Question
I would like to implement an online ordering system for restaurants. I am starting to research this a bit, and wanted to throw it out here.
- Is there any open source projects already started out there I could work with and contribute to?
- Would it be easier to just roll my own? -If so, any suggestions on where to start? ASP.NET, Ruby on Rails, PHP???
- Payment processing? I am pretty sure I would go through Google Checkout. Any drawbacks to google checkout?
EDIT2- Looking around online I feel most commerce sites are geared towards product and shipping them. The few that are out there seem like it would be a chore to implement and high cost entry. I may just have to look at developing something for now. Any ideas/suggestions on where to start(Question #2 from above)???
@Balloon - I don't think SMS would be a solution for getting the orders in. The restaurant doesn't have a cellphone dedicated for itself. I was looking towards making a phone call when a recorded message that there were orders queued, until they were acknowledged from the restaurant online that they were being processed.
EDIT- superjoe30 gives a link to his online ordering system. I took a quick look, and it looks great! I want to clarify this is for a cafe, therefore the ordering must reach the cafe in almost real time. Any delays in getting the order to the cooks, would slow things up, taking away the benefit of online ordering at a cafe.
Any suggestions on getting the order to the cafe immediately after the payment is processed? I think email would go unnoticed. I believe there is a way in .NET to make a phone call to the cafe, that could alert them of an order and have them print it out.
Answer
@Justin,
OP asked about an ecommerce solution, as far as I recall WordPress and Drupal aren't shopping cart apps. Perhaps that's the reason your reply was modded down.
@nuggs -
1/ If you're building this app as a commercial concern, i.e. it pays the rent then be realistic and choose a shopping cart app that best suits the requirements. Don't go spending time rolling your own, find a good one and integrate it. Don't get hung up on open source and the hope that one day you might contribute back, be realistic.
2/ Don't roll your own, get one off the shelf, your time is money. For a couple of hundred pounds you can pick up a commercial product like Cactushop. If you go down the F/OSS route then make sure the project has a decent predigree and ongoing development. Don't think that because the cart app is F/OSS you'll be able to maintain it should the project go tits up, the codebase could be a complete nightmare or utilise techniques and technology beyond your skills and capabilities. Trust me, I've been there with an open source Perl app that looked like line noise.
3/ PayPal and Google are great for getting started because they provide a foot in the door to being able to accept online payments with very little entry cost. However at higher transaction volumes they aren't the best value for money. As your volume of transactions increase you may want to look at a dedicated payment processor such as HSBC, ProtX, SecPay etc. You'll get better support (i.e. people who answer phones) and better tech support when things go wrong. In addition to whoever you choose as a payment processor, make sure you have a fall back prepared. It's not unknown for any of the well know processors to have bad hair days. Be prepared for these scenarios. Your secondary processor may cost more per transaction but at least you can still take payments.
And finally, be fair to your customer, estimate the app properly. If he's not happy to pay for your time, software or services that will help you bring the app in on time then walk away. Don't make a rod for your own back by giving your time and effort away free.
< br > via < a class="StackLink" href=" http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5397/" >Implementing an online ordering system for a restaurant/cafe< /a>
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