Bake with confidence.
Reduce the guesswork with our BakeAhead system designed to improve production oversight, reduce waste, and raise profit without adding anything new but sharpening the system that already exists. BakeAhead is designed to allow customers to order the day before or whatever the store needs. We find that most bakeries start in the morning to bake for the day, and with numbers in before 2 am, or any earlier time the store sets, bakers can produce numbers that are accurate to what's already purchased, reducing waste and the stressful guesswork most merchants face.
Open or closed, customers reserve for tomorrow and pay.
A bakery's hardest number is how much to bake.
Customers that order today before midnight allow the bakery to acquire the exact numbers of how much to bake, and what to bake. Bake too little and the regulars leave empty-handed. Bake too much and it goes in the bin at close. Each reservation is one less number to guess, and the more of them arrive, the closer the bake gets to what was sold.
Know before you bake.
01 / BakeAhead in action
Reservations open when the store opens.
On any item opened to BakeAhead, checkout offers a choice: collect today, or reserve for tomorrow. A customer can buy for now and reserve for tomorrow in the same checkout and pay once.
Every paid reservation joins tomorrow's count in the BakeAhead manifest along with the customer's order number.
Each customer also receives the appropriate pickup window set by the merchant.
02 / BakeAhead after you close
The Midnight Club
The BakeAhead system is designed to still keep receiving orders even after close, and we call this "The Midnight Club", a speakeasy-style private menu that hides the regular menu and highlights the BakeAhead menu. Checkout options are also limited to only process BakeAhead orders until midnight or the merchant's set time. We've also designed the feature to hard lockout at 2am for any set period.
How it works: Guests visiting the store after close arrive at a locked screen with a button directing them to the Midnight Club, where signing up or signing in is needed for entry. Guests need an account in order to save their receipt for pickup.
03 / The manifest
BakeAhead has its own queue and order tracker.
BakeAhead orders have their own manifest and queue, allowing shops to plan the bake and fulfil orders without disrupting the regular queue.
The numbers come in throughout the day, and the final list is available after cut-off time for bakers to view, print and plan around the orders. Each order is already paid for and accounted for.
04 / Pickup
Collected in the store's pickup window.
Each store has the pleasure of setting their pickup window to manage the order flow and offer their product when it's best.
When the pickup window opens, customers are reminded with their code and the time they can collect their order. The counter tablet switches to morning mode, and today's reservations move to the top.
05 / Handed over
Handed over by code.
The code finds the order in a second. Handing it over is the same moment as any other order: your stock comes down, the sale enters your books and the loyalty points land.
When a basket holds both today and tomorrow, the two parts are handed over separately, each when its day comes. Reservations nobody collected are listed in your dashboard, and nothing is refunded on its own.
06 / The store sets the rules
Your window, your items, your limits.
Each store chooses the pickup window and what can be reserved from adding an item to the menu. Anything that cannot be made ahead is never offered for tomorrow. Each item can carry a daily limit, say 40 croissants. Customers see "6 left for tomorrow" as it runs low and "Fully reserved" when it is gone, so the store never promises more than it bakes.
BakeAhead has its own home in your dashboard, with Tomorrow, Items and Settings. The cut-off, the reminder and any saving on reserved items are set in Settings, where BakeAhead can also be turned on or off at any time. BakeAhead sits on top of your opening hours and never changes them.
Misconception, and advice
Before you switch it on.
What BakeAhead leaves alone, and what helps it work.
The same item can be bought now and later.
BakeAhead does not disrupt regular orders of the same product. Customers can still order the same croissant for the regular queue's ready time. Our system receipts separate this cleanly, splitting at checkout and on the final receipt, outlining what's for pickup now and what's for pickup tomorrow.
Adoption guidance
BakeAhead was designed for stores more than customers, and its success is based on the store's intentional reward to the customers. Tomorrow's numbers today reduce uncertainty for the store and bakers. A small reward for reserving gives customers a reason to order ahead, and each reservation is one more number the store no longer guesses. The BakeAhead system does not require that a store set a discount for it to function, but it's greatly advised for its success.
Bake with confidence
Today's customers
write tomorrow's list.
Start free — no card needed. Print your counter sign, put it beside the till, and see what happens.