Your team needs time to prepare an order — and customers shouldn't see slots you can't possibly fulfill ⏳

The Prep time & availability tab controls two things: how much preparation time you need before a slot becomes available, and how many days ahead customers can see.

In this guide, you'll learn how to:

• ⚙️ Choose between Simple and Advanced availability conditions
• ⏰ Set a cut off time for same-day orders
• 📅 Define preparation days and working hours
• 🔢 Control how many days of slots customers can see

📋 Before You Begin

• You've created a location and set up its time slots (see Location: How to Set Time Slots and Order Limits)
• You know how much notice your team needs to prepare an order

⚙️ Step 1 — Open the Prep Time & Availability Tab

→ Go to Settings → Delivery & Pickup → Click Edit on your location → Open the Prep time & availability tab

You'll see a Local Delivery section and/or a Store Pickup section — one per enabled fulfillment method.

💡 If both methods share the same prep rules, tick Same as Local Delivery in the Store Pickup section to reuse the Local Delivery configuration.

🔘 Step 2 — Choose Simple or Advanced

In the Slot Availability Conditions card, select one of the radio options:

• Simple → one cut off time covers everything — quick and easy ⚡
• Advanced → define preparation days and working hours for finer control 🛠️

⚡ Step 3A — Simple Mode: Cut Off Time

With Simple selected, a single dropdown appears:

• Cut off time for orders → the latest time of day a customer can order and still get the earliest available slots (in 15-minute steps).

Example

Cut off time 6:00 PM → orders placed after 6 PM roll over to the next available day, giving your team the notice they need.

🛠️ Step 3B — Advanced Mode: Prep Days & Working Hours

With Advanced selected, three extra settings appear:

• Select order preparation days → tick the days of the week your team actually prepares orders (Monday–Sunday, multi-select)
• Work Starts At → when preparation begins, e.g. 9:00 AM
• Work Ends At → when preparation stops, e.g. 6:00 PM

Example

Prep days: Mon–Fri, Work Starts At 9:00 AM, Work Ends At 6:00 PM → weekend orders are prepared from Monday morning, so Monday slots are the earliest ones shown.

💡 Use Advanced if your kitchen or warehouse doesn't operate every day — customers will only ever see slots your team can realistically prepare.

🔢 Step 4 — Set How Many Days of Slots Are Shown

→ Fill in Number of days slots are shown to customer.

Example

• 5 → customers can book up to 5 days ahead
• 30 → customers can plan a full month in advance

ℹ️ New locations start with 5 days — a good balance between flexibility and predictability.

💾 Final Step — Save

→ Click Save in the save bar at the top of the page.

🎉 Final Result

Once saved:

✅ Customers never see slots your team can't prepare in time ✅ Cut off times or prep schedules match how your location actually works ✅ The booking window (number of days shown) fits your planning horizon ✅ Need to close specific dates entirely? See Location: How to Block Specific Dates and Times

Updated on: 20/08/2026