How to set up online ordering, step by step

Online ordering isn't just a cart bolted onto a website. Done properly, it's a handful of decisions and accounts that need to be set up in the right order, then tested with a real order before anyone else sees it.

1. Open your own Stripe account

Payments should go into an account in your name, not a shared one you don't control. Stripe is the standard for this: it handles the actual card payment so no card details ever touch your website or server directly, which matters for both security and your own liability.

2. Decide: pickup, delivery, or both

• Pickup only: simplest to set up, no courier account needed, works for most cafes and bakeries starting out
• Delivery: needs an approved Uber Direct account, and courier coverage actually checked against your address first
• Both: customers choose at checkout, with delivery priced as a live quote, not a flat guess

3. Build the actual product list or menu

Every item, price, description, and photo, entered properly rather than copied from a PDF. This is usually the slowest part, and the one most within your control to speed up by having it ready in advance.

4. Set stock limits and time windows, if they matter

Food that has to arrive fresh or cold needs a delivery time limit built in, so a courier delay can't result in a ruined order. Anything with limited daily stock, like fresh bread, needs a way to stop taking orders once it's sold out, automatically.

5. Test it like a real customer would

A real test order, paid for and then refunded, through the actual checkout. If delivery is part of it, a real courier trip too. This is the step that gets skipped most often, and it's the one that catches problems before a paying customer does.

6. Go live, and watch the first orders

Once everything's tested, switch from test keys to live ones and watch the first handful of real orders come through, ready to step in if anything looks off. See the full process on the online ordering page.