. So an app order gives you no number to message and no stamp to count. Put your page's link on every bag you send out, so the next order comes straight to you.
To Sara, at her usual mealtime
Hungry again? Noor Cafe & Bakery is cooking.
Order in a couple of taps: noor-cafe.getmenu.ae
Campaign to customers who have gone quiet
We have missed you at Noor Cafe & Bakery
Our new breakfast box is on the menu this week. Order it from the usual page.
Sent from your own WhatsApp number
Setting it up
What you set up to run a cloud kitchen on GetMenu
Build your menu
Upload your menu from an Excel file, or add dishes one by one with photos and choices such as a size or extras.
Menu
List the buildings you deliver to
Add each building or area with its own delivery fee. Set your minimum order and your free delivery amount under Ordering rules.
Settings, then Condominiums & delivery fees
Connect WhatsApp
Scan the QR code from your kitchen's WhatsApp phone, then pick your managers' group and your riders' group. Add your riders by name and phone number.
Settings, then WhatsApp connection & groups, and Riders & dispatch groups
Pair the POS and a kitchen screen
Switch on the yearly POS add-on. Add a POS for phone and WhatsApp orders and a tablet as a screen in the kitchen, then type each six-character code into the GetMenu POS app. The iPad and iPhone app is in the App Store.
Settings, then The POS
Connect the delivery apps
Each app has a card that says what it asks for. Fill in the ID numbers and keys the app gave you, then paste the address shown on the card into the app's own portal.
Settings, then Delivery apps
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is cloud kitchen software?
Cloud kitchen software runs a kitchen that only delivers and has no dining room. It takes orders online, by phone and on WhatsApp, tells the cooks what to make and the riders where to go, and helps customers order again. GetMenu does this with your own ordering page, WhatsApp messages to your managers' and riders' groups, a POS and kitchen screen, and reminders at each customer's usual mealtime.
What is the best POS for a cloud kitchen?
A cloud kitchen rarely takes money at a counter, so its POS matters most for orders and the kitchen. Look for one screen that shows every order, including those from the delivery apps you connect, and sends delivery orders to your riders. GetMenu's POS add-on does this on an iPad, an iPhone or an Android tablet, with kitchen printers or a kitchen screen, no limit on devices, and one yearly price per restaurant.
What happens when the cook refuses a delivery app order?
The app is told straight away. On the kitchen screen, an app order has two big buttons, Accept the order and Refuse. Refuse asks for a reason, such as the kitchen is too busy or something has run out, and the app gets that reason too. So its customer is not left waiting for food nobody is cooking. You can also let GetMenu accept an app's orders on arrival.
Can I copy one brand's menu into a new brand?
Yes. An owner can copy the menu of one brand into another, with its categories, dishes, photos, prices and choices. The copy only adds what is missing, so a dish that is already in the new brand stays as it is. Stock counts are not copied, because each brand counts its own. Then change the names and prices that should differ.
Do I need my own partner account with each delivery app?
Yes. Each delivery app has to give your restaurant access, and each has its own steps, such as a partner request, an agreement or a test before going live. In your dashboard, the Delivery apps page has a card for each app that says what it asks for. You paste in the ID numbers and keys the app gives you.
Do delivery app orders go to my WhatsApp groups?
No. An app order appears on your orders board, and on the kitchen screen if you have the POS add-on. When it arrives, nothing is sent to your managers' group, your riders' group or the customer, because the app sends its own updates. Orders from your own page, and the phone and WhatsApp orders typed in at the POS, are the ones that go out on WhatsApp.
Can I send an offer to customers who stopped ordering?
Yes. When you write a campaign, you choose who gets it. You can pick customers who have not ordered for a number of days you choose. You can also pick everyone who has ordered, first-time customers or top spenders. It goes from your own WhatsApp number, spaced out, with a daily limit you can change. Campaigns are part of some plans, and the pricing page shows which.
How are several brands priced?
In GetMenu, each brand is its own restaurant, so each brand needs its own plan. We price several brands together, so tell us how many you run before you choose. Ask us too, and we will group your brands under one owner login, so you see the sales of every brand side by side. The pricing page shows each plan in your own currency.
Keep reading
WhatsApp orderingWhat the customer, your managers and your riders each get on WhatsApp.POS hardwareThe iPads, Android devices, printers and cash drawer the POS works with.Cloud kitchen Qatar: when the screen is your only shopfrontA longer read on running a delivery-only kitchen, from the licence to repeat orders.See the plans and pricesYour plan and the yearly POS add-on, shown in your own currency.
Give your cloud kitchen its own ordering page
Start with 15 free days and no card. Your ordering page and your WhatsApp order messages work from the first day. The POS and the kitchen screen come with the yearly POS add-on.