Manage stockouts on platforms without losing orders

Stockouts are inevitable. What is avoidable is their negative impact. A dish that remains unavailable on the platform generates a cancellation, a penalty, and an unhappy customer.

Rule number 1: Immediately deactivate a dish on the menu. Don’t take the order hoping to find a solution. Cancellation after acceptance is the worst option.

Implement a bi-daily check (before the midday and evening services): review your inventory and deactivate the affected dishes on ALL platforms. This 5-minute ritual avoids the majority of problems.

If a secondary ingredient is missing, suggest a substitution rather than a cancellation. No arugula? Replace with green salad. No cheddar? Use emmental. The client prefers an adaptation to a cancellation.

Analyze your breakages: what ingredients are most often missing? At what frequency? Adjust your supplier orders accordingly. Repeated breakages reveal a supply issue.

Uber Eats and Deliveroo offer reactivation notifications. When a customer reactivates a dish that was previously unavailable, those who saw it as unavailable may be notified. Take advantage of this feature.