Manage order timing
About order timing
Order timing refers to the management of pickup or delivery times for orders. It allows you to adjust the timing of when customers can pick up their orders or when local delivery couriers can collect them. You can pause orders entirely, delay the pickup time for individual orders, or activate Busy Mode to temporarily increase your location's prep time across multiple ordering channels.
Before you begin
Order delays are accepted per service and integration type, so check with any third-party integrations that you can delay your orders if needed.
Busy Mode and order pausing are different features. Busy Mode temporarily adds extra prep time to incoming orders so customers see a longer estimated wait — orders keep coming in. Order pausing stops new orders entirely until you resume. Use Busy Mode when your kitchen needs to catch up; use order pausing when you need to stop taking orders altogether.
Busy Mode is available for Square Online and Uber Eats orders.
Pause online orders
From the navigation bar, tap Orders. If you don’t see Orders, tap ≡ More > Orders.
Tap the clock icon on the Order Manager screen to view your Order Timing settings.
In the Pause Orders section, select Pause for pickup or delivery orders. Tap Save.
Choose when you want to resume online orders and tap Save.
You can see the remaining pause time and resume orders instantly from the Orders tab.
Delay pickup time of an order
During busy shifts with more orders coming in than expected, you may want to delay the pickup time so that your customer or local delivery courier knows they can pick up their order at a later time. Delay orders as soon as you know you can’t make the expected time to avoid customers or couriers waiting.
To adjust and delay the pickup time for an order:
- From your Square app, go to ≡ More > Orders.
- Select the order you need to delay.
Note: For orders that can be delayed, you’ll see a right-pointing arrow next to the time. - Select Edit.
- Choose from a preset list of time intervals (by 15-minute increments), or select Other to manually select a time period.
- Tap Save to send the update to the integration partner (where your customer ordered). The partner will then let the customer or local delivery courier know that the order is delayed.
To adjust the ready/shipping time for a Square Online or third-party integration order:
- Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Orders & payments (or Invoices & payments or Payments) > Orders.
- Select an order that you would like to delay.
- For orders that can be delayed, you will see a right-pointing arrow next to the time. Select Edit.
- Select from a pre-selected list of time intervals (by 15 minute increments) or select Other to manually select a time period.
- Tap Save. We will send an update to the integration (where your customer ordered) and then the integration will let the customer or courier know that the order is delayed.
Extend prep times
You can temporarily increase your location's prep time during busy periods to give yourself more time to complete active and incoming orders. Busy Mode applies to Square Online and Uber Eats orders.
When you activate Busy Mode, you choose how much extra prep time to add and how long Busy Mode lasts:
Prep time increment: +10 minutes, +15 minutes, or +20 minutes added to your current location prep time.
Duration: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 hour. Busy Mode automatically turns off after the selected duration.
To activate Busy Mode from the Square POS app:
From the navigation bar, tap Orders. If you don’t see Orders, tap ≡ More > Orders.
Tap the clock icon on the Order Manager screen to view your Order Timing settings.
In the “Prep time” section, toggle on Busy Mode.
Select the prep time increment (+10, +15, or +20 minutes) and how long you want Busy Mode to last (15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 hour).
Tap Save.
Once enabled, you can see the remaining time in Busy Mode on your Orders page. You can also select Exit Busy Mode to resume your regular prep times or select Extend to extend the duration of Busy Mode.
Busy Mode can also be extended from the Order Timing settings page by selecting Extend > Save.