Online Ordering System
Into POS and Kitchen.

Search for online ordering and most of what comes back is an app-store listing or a sign-up page for an ordering app. A listing shows you what the customer sees. It does not tell you where the order goes once it is placed. If it lands on a separate tablet, someone still has to read it and punch it into the till, and the kitchen hears about it last. OrderWorks is built into TimeWorks, so there is no second screen to watch: online orders print to the kitchen or show on the TimeWorks kitchen display, stock comes off after each order, and online sales sit in the same daily sales and VAT report as your counter sales.

What you pay instead of commission

OrderWorks has no per-order commission, whether you take ten orders a day or a thousand. What you do pay is the POS behind it and the card fees on online payments:

1. The POS software. TimeWorks software is R350 or R500 per month excluding VAT. Compare the two on the TimeWorks software plans page; the R500 plan includes remote order slips and kitchen displays.
2. Or the whole system on rental. POS rental is from R995 per month excluding VAT and includes the hardware, the software and support. Daily rental for a pop-up or event is quoted on request.
3. Payment gateway fees. Online card and EFT payments go through PayFast or Ozow, and the gateway charges per transaction. PayFast's published fees are 3.2% plus R2.00 for a card payment and 2% (minimum R2.00) for Instant EFT, excluding VAT. Ozow's pricing page lists 2.85% for local card payments in its first band (R0 to R249,999.99). That fee goes to the gateway, not to TimeWorks, and it is a published payment-processing rate, not a marketplace commission.

OrderWorks itself is a flat monthly subscription with no commission. The fee is on request, so contact us for pricing or ask when you book a demo. Prices are in rand and exclude VAT, which SARS levies at the standard rate of 15%.

Why commission matters for South African restaurants

The Competition Commission looked at food delivery in its Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry. Its 2023 summary of findings names Uber Eats and Mr D Food as the leading platforms, finds that both charge independent restaurants a much higher commission than the chains, and says the commission is typically passed on to customers through a menu surcharge. It required both platforms to tell consumers, through a periodic pop-up, that they charge restaurants a commission and that in-store prices may differ.

A delivery app still brings you customers who have never heard of you, and many venues keep one for that. Direct ordering is for the regulars who already know your name: they order from your own link, at your own prices, and the order costs you no commission. If you also run delivery apps, our guide to connecting delivery platforms to your POS explains how those orders can reach the same till.

The customer list stays yours, within POPIA

Customer details captured at checkout go into the TimeWorks CRM, not a platform's database. Use them carefully. Section 69 of POPIA allows electronic direct marketing to an existing customer only if you got their contact details when you sold them something, you are marketing your own similar products or services, and they were given a reasonable, free chance to object. Add an opt-out to every WhatsApp, SMS or email offer you send.

Who it suits

It fits venues where the kitchen is the bottleneck: fast food and QSR counters that take orders ahead of the lunch rush, sit-down kitchens on a TimeWorks restaurant POS that add QR ordering at the table, and coffee shops that want collection orders ready when the customer walks in. The OrderWorks integration page lists everything that syncs between the two systems.