A weekly home bakery preorder gives customers a regular time to buy and gives you a paid order list before you bake. Start with a small menu, cap what you can produce, close orders before preparation begins, and offer one clear pickup window. Repeat that schedule before adding more products or pickup days.
The useful question is not “How much could I sell?” It is “What can I reliably finish this week without turning Saturday into a recovery day?” A small, repeatable drop is a better starting point than an ambitious menu you cannot deliver twice.
This guide is for a regular weekly pickup cycle. For a one-off seasonal rush, use the holiday preorder guide. If you still need people to buy the first batch, start with finding your first 10 bakery customers.
Build the week backward from pickup
Choose the pickup day first. Then work backward through cooling, packing, baking, proofing or chilling, shopping, and the order cutoff. Different products need different preparation time; a cookie schedule is not automatically a sourdough schedule.
Here is an illustrative Saturday-pickup week. Adjust it to your recipes, working hours and household.
| When | Your job | What customers see |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Check supplies, capacity and prices; update the menu. | This week's menu and Saturday pickup details. |
| Tuesday | Open ordering and share one ordering link. | Available products, quantities, prices and payment instructions. |
| Thursday, 6 p.m. | Close orders for this Saturday and reconcile paid orders. | A clear cutoff; the next available pickup if this week is closed. |
| Friday | Shop, prepare dough or batter, and organize packaging as your recipes require. | Their order confirmation and pickup instructions. |
| Saturday morning | Bake, cool, pack and check each order. | Any necessary update about their own order. |
| Saturday, 10 a.m.–noon | Handle pickup and record collection. | One agreed pickup location and window. |
| Sunday | Review what sold, what took too long and who returned. | Next week's schedule when you are ready to announce it. |
Name the actual date in customer messages. “Saturday, November 14” is clearer than “this weekend,” especially when someone finds an older social post.
What a simple weekly preorder menu can look like
Keep the menu small and the deadline and pickup window easy to find. Customers should know what they are buying, what it costs and when to collect it.
Set up your weekly preorder menu →
Set capacity before opening orders
Choose two or three products that share ingredients or preparation steps. Decide quantities using the tightest constraint: oven space, mixer capacity, fermentation space, cooling racks, packaging time or pickup handling.
For example, imagine you can comfortably produce 12 sourdough loaves and 18 six-cookie boxes. That is 30 sellable packages, not 120 separate customer orders. Enter quantities in the same units customers buy: one loaf or one six-cookie box.
Those numbers are an example, not a benchmark. Time one batch and include cleanup, cooling and packing. Leave room for a failed bake or a family interruption rather than selling every theoretical oven minute.
If you also sell at a market, reserve that stock separately. Twelve available loaves cannot support 12 online preorders plus six walk-up sales. When changing quantities, account for orders already accepted.
Make the menu answer the questions that delay payment
Each listing should explain the product, pack size, price, ingredients and allergen information, available pickup date and how the customer receives their order. Use a clear photo of what you actually sell.
Avoid giving every product several sizes, flavors and substitutions on your first weekly menu. Each extra choice can create another production and packing variation. Keep custom cakes and other quoted work outside the standard weekly drop; handle those through a separate request and invoice process.
If you need help checking whether the price covers the batch, use the recipe costing calculator before opening orders.
Make payment and cutoff rules explicit
For a standard weekly drop, require payment to reserve the item. A message saying “save me two” is not the same as a paid order. Reconcile the payment status before making your production list, and investigate uncertain or failed payments instead of asking someone to pay twice.
Tell customers the deadline, including the time and local time zone. “Orders close Thursday at 6 p.m. Central for Saturday pickup, or earlier if sold out” gives them a usable rule.
Set the cutoff for the relevant pickup date. Closing this Saturday's ordering does not necessarily mean closing every future date on your storefront. Check what a customer can select after the cutoff, and avoid accepting early-week pickups that your preparation lead time cannot support.
Before payment, explain how changes, cancellations and missed pickups are handled. Write a policy you can honor and apply it consistently. Do not promise automatic refunds or reminders unless you have confirmed that your setup provides them.
Check the customer journey before sharing the link
In Crumb Coach, sellers manage their storefront in the iPhone app. Customers can browse and order on the web without installing the app. The storefront supports product quantities, ordering cutoffs and pickup settings.
Use this setup order:
- Add the small menu with accurate pack sizes, photos and prices.
- Set quantities you can fulfill and the pickup days and times you can offer.
- Configure the order cutoff and any preparation lead time.
- Complete the payment setup required for your account before taking paid orders.
- Open your customer-facing storefront link on your phone. Check product prices, pack sizes, available pickup dates and pickup instructions. Confirm that the total is clear before payment. You do not need to submit a payment to check these details.
- Share the link once the customer experience matches your announcement.
Publishing a storefront and being ready to accept payments are different steps. Confirm both before telling customers that paid ordering is open.
Start with one menu and one pickup cycle.
Set up your weekly preorder menu →
Copy this weekly preorder announcement
Replace every bracketed detail before posting. Share it through channels where customers expect to hear from you.
This week's bakery preorders are open! Menu: [products, pack sizes and prices]. Pickup: [date], [time window], near [general area]. Order and pay here: [storefront link]. Orders close [date and time, time zone], or earlier if sold out. Your paid order reserves your items. Pickup instructions and our change/cancellation policy: [where to find them].
Use the same ordering link wherever possible. For an older post, add “Ordering closed for this date” rather than leaving people to guess whether a menu is still available.
Close the week with three decisions
After pickup, record units sold, sales less ingredient and packaging costs and fees, and the time the drop took. Money left before paying yourself is not the same as profit after labor. Record uncollected orders and any extra stock too.
Then decide:
- Keep: Which product earned its place in next week's menu?
- Change: Which product, quantity or pickup instruction caused avoidable work?
- Repeat: Did any customers buy again, and can they easily find the next ordering window?
Do not enlarge the menu just because one week sold out. First check whether you can repeat the result at a sustainable pace. If you invite customers back by text or email, use their permission and keep the message relevant.
Frequently asked questions
How many products should a weekly bakery preorder include?
Start with two or three you can produce reliably. Add variety when you know its effect on prep time, packaging and margin, rather than treating a bigger menu as the goal.
When should bakery preorders close?
Before you need to commit ingredients and preparation time. Work backward from pickup using your longest preparation step, and publish the actual cutoff date and time. Thursday evening for Saturday pickup is an example, not a rule for every recipe.
What if someone asks to order after the cutoff?
Offer the next available pickup date. If you choose to make an exception, confirm capacity and payment before promising it. An exception should not displace orders you already accepted.
Do bakery customers need the Crumb Coach app to preorder?
No. Sellers manage their storefront in the app; customers use the shared storefront link to browse and order on the web.