Spring Update 2026: New Tools to Simplify Restaurant Order Management

TLDR

Spring is when food and drink businesses start moving faster. Warmer weather brings more guests through the door and more orders into the system. A busy day is great for business, but a sudden rush of orders can quickly overwhelm the kitchen. Tickets pile up, preparation times stretch, and teams try to keep everything moving. Restaurants need tools to manage order flow without slowing service. That is exactly what these new order management updates are designed to do. They give busy restaurants greater control, keeping kitchens organized even during peak hours.

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Order Pacing: A Smarter Way to Control Incoming Orders

During a rush, the biggest challenge for most restaurants is not demand. It is managing how that demand enters the kitchen.

Your online ordering platform might allow unlimited orders to come through at the same time. While that sounds good in theory, it can overwhelm the kitchen in minutes. 20 orders placed within a short window can slow down preparation for everyone.

Order pacing in Per Diem introduces a way to control that flow so your kitchen receives orders at a manageable pace.

Instead of accepting every order instantly, you can set limits based on your operational capacity. These limits help balance the number of incoming orders with what the kitchen can realistically prepare.

Restaurants can set pacing rules using several factors, such as:

• Number of orders accepted within a certain time period
• Total items included in incoming orders
• Overall order value
• Time intervals during the day

When those limits are reached, the system automatically moves new orders into the next available preparation slot. Customers still place their orders, but the pickup or delivery time reflects the kitchen’s current workload.

Why This Helps During Busy Hours

Think about a Saturday brunch rush. Without pacing, dozens of orders could land in the system within minutes. The kitchen suddenly has more work than it can handle.

With pacing in place, those orders are distributed across available time slots. This keeps the kitchen moving at a steady pace instead of forcing the team to scramble through a backlog.

The result is fewer mistakes, clearer expectations for customers, and a kitchen that stays organized even during peak hours.

See how to control incoming order volume with order capacity management. Read the setup guide.

Managing Order Volume Across Multiple Locations

Restaurants with multiple locations often face another challenge. Not every store operates the same way.

A downtown café might handle high order volume throughout the day, while another location in a quieter neighborhood sees smaller but steady traffic. Using the same operational settings across every store does not always make sense.

That is why location-level control has been introduced for order pacing.

Restaurants can decide how these limits apply across their business.

You can choose to:

• Apply pacing rules separately for each location
• Apply the same rules across all locations

This gives brands the flexibility to match each store’s capacity and staffing level.

A Clear View of Order Flow

Along with location controls, Per Diem merchants now have access to a real-time overview of order activity through the time slot overview tab.

This view shows how orders are moving through the system during the day. Restaurants can quickly see:

• Orders placed within the past 2 hours
• Orders scheduled in the next 2 hours
• Activity shown in 15-minute time blocks

For managers, this becomes a quick way to understand how busy the kitchen is right now and how busy it will be soon.

If a spike in orders is coming up, your team can prepare earlier, adjust staffing, or plan prep work ahead of time.

Instead of reacting to a sudden rush, restaurants get a clearer picture of what is coming next.

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Category-Based Checkout Limits That Keep Orders Manageable

Restaurants sometimes run into a surprising problem during busy hours. A single item becoming extremely popular.

For example, a pizza shop might receive a large number of pizza orders within a short time window. A coffee shop may see a rush of latte orders right after the morning commute begins.

While demand is always welcome, preparing a large quantity of the same item at once can slow down the entire kitchen.

If the kitchen is focused on making 20 pizzas from one order, other tickets start waiting. Customers ordering different items face longer preparation times.

Category-based checkout limits help prevent that situation.

Restaurants can now set limits on how many items from a specific category can be included in one order. This rule is applied automatically during checkout.

How This Works in Practice

A restaurant might decide to limit certain categories based on production capacity.

For example:

• A pizza restaurant may allow a maximum number of its best-selling pizzas per order
• A coffee shop may limit specialty drinks in a single checkout
• A dessert shop may control large pastry orders during peak hours

If a customer attempts to add more items than the allowed limit, the system simply prevents the extra quantity from being added to the cart.

This keeps order sizes manageable and protects the kitchen workflow during busy periods.

Another benefit is inventory control. Some menu items rely on ingredients that are prepared in limited batches. Category limits help spread demand across the day so restaurants avoid running out too quickly.

Customers also benefit because the checkout experience stays clear and predictable. Instead of placing a large order that causes delays later, expectations are set right away.

Limit how many items customers can add from a category in one order. Read the setup guide.

Prep Time Updates That Give More Accurate Timing

Prep time plays a major role in how smoothly orders move through a kitchen. When prep time is too short, orders start falling behind schedule. When it is too long, customers wait longer than necessary, and the experience feels slow. Restaurants need timing that reflects what is actually happening in the kitchen.

Several new prep time updates now give merchants more flexibility to set accurate preparation times based on how their kitchen operates.

Location and Category-Based Prep Time

Not every menu item requires the same amount of preparation. A smoothie may take only a few minutes, while a large food order could require much more time. Setting a single prep time across an entire menu often creates inaccurate pickup estimates.

With category-based prep time, your restaurant can assign different preparation times to different menu categories. For example, drinks, desserts, and full meals can each have their own timing rules.

If a location sets prep time at the category level, that value will take priority over the general store-wide prep time. This gives restaurants more precise control over how long different items should take.

For multi-location businesses, this also helps when certain stores operate differently. A busy downtown location might need longer prep time for certain menu items compared to a smaller neighborhood café.

These small adjustments help ensure that pickup estimates better match what actually happens in the kitchen.

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Advanced Prep Time That Adjusts Based on Order Size

Large orders often require more preparation than small ones. A single sandwich order can be prepared quickly, but a large family order with multiple items takes more time and coordination.

Advanced prep time allows the business to automatically adjust preparation time based on the value of an order.

Instead of using one fixed prep time, merchants can create rules that increase preparation time as the order total grows.

Restaurants can set different thresholds, such as:

• Orders between certain value ranges
• Gradual prep time increases as order size grows
• Multiple timing tiers for different order totals

For example, a restaurant might configure prep time like this:

Orders between $0 and $50 may require 15 minutes
Orders between $51 and $150 may require 30 minutes
Orders above $150 may require 45 minutes

This approach helps the kitchen handle complex orders without rushing staff or delaying other tickets. Larger orders are given the time they realistically need.

Customers also benefit because the pickup estimate reflects the size of their order. That clarity reduces confusion and helps set the right expectations before they arrive.

These improvements bring more accuracy to preparation timing, especially during busy service hours.

More updates related to prep time are also on the way as restaurants continue looking for better ways to organize kitchen operations.

Set dynamic prep times that adjust automatically based on order value. Read the setup guide.

Busy Mode in the Merchant App for Sudden Rush Periods

Busy hours do not always build up slowly. Sometimes a rush hits all at once. A nearby event ends, the weather changes, or a group order triggers a wave of online tickets. When that happens, kitchens need a quick way to create a little breathing room without turning off orders.

Busy Mode in the dashboard already helps merchants handle these situations by extending prep time for incoming orders. The new update makes it even easier to use.

Restaurants can now turn on Busy Mode directly from the merchant mobile app. There is no need to open the dashboard or adjust multiple settings. If the kitchen suddenly gets overwhelmed, you or the manager can activate Busy Mode in seconds from the phone.

Once enabled, prep time automatically increases for new orders so the team can catch up with the tickets already in progress. When the rush slows down, Busy Mode can be turned off just as quickly.

This small change makes a big difference during peak hours, giving restaurant teams faster control when the kitchen gets busy.

Learn how to set up prep time rules and Busy Mode for your store. Read the setup guide

Final Thoughts

A busy kitchen is a good sign for any restaurant, but it works best when operations stay organized behind the scenes. These order management updates are designed to give restaurants better control over how orders enter the kitchen and how preparation time is managed throughout the day. With the right tools in place, teams can handle higher demand without compromising service quality.