Order Ahead is a feature in Flowhub Maui that allows your customers to place an online order using an e-commerce integrator. To navigate to Order Ahead, navigate to the Cashier tab, and Order Ahead will be available in the upper navigation bar.
When an order is placed, the Cashier page will play an audible alert, and a red circle will appear next to the Order Ahead top navigation tab with the current number of orders in the system.
Watch the video below to learn how to manage your order ahead orders:
Status Page:
The Order Ahead page in Maui has three statuses an order can be: New, In Progress, and Ready.
New: An order placed from an integrator will show in the New column.
In Progress: When a staff member picks up an order, the order is moved to the In Progress column, with information on what staff member is fulfilling the order. Once the order is fulfilled, the budtender will press the “Notify Customer that Order is Ready,” and the order will be moved to the Ready column.
Ready: The order is ready for customer pickup.
Order Ahead follows a stoplight system to visually display how long an order has been in the system. The green, yellow and red dots highlight this.
Green: The order has been in the system for less than one hour.
Yellow: The order has been in the system for 1 to 2:59 hours.
Red: The order will highlight in red if it has been in the system for longer than 3 hours.
The status page can also be filtered by medical/recreational orders, customer name, and integrator.
Fulfilling an order:
Once an order is in the New status lane, a staff member can select the order, and the customer’s order ahead cart will open with their requested items. Once a staff member has selected the order, the order will move to the “In Progress” column with the staff member’s name next to the order to let other staff know they are fulfilling the order.
Select an order from the New order lane to open the customer cart with their requested items.
Once a staff member has selected the order, the order will move to the “In Progress” column with the staff member’s name next to the order to let other staff know they are fulfilling the order.
Each cannabis item in the cart will be automatically assigned a package ID when the order is brought into Flowhub, ensuring that an order ahead order’s requested items cannot be sold out prior to customer pickup. To change the package ID on the order, click on the blue package ID in the cart, and a modal will appear to change the package ID to a different one of the same item.
Add any additional items the customer has requested.
If a customer calls in and chooses to add or remove items from their order, a staff member can add/remove items from the order just as they would for a walk-in customer.
Print any optional exit labels for inventory items.
This can also be done at checkout.
An order receipt can also be printed from the cart, which includes all items in the cart at the time the receipt is printed.
Apply any optional discounts on items in the order.
Select the blue “Notify Customer that Order is Ready” to move the order to the ready status
This will send a notification to the integrator to let the customer know that their order is ready for pickup.
Customer Profile Creation, Match and Check In:
Flowhub will automatically create a profile for a customer that has placed an order through order ahead and will pair this with an existing Maui Customer profile with a matching phone number or medical ID. You can create a profile for first-time shoppers that can easily be paired with an Order Ahead order that is ready for pickup.
Check in or create a profile for a customer.
Once the customer is in the Cashier queue, a staff member can select “Pickup” and match the profile to an order ahead cart, or Flowhub will match automatically if the customer is already matched based on the phone number or medical ID in the system.
The Pickup button can be found underneath each Customer's name in the Queue. If Customers are not associated with Order Ahead orders, you risk creating duplicate customer profiles, or having customers that never seem to leave the Queue.
An order can be matched to a checked in customer by selecting the order from the Ready status on the Order Ahead status board.
In the below example, Art placed an order online as "Arthur." The Budtender will need to associate Art Vandelay's profile with his Arthur Vandelay Order Ahead Order.
Once the customer has been matched with a pickup order, the customer profiles will be merged together, and their cart will open with their requested items.
Add any additional items the customer has requested.
Select “Collect Payment” to complete the transaction.
Cancel Order:
Select the order from the status page.
In the upper right corner, select the three dots.
Select “Cancel Order.”
Manually Create a new Pickup Order:
If you accept call-in order ahead orders to your dispensary, you can now manually create those orders in Flowhub and manage them in the same Order Ahead Status Page with orders received from your e-commerce integrators.
Using the pop out menu on the left, navigate to Cashier, then select "Order Ahead" from the submenu at the top.
Select the "New Order" button in the upper right corner above the Ready column:
Search for the Name of the Customer placing the order, then select the Customer and "Create Pickup Order." The order will start in the "In Progress" column.
Add the desired items to the cart for the customer's Pickup order.
When order has been fulfilled and is ready for Customer to pick up, select "Notify Customer that Order is Ready."
