Order Assistant
Turn scattered messages into complete orders.
Collects a complete custom-order brief, checks production constraints and sends an owner-approved deposit request. Prices come only from the catalogue, custom designs and dietary requests go to the owner, and an order exists only once the deposit is verified.
A real customer situation
A customer messages asking for a birthday cake but leaves out the date, how many people it should serve and when they will collect it. Saturday is already full in the kitchen, and a nut allergy mention needs the owner’s judgement rather than a quick yes.
Where the owner wants to be
Every enquiry becomes a complete brief in one fixed format, the owner approves a catalogue-priced quote in one step, and only deposit-paid requests reach the production calendar.
What it handles
- Asks for missing details and fills a fixed order schema without guessing
- Checks the date against cutoff and production capacity and offers days with space
- Prices from the catalogue only and flags custom designs and dietary requests for the owner
- Sends the owner-approved deposit request and creates one order and production ticket per verified deposit
- Keeps incomplete, unpaid and confirmed requests visibly separate
What it deliberately does not do
- Never promises that food is safe for an allergy or intolerance
- Never invents a price or discount outside the catalogue
- No checkout without a date, and no order without a verified deposit
- The public demo sends no messages and takes no payment
Interactive demo
Try it with sample data
No sign-up needed. Pick a scenario, change the inputs, then play the customer and the owner. The right-hand panel only shows what the workflow actually recorded.
Interactive simulation using a sample catalogue and production calendar. No message is sent, no deposit is taken and no order reaches a real kitchen.
Choose a scenario
The customer first leaves out the date, serving count and collection time. The assistant asks, the owner approves, the deposit confirms the order.
Sat 11 Oct is fully booked.
0 = not stated.
0 = not stated.
e.g. “Nut allergy”. Leave blank for none.
Customer side · Website chat
Press “Run scenario” to start. Every message and record here comes from sample data.
Workflow and harness
How Order Assistant runs
Reference schematic for the proposed workflow. Blue steps do the work, purple paths handle exceptions and returns, and amber checks are the harness controls that a step cannot pass without.
Overview — business stages
Read the full flow as text
- Customer message (business step)
Log the request with a reference. Output: Enquiry reference. Leads to: Build structured order brief. - Build structured order brief (business step)
Fixed schema; only stated values; keyword rules for typed replies. Output: Order brief. Leads to: Check date and production capacity; Missing details. - Check date and production capacity (business step)
≥ 3 days’ notice; free slot on the day. Output: Provisional slot. Leads to: Owner approves design and price; Capacity full. - Owner approves design and price (business step)
Owner approves every quote; sets any custom design fee. Output: Approved quote version. Leads to: Send deposit checkout; Brief needs revision. - Send deposit checkout (business step)
50% deposit; slot held 48 hours. Output: Deposit request. Leads to: Verify deposit and create order. - Verify deposit and create order (business step)
One order and ticket per event id. Output: Order + production ticket. - Missing details (exception or return path)
Ask; max 3 questions, then owner handoff. Output: Question to customer. Leads to: Build structured order brief (ask customer). - Capacity full (exception or return path)
Offer days with space; never overbook. Output: Alternative dates. Leads to: Build structured order brief (alternative date). - Brief needs revision (exception or return path)
Customer clarifies; brief and quote re-versioned. Output: Revised brief. Leads to: Build structured order brief (clarify). - Cutoff and capacity (harness check)
Date required; notice and daily slots checked. Output: Pass / blocked. Leads to: Check date and production capacity (required check). - Design and dietary review (harness check)
Owner review; no safety guarantee; catalogue prices only. Output: Owner approval. Leads to: Owner approves design and price (required check). - Payment verified (harness check)
Succeeded event for the current quote version. Output: Verified payment reference. Leads to: Verify deposit and create order (required check).
Harness controls
- Order cutoff and daily production capacity
- Required fields before any capacity check or checkout
- Owner review of custom designs and dietary requests, with no safety guarantee
- Catalogue-approved prices only
- Verified deposit event before an order or production ticket exists
Systems and data
Production connects messaging or a form, the product catalogue, a production calendar, quoting and payments. The demo uses a sample catalogue and calendar, keyword rules for typed replies and an outbox that holds every message.
Demo boundary
External calls, customer messages, payments and business writes use synthetic fixtures and an on-screen outbox. The demo shows only verified demo state. Custom production connections are a paid implementation deliverable.
What gets delivered
The records your business receives
Customer quote and deposit link
Item, date, size, delivery or collection time, catalogue price and deposit, sent only after the owner approves.
Owner review
The structured brief with any custom design or dietary request flagged, the catalogue calculation and a one-step approve, revise or decline.
Order and production ticket
Created once from the verified deposit event, with balance due and any dietary note carried onto the kitchen ticket.
Custom deployment
Configured for your business during a paid implementation. Integrations are confirmed during discovery, never assumed.
Your business rules
- Your catalogue sizes, prices, delivery fee and deposit share
- Production capacity per day and order cutoff
- Which requests need owner review (custom designs, dietary, large orders)
- How long a quote holds a production slot
Systems we connect
Measurement
We measure completed business against a baseline, not messages sent. No results are promised before discovery.
Business results
- Deposit-paid orders
- Fulfilled order value
- Production exception rate
Operational reliability
- Duplicate orders from repeated deposit events (target: zero)
- Quotes sent without owner approval (target: zero)
- Orders accepted on a full production day (target: zero)
Want this turning your own messages into complete orders?
Book a call about Order Assistant. We start with discovery: your current process, volumes, systems and who handles exceptions. The proposal then defines the integrations, approvals and acceptance tests before anything goes live.