Multi-location restaurant order management: a guide

Three venues take orders at all three: a catering job by email, a birthday booking by phone, pastries for the shop across town. Each venue keeps its own notebook, so nobody sees the whole week. Multi-location restaurant order management fixes that with one list, one set of statuses and one screen every manager can read.

What multi-location restaurant order management has to do

Your POS already handles the coffee and the sandwiches paid for at the counter. The orders that go missing are the ones taken ahead of time: catering, functions, pre-orders, wholesale, and anything one venue makes for another.

A system for those orders has five jobs.

• Every order goes in one place. Not one list per venue, and not one per staff member's inbox.
• Each order carries its venue. The venue that makes it and, where it differs, the venue that receives it.
• A status says where each order stands. Everybody reads it the same way.
• One person owns each order. A question then has somewhere to go.
• Every order carries a due date. A kitchen plans by date, and a list sorted any other way hides the urgent ones.

Set up one order list for every venue

The heart of multi-location restaurant order management is the list itself. The fields come first, and they stay limited to what the kitchen and the front counter actually use.

• Order number, generated automatically so two venues never issue the same one.
• Customer, with a phone number and an email address.
• Venue, a dropdown with one option per location.
• Due date.
• Status, a dropdown with the steps below.
• Items and notes, including allergies and pickup or delivery details.
• Total and deposit paid.
• Owner, the staff member responsible.

In Diract this is a table of your own, made under Settings, then Schema configuration, then New table. The fields it needs: Auto ID for the order number, Dropdown for venue and status, Date for the due date. Currency covers the money and Text the rest. The assistant can build the same table, from Build your process in the sidebar.

Statuses that match the kitchen

A status list holds the steps an order really goes through, and no more. For most venues that is:

1. New
2. Confirmed, once the deposit arrives
3. In prep
4. Ready
5. Collected or delivered
6. Cancelled

Resist adding a status for every exception. A status nobody uses is a place orders get stuck.

Take every order the same way

Consistent intake is where multi-location restaurant order management starts. When each venue takes orders its own way, the list fills with gaps: no phone number, no deposit, a due date written as "Friday".

Agree one routine and put it on the wall at every venue.

1. The order goes in the list while the customer is still on the phone or at the counter.
2. Whoever takes it reads back the date, the venue, the items and any allergies.
3. The deposit goes onto the order as it arrives.
4. The customer leaves with the order number.
5. An owner goes on the order before the call ends.

An order entered later from a scribbled note is an order with something missing. Entering it at the time takes a minute and saves the phone call back.

See every venue's orders on one screen

A list holds the orders. A dashboard runs them, and it is where multi-location restaurant order management earns its keep. One dashboard needs three parts.

• A board grouped by status. Each column is a status and each card is an order. A card dragged to another column changes its status.
• A board grouped by venue. The same orders split by location, so each manager finds their own at a glance.
• A data grid of the orders. The plain list, sorted by due date, for whoever is planning prep.

A summary tile carries the total worth seeing every morning. In Diract these are the Board, Data grid and Summary tile widgets. They read straight from the order table, so nothing needs copying or rebuilding.

Staff each venue to match its orders

Rosters are the other half of multi-location restaurant order management. The orders tell you how busy each venue will be, and the roster is where you act on it.

Each venue goes under Locations on the Company tab in Admin, and every staff member gets a main working location. A manager assigned to one venue sees and edits only that venue's shifts and staff. Admins see every venue.

The week gets built in the Calendar, starting from a known pattern with Copy last week, then Publish week. Staff check in at a shared kiosk with their own PIN, which records who actually arrived.

One thing Diract does not do is connect to your POS. Counter sales stay where they are, and the order list covers everything booked ahead.

Checklist: running orders across locations

• Every order taken ahead of time goes in one list, whichever venue took it
• Each order names its venue, due date, status and owner
• Statuses match the steps the kitchen really follows
• Each manager can find their own venue's orders without scrolling past the others
• Each venue's roster is built after checking that venue's orders for the week
• Deposits sit on the order, never in a separate book
• A cancelled order keeps its record and takes a cancelled status

Mistakes that break multi-location restaurant order management

• One list per venue. You lose the whole picture, and an order moved between venues falls into the gap.
• Statuses typed as free text. "Nearly done" and "almost ready" resist grouping and counting. A dropdown fixes it.
• Orders living in inboxes. An order outside the list never reaches the kitchen at all. Entering it belongs to taking it.
• No owner. An order everyone can see and nobody owns is the one that gets missed.
• Deleting cancelled orders. The record of the booking, and of why it collapsed, goes with them.

Conclusion

Good multi-location restaurant order management comes down to three things. One list, a venue and a status on every order, and a screen each manager reads in seconds. Each venue's roster can then follow its orders instead of guessing.

Build your app free at diract.io. Every plan starts with a 7 day free trial, and nothing reaches a card until it ends.

Questions

Does this replace my POS?

No. Diract does not connect to your POS. Keep walk-in sales in your POS and use the order list for catering, functions, pre-orders and anything else booked ahead.

Can each venue manager see only their own venue?

For rosters and staff, yes. A manager assigned to a location sees and edits only that venue's shifts and staff. For orders, a board grouped by venue lets each manager find their own in one column.

How do I stop two venues using the same order number?

The order number belongs in an Auto ID field. It runs across the whole list, so it never depends on which venue entered the order.

Current as at 13 September 2026. The product changes often, so check the screen before relying on a detail here.