Phone orders without chasing payment: a pay link by text, then a "ready" text
11 November 2026
Someone rings at 11:40 for four toasties and two flat whites. You write it down, say "twenty minutes", and then the usual questions start. Did they say they'd pay on pickup? Will they turn up? Who has the card number? Did anyone remember to ring them back?
The Servatto Register has a phone order flow that takes most of that out. You build the order, the customer gets a text with a link to pay, and they get a second text when the kitchen marks it ready.
How it works at the counter
- Ring the order up on the Register the way you would for anyone standing in front of you.
- Tap Save and choose phone order. Add the customer's name and their Australian mobile number. The Register checks the number is a valid Australian mobile before it goes anywhere.
- Servatto prices the order the way the till does, including any surcharges you've set up in the Back Office, and makes a payment link for it.
- The customer gets a text: their first name, your shop name, the order number, up to four items (then "+2 more" if there are extras), the total, the link, and "We'll text you when it's ready."
The link doesn't ask the customer for a tip or a coupon code.
One limit to know about: discounts. At the moment a discount on the order doesn't carry over to the pay link. If a phone order has a discount, don't send the link for it. Take payment when the customer collects instead.
What the kitchen sees
The order goes onto the Kitchen board straight away, marked unpaid and tagged as a phone order with the customer's name. When the customer pays, the same card on the board flips to paid. There's no second order to confuse anyone. Whether the kitchen starts cooking before the money arrives is up to you; the board just shows them which orders are paid and which aren't.
Servatto keeps checking the link. When the payment comes through, the sale is completed and the till learns about it on its next check. Servatto stops watching a link that's still unpaid after 24 hours and marks the order expired. That doesn't close the link itself, so if you no longer want the order, void it on the till.
The "ready" text
When someone on the Kitchen board taps Ready on that order, the customer gets a short text: "Sam, your [shop] order A012 is ready to collect." It's sent once, not every time the order is touched.
Phone orders also behave differently from counter orders at the end. A counter order that sits in Ready is moved to Done on a timer. A phone order waits for its customer instead.
When things don't go to plan
The text didn't arrive. The order is saved either way. On Open orders the phone order shows that the text was not sent. If the customer still hasn't had it, take payment at the counter when they arrive.
The customer turns up and wants to pay at the till. Voiding the phone order on the till closes the pay link. If the Register can't confirm the link is closed, it says so rather than pretending it worked.
The customer pays the link while you're taking card at the counter. Before closing the link, the till asks whether it has just been paid. If it has, you'll see "stop, don't charge it again", and if both somehow went through, you refund one of the two payments.
What you need
- The Servatto Register (Android tablet today).
- A connected card payment account that can make online pay links. Not every payment provider that works with Servatto can do this yet, so email us to check before you rely on it. The link is created through that account, and the money goes from the customer to you through it. Servatto isn't a payment processor and never holds the money. Your payment provider charges its own fees.
- An internet connection when you save the order, because that's when the link is made and the text is sent.
- A mobile number. Without one there's nothing to text, so no pay link.
The Register itself has no monthly fee. Phone orders come with it.
Is it worth setting up?
If you take two phone orders a week, probably not much changes. If phone orders are a regular part of your morning, the difference is that payment is settled before the food is made, and the customer isn't waiting at the counter wondering whether it's ready. They get a text instead of ringing you again.
We haven't measured how many fewer no-shows or follow-up calls this causes, so we won't promise a number. What we can say is what happens: one link, one "ready" text, and a clear paid-or-unpaid mark on the board.
Try it
Phone orders are in the Register, which you can start free: servatto.com. If you'd like a hand setting up the Register or connecting your payment account, email [email protected].
Servatto publishes this post and sells the software described in it.