A book on the counter and a queue in the rain
From October, the Christmas order book sits by the till. Customers ask for a large turkey, a medium bronze, a rib of beef for eight, a gammon, some sausages and bacon, and a pork pie. A deposit is taken, sometimes. The order is written on a line in whatever handwriting the member of staff has. Some orders come by phone and are written on a sticky note. A few come by email.
In December, someone types the book into a spreadsheet to work out how many birds of each size are needed and what the butcher has to cut. On collection days, the queue stretches outside, staff flip through the book to find names, and one customer insists they ordered a large bird when the book says medium.
Why Christmas orders are so hard to manage
Christmas meat is sold before its final weight is known. Your turkeys, whether reared on the farm or bought from a local producer, come in a range of weights after processing. Joints are cut to order. Customers order by size descriptions such as 'feeds eight', which mean different things to different people. And everything is collected in a few days, often in bad weather.
- Orders arrive by counter, phone and email, and are written in different places.
- Customers order by rough size, but birds come in actual weights.
- Deposits and final balances are tracked separately, if at all.
- The butcher's cutting list is typed up from the book by hand.
- Collection is first come, first served, which creates queues.
What the chaos costs
Christmas is often a large share of a farm shop's meat trade, and it is where mistakes are most visible. A wrong bird or a missing joint on Christmas Eve is remembered for years. Birds of the wrong sizes are left over, or customers are disappointed. Staff are exhausted by the paperwork on top of the work. And queues in the cold put off the customers who come for the experience of shopping at a farm.
Money slips too: deposits that were never recorded, balances calculated wrongly, and extra items added at collection and not charged.
The pre-order system we build
- An order form on your website and the same form on a tablet at the counter, so phone and counter orders are entered exactly like online ones. Customers choose products and sizes from options you set, such as weight bands.
- Deposits taken online or at the counter through Stripe or your card terminal, recorded against the order.
- A size plan showing orders by weight band against the birds or joints you expect to have, so you can close a size when it is full or offer an alternative.
- A cutting list and packing list for the butcher, generated from all orders, grouped the way they work.
- Final weight and price entered when each item is labelled, from the scale where possible, with the balance due calculated and a text or email to the customer.
- Collection slots chosen when ordering or confirmed later, a collection list sorted by slot and surname, and the order ticked off on the tablet as it is handed over, with the balance paid.
| Stage | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Taking orders | Book, notes and emails | One form online and at the counter |
| Deposits | Sometimes, on paper | Recorded against each order |
| Planning sizes | Spreadsheet in December | Live plan as orders arrive |
| Final price | Worked out at collection | Set at labelling, texted to customer |
| Collection | Queue and book | Slots and a sorted list |
Christmas week afterwards
Orders build steadily from autumn in one place. When medium turkeys are nearly all taken, the form stops offering them and suggests a large bird or a crown. In early December, the butcher prints the cutting list. When the birds are labelled, customers get a text with the final weight and balance.
On collection days, customers arrive in their slots. Staff find each order in seconds, hand it over and take the balance. The queue is shorter, and it moves. Anything left uncollected shows on the list by the end of the day, so someone can phone the customer.
In January, you have a full record of what sold, in which sizes, which helps you plan how many birds to rear or order next year.
Is your Christmas like this?
- Christmas orders are written in a book at the counter.
- Someone types up the orders in December to plan the birds and cutting.
- Customers dispute the size they ordered at collection.
- Collection days mean long queues outside.
- Deposits and balances are not always recorded properly.