How to set collection-slot capacity

Set your collection-slot limit below the number of orders your team can reliably prepare in that period, leaving room for walk-ups, large baskets and delays. In QueueJump, slot duration and orders per slot shape when customers can collect. An order limit controls the number of orders, not the number of meals or minutes of kitchen work.

Start with real throughput

Use a normal busy service as your starting point. Count completed orders in short intervals and note the basket sizes, staffing and slowest items. A single coffee and a six-meal order each occupy one order, but require different amounts of work.

Allow for the work you still accept outside QueueJump: walk-up orders at a truck, phone orders at a takeaway, or dine-in service at a restaurant. Do not allocate the kitchen’s entire capacity to online slots unless online ordering is the only work it handles.

Use the weakest part of the service as the constraint. That might be cooking, assembly, payment handoff, packaging or the space at the collection counter. A faster payment flow does not increase the capacity of a full grill.

A worked slot example

Suppose a team has demonstrated that it can prepare eight typical orders in 15 minutes. Reserving room for two walk-up orders leaves an illustrative online limit of six orders per 15-minute slot.

Demonstrated throughput

8 typical orders per 15 minutes

Capacity reserved for other work

2 orders per 15 minutes

Starting online limit

6 orders per slot

Slot duration

15 minutes

Theoretical online ceiling

24 orders per hour

These figures are a planning example, not a benchmark, customer result or recommended setting for every business. Twenty-four orders per hour is a theoretical ceiling under the example settings; actual capacity depends on the order mix and how the service runs.

If several large baskets arrive together, lower the limit for a future service rather than assuming the average basket will stay the same. Start conservatively for a new menu or a smaller team.

Configure your session

1. Open the session in your QueueJump dashboard and check its menu, location and service times.
2. Set the slot duration and orders per slot to your starting limit.
3. Choose when ordering opens and set the order cutoff before the session ends.
4. Check the customer view and the collection times it offers before promoting the link.
5. Make a low-value live test order only when you are ready to trade and understand the charges. Previewing the store does not test a live payment.

Use the ordering-window guide for opening and cutoff behaviour. For a complete setup path, follow the launch guide.

If your location offers collection and delivery, review both streams against the same kitchen’s capacity. A delivery slot represents dispatch time, followed by an estimated travel window; it is not a promised doorstep arrival time.

Review after service

Record the busiest period, orders completed, basket sizes, late handoffs, staffing and stock problems. Compare the plan with the work actually completed. Change one setting at a time for the next comparable service so you can understand the result.

Raise a limit only when the team has demonstrated spare capacity. Keep contingency space for a late supplier, a new staff member or equipment problems. A setting that worked at a regular pitch may not fit a festival with a different menu and customer mix.

Explore food truck pre-orders, restaurant online ordering and the service day runbook for the wider workflow.