Home Chef Business
Accept (take-away) orders and get paid online. Easily manage orders from your phone, tablet, or computer. A free all-in-one system.
Why is ordering software important for home chefs?
In a home chef business model, you have a lot on your plate. The most important lesson from experienced home chefs is: make receiving orders as easy as possible. Taking orders through phone, WhatsApp, or Instagram “works,” but, ask any home chef, you'll quickly lose track, customers perceive you as less professional, or the payment process becomes more cumbersome. Dedicated ordering software is great because:
- It's free support for busy entrepreneurs
- You can quickly accept orders via a personal ordering link
- You'll have one clear ordering channel, instead of SMS/phone/email
- Customers see you as a professional
- Payment is handled online (and instantly!)
Vev helps me to keep track of all my orders
How can I get more customers using an ordering system?
It's simple: the easiest way to attract more customers is by increasing the convenience of ordering. Ordering software provides you with a unique link so your customers can order anytime, anywhere. You can easily promote that link online, or use it as a QR code in local ads, community center posters, door-to-door flyers, or even on your own front door.
This makes it easier for your existing customers to reorder or for them to share your ordering page with friends and family. At a glance, they can see your offerings, prices, and when they can order.
You can easily set order deadlines with smart software like the tools from Vev. This clearly indicates when someone can order and when they can pick it up. You can also create a second delivery page to deliver orders yourself.
To recap:
- Increase ordering convenience with an easily discoverable delivery link
- Use a QR code in ads and on menus
- Encourage customers to share your page with friends/family
- Set smart order deadlines to avoid missed orders
- Open a delivery page to offer home delivery to customers
What are the main benefits of using software as a home chef?
As a home chef, you'd rather be in the kitchen than behind a computer. Since there's already so much involved in running your own business, ordering software can help you with the following:
- Improved overview, orders come in on a dashboard. You can see exactly who and what your customers ordered. Both you and your customer receive an email confirmation.
- Customers order more; research shows order value can be up to 40% higher when customers can browse the entire menu at their convenience. You can also easily upsell with larger portions or special deals.
- Fewer interruptions during evenings or weekends. You no longer have to respond to messages asking "can I add this to my order?" or "actually, one less portion". Customers can order, modify, or cancel 24/7.
- Manage order deadlines yourself, you can set whether customers can order up to a certain point in the week, a certain number of hours or days beforehand, or based on your opening hours. This also applies to cancellations and changes. This is a popular feature among many home chefs using Vev!
- Customize your ordering page with your brand colors. It's your brand, so make your page shine in your own company colors. You can choose your own logo, images, and three colors for your ordering page. This way, your page looks great, and all emails are sent in your color scheme.
How can I further professionalize my home chef business?
Home chefs know better than anyone how important it is to make a good impression. After all, you are your own business card.
Research from Vev involving over 50 home chefs shows that adding a delivery service is a smart way to professionalize your business. Customers can easily order from you and receive their meals at their chosen time. Vev's ordering software offers the option to manage delivery in-house. Many home chefs also provide catering for businesses, where customization is often required. An ordering page is incredibly helpful for a company contact person to easily provide the correct quantity.
Once you have a good logo, it also helps to distribute an attractive menu with a QR code so people can order directly from you. The final tip is to add online payment options; customers can not only order online, but also pay immediately. In summary, you can professionalize your chef business by:
- Adding a delivery service to complement your takeout offerings
- Offering an ordering page so (business) customers can easily and accurately place their orders
- Design an attractive menu, including a QR code so customers can directly book with you
- Support online payments, eliminating the need for handling mobile payment apps or cash transactions
Run your home chef business on auto-pilot With your new toolset
Sell
Marketing
Payments
Business
Overview
Customers
Offering
Decide what you offer at your kitchen. Add descriptions for your meals, add an image, and best of all set your own prices.
Your day at a glance
See exactly how much your home chef business makes, what your customers order most and even learn how they made their order.
Order again
In just a tap your customers become regulars. Get the best date and time for the next order. No upcoming order? You and your customers are reminded to order a meal again.
Sell smart
Add options, durations, variations, preparation time, cleanup time and your duration to help your customers order.
Your duration Vev+
Some orders don’t require your attention the whole time, so you can help another customer.
Order deadline
Decide the exact cutoff time for when customers can order a meal, giving you full control over availability and scheduling.
Time suggestions
With Smart Suggestions, you can streamline your schedule by offering customers a curated selection of the best available times, making it easier for them to order. Alternatively, you can opt for Show All Slots, which highlights the most optimal time slots first but also allows customers to explore the full list of available options.
Coming soon, you’ll also have the option to restrict bookings to Top of the Hour times, giving you even more control over your schedule and helping you cluster orders efficiently.
Hide items
Hide meals so you can only order them for your customers.
Sell
Offering
Decide what you offer at your kitchen. Add descriptions for your meals, add an image, and best of all set your own prices.
Your day at a glance
See exactly how much your home chef business makes, what your customers order most and even learn how they made their order.
Order again
In just a tap your customers become regulars. Get the best date and time for the next order. No upcoming order? You and your customers are reminded to order a meal again.
Sell smart
Add options, durations, variations, preparation time, cleanup time and your duration to help your customers order.
Your duration
Some orders don’t require your attention the whole time, so you can help another customer.
Order deadline
Decide the exact cutoff time for when customers can order a meal, giving you full control over availability and scheduling.
Time suggestions
With Smart Suggestions, you can streamline your schedule by offering customers a curated selection of the best available times, making it easier for them to order. Alternatively, you can opt for Show All Slots, which highlights the most optimal time slots first but also allows customers to explore the full list of available options.
Coming soon, you’ll also have the option to restrict bookings to Top of the Hour times, giving you even more control over your schedule and helping you cluster orders efficiently.
Hide items
Hide meals so you can only order them for your customers.
Marketing
Get reviews from customers
Effortlessly collect reviews from your customers, which will soon appear directly on your page for everyone to see.
Share your link
Add your link to your website and socials. A link in bio could boost the orders of your kitchen up to 40%.
Personalize emails
Create personalized emails for orders to engage clients and strengthen your business.
Add Vev to your website
Add Vev to your website with two options: a popup booking button or a fully embedded booking widget for seamless customer acquisitions.
Cover your home chef business
Add a cover to your header that matches your kitchen. Impress your customers of your home chef business even more.
Order with a QR-code
Make it easy for your customers to order meals by placing your QR code on flyers, business cards, stickers, posters, or any other visible spots in your kitchen. With just a quick scan on their phone, they can access your services effortlessly, no extra steps needed.
Policy
Set up a clear policy that outlines your terms for bookings, cancellations, refunds, and any additional fees. Defining these guidelines helps manage customer expectations and reduces the risk of disputes.
Page description
Write a catchy slogan or description that highlights what makes your home chef business special. This helps your customers share and recommend you to others.
Show your colors
Set the tone for your page by choosing colors that represent your kitchen. These will create a cohesive look across your page, tools, and emails, aligning everything with your unique brand.
Social handles
Add the profiles of your kitchen from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, and your website to connect with customers and expand your online reach.
Payments
Get paid ahead
Have your customers pay ahead for their order. Only if you want to, you're the home chef, and you are in control.
Deposits
Have your customers put down a deposit to get their order. This has proven to reduce no-shows.
Scan to pay
Let your customers scan your QR for you to get paid. Vev will keep track of who has paid for their meal so your home chef business administration is always up to date.
Tap to Pay on iPhone
Accept contactless payments with only your iPhone. No extra terminals or hardware needed.
Discounts
It's easy to give your customer a discount on their meal. Choose a percentage or fixed amount. Whatever works best for your home chef business.
Add amount
Add a percentage or fixed amount to the price of the order, in the simplest way possible for you as a home chef.
No extra payment devices
No need to fill in the amount again. Or sync, connect and pay for that extra device in your kitchen. Simply use your phone to have customers pay for their meals on the spot.
Refunds
Choose if customers who've paid ahead will automatically be refunded when their order is cancelled.
Payments work out of the box
Payments are set up very easy. So you can get paid out of the gate.
Policy
Set up a clear policy that outlines your terms for bookings, cancellations, refunds, and any additional fees. Defining these guidelines helps manage customer expectations and reduces the risk of disputes.
Business
Your overview of meals
See exactly who will get what meal, and at what time the order is due.
Your opening hours
You decide when your kitchen is open (or closed) for orders.
Choose a time and date
Let your customers pick a time that suits them best, while you stay in control by deciding how strict or flexible your scheduling rules are.
Add your breaks
Plan when you want a fixed break. Looking for more flexibility? Turn on smart breaks.
Add 'Me time'
Got a personal appointment? With just a tap you can block time off. This way customers can't make an order.
Exceptions
Want to stay open on public holidays or take a well-deserved vacation? You’re in full control of your kitchen’s hours.
Order deadline
Decide the exact cutoff time for when customers can order a meal, giving you full control over availability and scheduling.
Daily exports
Access your sales records by day—whether it’s historic data, today’s sales, or future bookings.
Capacity
Set up the number of customers you can have at the same time.
Sync to your calendar
Automatically sync (one way) your orders to your personal calendar app.
Ahead of time
Set up your booking horizon, this let you define how far in the future customers are able to order meals.
Your duration
Some orders don’t require your attention the whole time, so you can help another customer.
Notifications for you
When your customer makes an order, cancelation or change you will receive a notification.
Time suggestions
With Smart Suggestions, you can streamline your schedule by offering customers a curated selection of the best available times, making it easier for them to order. Alternatively, you can opt for Show All Slots, which highlights the most optimal time slots first but also allows customers to explore the full list of available options.
Coming soon, you’ll also have the option to restrict bookings to Top of the Hour times, giving you even more control over your schedule and helping you cluster orders efficiently.
Exports
Export data from your kitchen effortlessly on a monthly or yearly basis. Get detailed insights into all your orders, including tax details, providing you with everything you need to stay informed and in control.
Overview
Calendar view
See all your home chef orders in a calendar view.
Your overview of meals
See exactly who will get what meal, and at what time the order is due.
Your day at a glance
See exactly how much your home chef business makes, what your customers order most and even learn how they made their order.
Today's customers
Your daily overview of customers. Showing you exactly who's you will see today, and an easy way to let you order again.
Delivery overview
See exactly where and at what time you need to deliver meals. Everything shown on an interactive map to make it crystal clear for you!
Notifications for you
When your customer makes an order, cancelation or change you will receive a notification.
Sync to your calendar
Automatically sync (one way) your orders to your personal calendar app.
Your month wrapped up
Every month we email you analytics of last months' orders, cancelations, most popular meals and revenue. This way you know exactly how your kitchen is doing.
Customers
Fields
Add more specific customer information to run your home chef business even better. For instance add their date of birth, Customer ID, pet name and more.
Get reviews from customers
Effortlessly collect reviews from your customers, which will soon appear directly on your page for everyone to see.
Customer list
See or find your most valuable customers. This lets you build relationships and get more orders.
Edit customers
Edit customer details, merge and remove to keep your customer list up to date.
Customer details
For home chefs it's super handy to have all the details of customers at their finger tips. Allowing you to send a text, call or email whenever you need.
Add notes
Add notes about your customers. These notes show up around the order, so you can pick up the conversation with your customer where you left off last time.
Today's customers
Your daily overview of customers. Showing you exactly who's you will see today, and an easy way to let you order again.
Order again
In just a tap your customers become regulars. Get the best date and time for the next order. No upcoming order? You and your customers are reminded to order a meal again.
It's your data
It's your data. The customer information is yours. Vev doesn't sell, resell, target or advertise with the data from your home chef business. Of course not!
Customer history
See exactly what meal your customer ordered before.
