The load-shedding switch
When the power goes, the gas runs out or the fryer dies, you need to stop taking orders you cannot cook, now, without phoning anybody. The switch is on the first screen of the dashboard, and the person on shift may press it.
Your screen
Today
Online orders paused
Paused by Lerato 12 minutes ago — “No power until 18:00. Please phone us.”
While you are open the same button reads Pause online orders. One tap, a confirm, done. The line under it shows who last moved the switch and when, and the banner shows on every dashboard page until orders restart.
Your customer’s screen
Thandi’s Kitchen
Online orders paused
Choose a timeNo power until 18:00. Please phone us.
Half chicken, chips & salad
Boerewors coil
Braai chicken
The menu stays up so they can see what you sell, but there are no collection times to choose and no way to place an order. The message is yours, so it can say when you expect to be back.
All of it at once, and all of it undone by the same button when the power comes back.
1
It asks you to confirm
One question, so a thumb on the wrong button does not close the shop.
2
Your customers are told why
The message you wrote in Settings shows at the top of your menu and in the time picker. If you have not written one, a short default line asks them to phone you.
3
New orders stop. The board does not
Nobody can place an order while you are paused. Orders already on the board stay exactly where they are, so you can still finish what is in the kitchen.
4
It writes down who and when
The pause is recorded with the name of the person who pressed it. So is the restart. The Today screen shows the latest: “Paused by Lerato, 12 minutes ago”.
5
Every dashboard page says so
A banner across the top, on every screen, until somebody starts orders again. Nobody on shift can miss that the shop is paused.
6
The same button starts you again
It turns green and reads “Start taking orders”. Tap it and the message comes down, the times come back, and the restart is recorded too.
Everything else in the dashboard follows a ladder: the owner can do more than a manager, a manager more than staff. This is the one deliberate exception.
When the power goes, the person standing there is whoever is working, and the owner may be nowhere near the shop. Making them phone for permission means the restaurant keeps taking orders it cannot cook, which is worse for the customer than anything a staff member could do with this button. What makes it safe is not permission but the record: every pause and every restart is written down with who did it.
You do not need this button at closing time. The ordering page already knows your hours.
Outside your hours the page says you are closed, and offers the next time you open. A customer at 06:00 can order for 09:00. You keep taking orders, for later.
The switch. Nothing can be ordered, for now or for later, and the customer is told why. It is for the hours you cannot cook at all, not for the hours you are shut.
A public holiday or a family funeral goes on the hours screen as a closed date, days in advance. The page simply does not offer that day. No switch needed.
Prices, sold-out items, hours and what you took today, all yours to change.