From our Drive More Orders webinar (AppFront Growth Series).
Start with your baseline prep time
Check your default prep time under Serving Options for each serving type (e.g., 30 minutes for pickup). This is your starting point before any overrides are applied.
Prep time overrides
Overrides add (or reduce) time on top of your baseline for specific conditions:
Time-based — e.g., add 15 minutes every Friday 5–7pm if that's consistently your busiest window.
Order-value-based — e.g., add 30–45 extra minutes for orders between $250–$500, since large orders take longer to prep.
Each override can be scoped to specific locations and serving options, and must be Enabled and Published to take effect. You can run several overrides at the same time.
Order throttling
Throttling caps how many orders you'll accept in a given time block (e.g., 10 orders per 15 minutes), regardless of order size or time of day. When the cap is hit, the extra order isn't canceled — the customer's pickup or delivery time is automatically pushed to the next available block, and the new time is shown to them at checkout.
Throttling only applies to online orders; it does not account for in-store activity. It can be scoped by time, location, and serving option, and works well for businesses where most orders are similar in size (e.g., a coffee shop), or for events with a limited quantity of one item available online.
Throttling can also serve as a lighter-touch alternative to snoozing during an on-site event — instead of pausing all online orders, cap them (e.g., 5 orders/hour) so you can manage in-person and online demand at once.
Best practice: don't combine the two for the same scenario
Use prep time overrides for known busy windows or large orders. Use throttling for steady-volume businesses or limited-inventory situations. Running both at once for the same scenario tends to create conflicting logic — if you're not sure which fits your setup, reach out to support for help.