By business type · 7 min read
Bakeries & pre-orders: pickup windows and cake deposits
Custom cake deposits, weekend bread slots, and a pickup system that stops eight people arriving at the same time.
By Tablefllow Team · May 26, 2026
Bakeries have the opposite problem to restaurants: your product sells out. The job is not driving demand, it's smoothing it — spreading pickups across the morning and locking in deposits for custom orders.
Pickup windows that work
- 15-minute slots on Saturday mornings, cap 8 orders per slot.
- Auto-close a slot when full — no manual juggling.
- Confirm 24 hours before with the pickup window in bold.
Custom cake orders
Use Tablefllow's deposit flow: guest reserves the date, pays 50% now, balance on collection. Add photo upload for reference designs. Cakes booked 7+ days out reduce weekend chaos and lock in cash flow.
Loyalty for regulars, not tourists
Punch cards work — 'Buy 10 loaves, get 1 free' converts to structured points inside Tablefllow. Your Saturday regulars will hit gold tier before you know it.
The pre-order broadcast
Wednesday message: 'Weekend menu. Sourdough, focaccia, cinnamon rolls. Pre-order by Friday 6pm — Saturday slots fill fast.' Do this weekly. Compounding regulars is the whole bakery business.