Terms every food business meets online

The 24-hour customer service window is the period after a customer messages you on WhatsApp when you can reply freely, without a template or a Meta charge.

An abandoned cart is an order a customer started on your store page or WhatsApp flow and left before confirming or paying.

Aggregator commission is the share of each order's value, commonly 18 to 30 percent in India, that a food delivery app keeps before paying the restaurant.

Average order value (AOV) is total sales divided by the number of orders in a period, showing what a typical customer spends per order.

Cash on delivery (COD) is a payment option where the customer pays in cash or by UPI when the food arrives, instead of paying online while ordering.

Click-to-WhatsApp ads are Facebook and Instagram ads whose button opens a WhatsApp chat with your business, so a click becomes a conversation and an order.

A cloud kitchen is a food business that cooks only for delivery and takeaway, with no dining area and no walk-in customers.

Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the total profit or revenue a customer brings over the whole period they keep ordering from you.

A delivery zone is a defined area around your kitchen within which you accept delivery orders, each with its own charge and minimum order.

Direct ordering means customers order through a channel you own, such as your WhatsApp number or store page, so no delivery app commission is deducted.

First-party ordering is ordering on a channel the restaurant owns, such as its own website or WhatsApp number, rather than through a third-party app.

Food cost percentage is the cost of ingredients in a dish, or in a period, divided by the sales it produced, expressed as a percentage.

A free delivery threshold is the order value above which you waive the delivery charge, used to nudge customers into a bigger basket.

FSSAI registration is the basic food safety licence every food business in India must hold, giving a 14-digit number for bills and packaging.

Hyperlocal delivery means delivering from one kitchen to customers within a few kilometres, within about an hour of the order.

A KDS, or kitchen display system, is a kitchen screen that shows incoming orders in place of printed tickets, so cooks see, time and clear each order.

A KOT, or kitchen order ticket, is the slip the kitchen gets for each order, listing items, quantities and notes so cooks make exactly what was ordered.

MDR, or merchant discount rate, is the percentage fee a merchant pays on each digital payment, zero on UPI in India and up to 3 percent on credit cards.

Menu engineering is analysing each menu item by popularity and margin, then changing prices and placement to sell more of what earns most.

Minimum order value is the smallest order amount you will accept for delivery, usually set per zone so small orders do not lose money.

An official business account is a WhatsApp business number Meta has verified, shown with a tick, so customers see your business name instead of a number.

ONDC is a government-backed open network in India that lets restaurants listed through one seller app be ordered from on many buyer apps.

Order ahead means a customer places and pays for an order before arriving, then collects it from your counter at a chosen time.

A payment gateway takes a customer's online payment, confirms it to your ordering system automatically and settles the money to your bank account.

A per-order fee is a fixed rupee amount a restaurant pays its ordering platform for every order processed, whatever the order value.

A platform fee is a charge an ordering platform adds to each order, paid by the customer or the restaurant, for using its ordering technology.

QR ordering lets a dine-in customer scan a code at the table, order and pay from their phone, with the order reaching the kitchen as a KOT.

Repeat order rate is the share of customers who ordered more than once in a period, or the share of orders from returning customers.

A scheduled order is placed now for preparation and delivery or pickup at a later date or time slot chosen by the customer.

A settlement cycle is the time between a customer paying online and the money reaching your bank, written as T+1 or T+2 working days after the transaction.

A tiffin service delivers home-style meals to the same customers on a repeating schedule, paid as a weekly or monthly subscription.

UPI is India's real-time payment system that moves money between bank accounts instantly via a UPI ID, QR code or link, with zero MDR for the business.

A virtual brand is a delivery-only restaurant brand with its own name and menu that is cooked inside an existing kitchen alongside other brands.

A WhatsApp broadcast list sends one message to up to 256 saved contacts as separate chats; recipients must have saved your number to receive it.

The WhatsApp Business API is Meta's interface that lets software send and receive messages on a business number, enabling bots, templates and campaigns.

The WhatsApp Business app is Meta's free phone app for small businesses, with a profile, catalog, quick replies and broadcast lists of up to 256 contacts.

WhatsApp conversation pricing is Meta's charging model for business-sent messages on the API, billed per template message by category and country.

A WhatsApp opt-in is a customer's clear permission to receive messages from your business on WhatsApp, required by Meta before you message them first.

The WhatsApp quality rating is Meta's green, yellow or red score for a business number, based on recent blocks and reports, that sets its messaging limit.

A WhatsApp template message is a Meta-approved message format with placeholders that a business uses to reach customers outside the 24-hour service window.