Online ordering for Vietnamese restaurants and takeaways

Turn the menu into choices a kitchen can read

A Vietnamese menu often lists the same base dish with five proteins. Online, that works best as one item with a required choice, not five near-identical items.

Pho. Make the dish the item ("Pho, beef" or simply "Pho") and add required option groups:

• Protein: rare beef, brisket, meatballs, chicken, tofu or mixed, whatever you actually serve.
• Size: regular or large, priced in the option.
• Extras: extra noodles, extra meat, a soft egg, more herbs.

Because a required group must be answered before checkout, nobody has to ring the customer back to ask which beef they meant.

Banh mi. Treat the filling as the item, then add groups for the things people change: chilli, coriander, pickles, pâté, no mayonnaise. Where customers can pick several, set a minimum and maximum on the group. If you sell a meal deal (banh mi plus drink or summer rolls), make it its own item with the choices inside it.

Bun and rice plates. Vermicelli bowls and broken rice (com tam) plates usually differ only by the topping. One item with a required topping group keeps the menu short on a phone screen.

Summer rolls and spring rolls. Fresh rolls and fried rolls are different dishes for allergen and packaging reasons, so keep them as separate items. Sell dipping sauces as an option group on each roll item, so the sauce prints on the ticket next to the dish it belongs to.

Lunch trade. If you take office or market-stall lunch orders, set a pre-order lead time for the location so orders for later in the day arrive with enough notice. The lead time is set per location, not per dish. When something sells out, mark the item out of stock instead of phoning customers back.

Pack it so it arrives like it left the pass

The fixes here are about packaging and timing, not software, but they decide whether a customer orders again:

• Broth separate. Hot broth in a sealed, leak-proof container. Noodles, meat and herbs in a second box. Say so in the item description ("broth packed separately, pour over at home"), so the photo and the delivery match.
• Herbs and beansprouts cold. Pack them away from the hot broth so they don't wilt.
• Banh mi last. Bread goes soft fast in a closed bag. Wrap it in paper, not foil, and pack it last.
• Fried rolls vented. Like any fried food, they lose crunch in a sealed box.
• Keep the zone realistic. Delivery zones let you set a fee, a minimum order and a delivery time for each zone, so the far edge of your area gets an honest quoted time.

Batch-cooked rice and noodles

Broken rice plates and fried rice are usually made from rice cooked earlier in the service, and that's one of the things an environmental health officer will ask about. Cooked rice that cools slowly is a known food poisoning risk, because bacterial spores survive cooking. The FSA's Safer Food Better Business pack tells caterers to hold rice hot or get it chilled inside an hour, using a shallow tray or small portions rather than leaving it in the cooker, then keep it covered in the fridge and use it within a day, reheating it until it's piping hot all the way through. Write your own cooling method into your food safety records, and ask your officer how it applies to rice noodles in your process.

Allergens: fish sauce, shrimp paste and peanuts

Of the 14 allergens UK food law makes you declare, a typical Vietnamese kitchen handles at least six, and some sit in sauces rather than the main ingredient:

• Fish: fish sauce (nuoc mam) is in dressings, marinades and the dipping sauce for rolls. A "vegetable" dish can still contain it.
• Crustaceans: prawns, dried shrimp and shrimp paste.
• Peanuts: crushed peanuts on bun and salads, and in some dipping sauces.
• Soy: soy sauce, tofu and some hoisin.
• Cereals containing gluten: some soy and hoisin sauces contain wheat. So do baguettes and some batters.
• Sesame and egg: in some garnishes, sauces and noodles.

Every supplier's sauce is different, so use the list above as a reminder of where to look, then read your own labels. When food is sold online or by phone, FSA guidance says the customer must be able to see allergen information before they buy and again when the order is handed over, and it recommends doing both in writing.

In practice that means a short allergen line in each dish description on your Chefzi menu, which customers see before checkout, and a label or printed allergen sheet in the bag. A meat-free pho may still use fish sauce in the broth or the dipping sauce, so say exactly what's in it, and don't describe anything as vegan unless you can rule out cross-contamination. The full checklist is in our guide to allergen information for online orders.

Sit-down service: bookings and ordering at the table

Plenty of Vietnamese places do both: a busy takeaway counter and a few tables. Guests can request a table through table reservations, and you accept it from your side. Bookings don't take a card deposit, so for a large party on a Friday it's worth confirming by message the day before.

At the table, guests scan a code and use QR table ordering to add a second round of fresh rolls or iced coffee without waiting to catch someone's eye. Those tickets land in the same app as delivery and collection orders, so the kitchen works from one queue.

Where your own ordering page fits

Most Vietnamese takeaways rely on the delivery apps for discovery, and that's a reasonable use of them. The catch is that every repeat order through an app still pays commission, which averages up to 25% per order. Put your own numbers into the commission calculator to see what that comes to in a month.

The aim is to move the people who already like your pho onto your own page. A small card with a QR code in each bag does most of the work. The step-by-step version is in our guide on how to move regulars off Just Eat.

Running a different menu? Thai restaurants and Korean restaurants have their own pages, and a banh mi counter that mostly sells coffee and pastries may suit the cafés and bakeries page better.

What's included

Your restaurant gets a mobile-friendly ordering site for delivery and collection, with the menu written as text so search engines can read it. It can sit on your own domain, and that connection is live in the portal, or be embedded in a website you already run. Proteins, sizes, sauces and extras are set up as option groups, each of which can be required and can have a minimum and maximum.

New orders arrive in the Chefzi app on any phone or tablet you already have (Android now; the iOS app is included when it launches), and it keeps ringing until a member of staff accepts or rejects the order. If that device goes offline, Chefzi texts you and then phones. Each delivery zone has its own fee, minimum order and time, and collection and delivery can run on different hours.

Chefzi includes a built-in browser till (Chefzi POS), in beta, at no extra cost, with kitchen display, split bills, cash drawer and Z reports. Card sales at the counter go through your own external card terminal and are recorded on the till. It doesn't provide kiosks or courier integrations, so deliveries go out with your own drivers; your restaurant’s own branded app (Android & iOS) is included. The full list is on what Chefzi does not do.

Start taking orders directly

One plan at £39 a month per location, ex VAT: ordering website, your own branded app (Android & iOS), EPOS till, kitchen screen, SMS and email marketing (GDPR compliant) and loyalty rewards. 0% commission ever, no setup fee, free migration and one month free.

Chefzi is £39 a month per location billed annually (£49 if billed monthly), excluding VAT, with your own domain, your own branded app (Android & iOS) and everything else included. There's no setup fee and no commission. See Chefzi pricing.

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Frequently asked questions

How should I sell pho for delivery?

Most kitchens pack the hot broth in a sealed container and the noodles, meat and herbs separately, so nothing goes soft on the way. Say that in the item description, so customers know to combine it at home, and offer broth size or extra noodles as options.

Can customers build their own banh mi?

Yes. Make the filling the item, then add option groups for extras such as chilli, coriander, pâté or no mayonnaise. Mark a group as required where the kitchen needs an answer, and set a minimum and maximum where customers pick several things.

Which allergens come up most in Vietnamese dishes?

Check every supplier label, but fish (fish sauce), crustaceans (prawns and shrimp paste), peanuts, soy, cereals containing gluten (in some soy and hoisin sauces), sesame and egg are common in Vietnamese recipes. For online orders, the FSA says allergen information must be available before the order is placed and when it is delivered.

Can I take table bookings as well as takeaway orders?

Yes. Guests can request a table online and you accept it, and diners who are already seated can order from their phone by scanning a QR code. Bookings don't take a card deposit.

What does Chefzi cost for a Vietnamese restaurant?

Chefzi is £39 a month per location billed annually (£49 if billed monthly) with everything included. Prices exclude VAT. There is no setup fee and no commission on orders.

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