How to take Christmas pre-orders online (UK takeaways)

Updated 13 Nov 2026. This is a working guide for UK takeaway owners. It has no invented statistics: sums are examples we have worked out and label as such, and every Chefzi setting described here is one the product has today.

In short: to take Christmas pre-orders, give customers an ordering page where they can choose a later day and time, set how far ahead they can book and how much notice you need, list only dishes you can cook to a schedule, and tell people the dates. On Chefzi customers can book up to 14 days ahead, so Christmas Eve orders open from Thursday 10 December.

Why start in November

Owners tend to think about Christmas orders in the last week of December. Customers plan earlier. UK searches for "christmas pre order" peaked on 26 November in 2023, on 10 November in 2024 and on 30 November in 2025 (Google Trends, pulled 13 November 2026; Google reports relative interest, not volumes). That search is not specific to takeaways, but it shows when people start planning ahead to buy things for Christmas.

Searches for Christmas opening hours come later, in the last ten days before Christmas. So the order of work is: choose what you sell now, set up the page in early December, and announce your hours in mid-December.

The dates that matter in 2026

Christmas Day and New Year's Day both fall on a Friday this year, and the Boxing Day bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December (GOV.UK, England and Wales). Because Chefzi lets customers order up to 14 days ahead, you can work out the first day each pre-order night can open:

If you want to take bookings earlier than that, do it outside the ordering page, by phone or message, and keep your own list. Do not promise customers a time you cannot see on one screen.

Step 1: Decide what you will sell on the peak nights

Pre-orders work best when the menu is short. A customer who books Christmas Eve a week ahead is not expecting your full 120-item menu, and your kitchen will cook faster from a short one.

• Pick the dishes that cook fast and travel well.
• Build one or two bundles, for example a family meal or a "night off cooking" deal. Chefzi supports meal deals and combos, with sizes and extras, so a bundle is a normal menu item.
• Mark slow or fragile dishes as sold out for the night. Sold out does not delete the dish, and it disappears from the online menu straight away.
• If a dish needs more notice than the rest, say so in its description. Chefzi sets the lead time for the location, not for one dish.

For more on trimming a menu, see our Christmas and New Year's Eve busy-night guide.

Step 2: Work out how many orders you can cook, because Chefzi will not cap a slot for you

Some ordering tools let you set a maximum number of orders per time slot. Chefzi does not. There is no slot grid and no cap on how many orders share a time. Your controls are the lead time, the number of days ahead, accepting with a prep time, rejecting with a reason and pausing ordering.

That means you need to do the sum yourself, before the rush. An example, with made-up numbers you should replace with your own:

• Your kitchen can send out about 8 typical orders every 15 minutes.
• You are open for pre-orders from 5pm to 9pm, which is 16 quarter-hours.
• The most you can cook is about 128 orders, and you would not plan to run at that limit all night.

Then watch the order list as orders come in. When a popular time looks full, accept the next orders with a longer prep time (the customer sees the time you set), or reject with a reason the customer can read, or pause ordering. Do not accept an order you cannot deliver on time.

Step 3: Set up the page

In the Chefzi dashboard:

1. Hours. Set collection hours and delivery hours separately for normal days. For Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve and any other special date, add a special day. A special day is either closed or one opening window, and it covers collection and delivery together.
2. Lead time. Set the minimum notice for collection and for delivery separately. On your busiest night a longer lead time stops a 7pm order being placed at 6:55pm.
3. How far ahead. Choose how many days ahead customers can order, from one to fourteen.
4. Cut-off. The closing time for that service is the cut-off, unless you allow orders outside hours. There is no separate cut-off before closing.
5. Delivery. Set a delivery time for each zone at busy times, and take your furthest zone off the saved list or raise its minimum. If you cannot cover delivery on a night, turn delivery off and leave collection on. See delivery zones by postcode.

All of this is in online ordering. If you are moving from GloriaFood, map your special days and scheduled orders first: moving GloriaFood opening hours and scheduled orders.

Step 4: Decide how customers pay

Cash on collection and cash on delivery are available on every plan. Card payments (Stripe Connect, Square, Worldpay or PayPal) are on the Plus plan, at £19 a month billed annually or £22 billed monthly, ex VAT, per location. On Starter (£9 billed annually, £12 monthly) customers pay cash when they collect.

For pre-orders that matters. A cash order booked ten days ahead is easy to forget; a card order is not. If you expect large festive orders and no-shows would hurt, check whether Plus is right for you before you publish the page. See card payment fees for takeaways for the fees you would pay to the payment provider.

Step 5: Tell people, in the places they already look

• Google Business Profile. Add your ordering link and your holiday hours. See how to add an order online link.
• Your own channels. Put the link in your WhatsApp status, social profiles and on a sign in the window. A short message to customers who have agreed to hear from you also works; use only contact details you may use under UK GDPR and PECR.
• Every bag. A QR code on bags and receipts points regulars at your own page for their next order. Our QR code order kit makes one.
• If you also sell on Just Eat, Deliveroo or Uber Eats. Check each platform's terms before you message its customers about your own page. The rules are in move customers from Just Eat to your website.
• Phone message. Record the dates and the pre-order cut-off.

Step 6: Run the nights

• Start the evening with the app on a charged phone or tablet. The Chefzi Orders app (Android now; iOS coming soon) rings until someone accepts with a prep time or rejects with a reason. See the order app.
• Put one person on the screen and one on the pass. Do not let the cook accept orders.
• Check the requested time on each ticket, and batch dishes for the same time.
• If the kitchen falls behind, lengthen the prep time you accept with before you reject.
• Keep a paper note of any phone orders against the same times.

What Chefzi pre-orders do not do

Printable checklist

• Peak-night menu chosen; slow dishes marked sold out
• Orders you can cook per quarter-hour worked out
• Special days added for 24, 26, 28 and 31 December and 1 January
• Lead times set for collection and delivery
• Days ahead set to 14 when you are ready to open Christmas Eve
• Payment method decided (cash or card)
• Delivery zones trimmed; delivery time set for each zone
• Google profile, website, social profiles, window sign and phone message updated
• App charged and tested; two people trained on accepting orders
• Allergen information checked for every festive dish (see allergen information online)

Sources

• GOV.UK bank holidays in England and Wales, 2026 (Christmas Day Friday 25 December; Boxing Day substitute Monday 28 December; New Year's Day Friday 1 January 2027): https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays (read 13 Nov 2026)
• Google Trends, UK, "christmas pre order", five-year weekly series, pulled 13 Nov 2026 (relative interest, not search volumes): https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=GB&q=christmas%20pre%20order
• Chefzi online ordering features (order ahead, lead times, special days, cash on collection): https://chefzi.co.uk/features/online-ordering (read 13 Nov 2026)
• Chefzi plans and card payments by plan: https://chefzi.co.uk/pricing (read 13 Nov 2026)