Restaurant takeaway and click and collect: how to set it up

How do you start takeaway in a restaurant?

"Click and collect" simply means an order placed remotely (phone, website, app) and picked up at the restaurant. It is the simplest form of takeaway: no driver, no queue at the counter, and you keep the relationship with the customer.

Takeaway can fill weak slots (Sunday evening, early week) and reach customers who would not sit down. It also has costs: packaging, kitchen time, the risk of disrupting the dining room. This guide helps you start without those pitfalls. It is part of our guide to growing a restaurant.

Which dishes should you offer for takeaway?

Not every dish survives 20 minutes in a box. Chips go soft, emulsified sauces split, careful plating does not survive the journey. Choose dishes that arrive as good as at the table.

• Stews, curries, lasagne, gratins: they reheat well and travel without trouble.
• Salads, with the dressing on the side.
• Pizzas, tarts, quiches, if your oven can cope at peak times.
• Desserts in pots: tiramisu, mousse, panna cotta.
• Avoid: fried food, highly plated dishes, last-minute cooking that ties up a station during service.

A short menu of 6 to 10 dishes is enough to start. It limits extra purchasing, keeps the kitchen simple and reads quickly on a phone. You can widen it based on what sells.

Think about bundles too: main + dessert + drink at a round price. They raise the basket, just as in the dining room: see how to increase average spend. And do not forget allergens: information rules for takeaway and delivery are covered in our allergen matrix guide.

How do you price a takeaway dish?

The calculation follows the same logic as in the dining room: the food cost of the portion divided by your target ratio. The difference: you must add packaging (box, lid, bag, cutlery in a permitted material, napkin).

The 30% ratio is only there to illustrate the calculation: set your own target with your accountant. The full method (recipe card, waste, margin) is in the guide on food cost and menu pricing.

Should takeaway cost the same as eating in? Not necessarily. Some restaurants keep prices identical for simplicity, others lower them slightly because there is no table service, others raise them to cover packaging. What matters is knowing your margin on each dish.

What VAT applies to takeaway in France?

According to Service Public Entreprendre, the French government's business information site, the rate depends on what is sold and when it will be eaten. The main cases for a restaurant in France:

For a bundle mixing several items (main + can + dessert), the same source says you can split the price between the rates, item by item, or apply the highest rate to the whole. Set up your till accordingly and have your accountant check your settings.

All restaurant rates in France (eat-in, takeaway, catering, drinks) are gathered in our guide to restaurant VAT in France. Outside France, check your own country's rules, which can differ a lot.

What packaging can you use, and what do French plastic rules say?

France's anti-waste law for a circular economy (known as the AGEC law) banned several single-use plastic items. According to the French Ministry for Ecological Transition, the following have been banned since 1 January 2021:

• straws;
• disposable cutlery;
• drink stirrers;
• lids for takeaway cups;
• expanded polystyrene boxes (such as kebab boxes).

For meals eaten on site, tableware must be reusable since 1 January 2023, in establishments that can serve at least 20 people at the same time. If takeaway customers end up eating on your terrace, that rule applies.

Containers brought by the customer

Since 2021, a customer in France can bring their own reusable container to a retail business, provided it is clean and suited to the product. The customer is responsible for its hygiene, and you can refuse to serve into a dirty or unsuitable container. Sellers of takeaway drinks must also offer a lower price when the drink is served in a reusable cup brought by the customer.

• Choose boxes suited to the dish (leak-proof for sauces, separate for hot and cold).
• Offer cutlery only on request: lower costs, less waste.
• Consider a deposit scheme for regulars (reusable boxes returned on the next visit).
• Keep your packaging suppliers' product sheets: they state the material of each item.

Other rules on waste and leftovers are covered in the guide on reducing restaurant food waste.

How do you organise ordering and pickup?

The main risk of takeaway is disrupting the kitchen mid-service. The answer: pickup slots and well-written orders.

Pickup slots

Offer pickup in 15-minute slots, with a limited number of orders per slot (for example 4). The kitchen knows what is coming, the customer knows when to come, and nobody waits at the counter.

The order slip

Takeaway order no. [number]

Name: [name] · Phone: [number]

Pickup: [day] at [time]

Dishes: [quantity] × [dish]; [quantity] × [dish]

Allergies mentioned: [none / specify]

Cutlery: yes / no · Paid: yes / pay on pickup

• A station or a person dedicated to takeaway orders at peak times.
• A pickup area near the entrance, away from the dining room.
• The customer's name and time written on each bag.
• An order cut-off per service (for example 30 minutes before the last slot).
• Allergies written directly on the bag label.

Where should orders come in?

To start, the phone is enough: it costs nothing and you keep in touch. As volume grows, an online ordering tool (often provided by till systems) avoids order-taking mistakes. Either way, your takeaway menu must be easy to find: on your website, on your Google listing and in your window.

Should you use a delivery platform?

Delivery platforms bring visibility and handle the drivers. In exchange, they take a commission on each order, the amount depending on the contract. Before signing, ask yourself these questions:

A careful approach: start with pickup (phone or online orders), measure demand for a few weeks, then test a platform with a reduced menu if it seems worthwhile. In every delivered bag, include a card with your number and website address: the next order can come straight to you.

How do you let people know about your takeaway?

Takeaway nobody knows about sells nothing. Announce it everywhere your customers look for you:

• Google listing: turn on the "takeaway" attribute, add your menu and a link to your website. The guide on adding a menu to your Google listing shows how.
• Your website: a "Takeaway" page with the menu, pickup hours and the number to call.
• In the dining room: a note on the bill, a table card, a poster in the window.
• Social media: a photo of this week's takeaway dish, posted on the day you want to fill.
• Your regulars: a message to your customer list announcing the launch.

To go further, the guide on restaurant digital tools covers ordering and till tools to choose depending on your size.

The restaurant owner’s guide

Open, run, grow: each stage has its full guide and detailed guides, with their reading time.

This guide for your trade

• Restaurants
• Bakeries
• Restaurant website

Go further

• How to grow a restaurant: the complete guide
• Restaurant VAT in France
• Restaurant digital tools
• Add your menu to your Google listing
• Food cost and menu pricing
• Restaurant QR menu: the guide