Curbside pickup phone orders: a simple setup guide

A curbside order call should feel short, calm, and specific. The caller needs to know you heard the order, the ready time, and exactly where to stop.

A simple script helps your staff or phone host stay consistent. Try this:

"Thanks for calling. Is this for pickup or delivery?"

For curbside pickup, keep the next questions tight:

• Name
• Callback number
• Items, sizes, and modifiers
• Any notes, like no onions or sauce on the side
• Curbside spot or parking instructions
• Ready time

If you use ROAL, it can collect the name, phone number, items, modifiers, and notes, then confirm the order back before sending the ticket. That matters on busy nights when the line is ringing and the kitchen is moving fast. Keep one extra line ready for special cases, such as: "If you need allergy help or want to speak with a manager, I’ll connect you with staff."

Curbside works best when the instructions are the same every time. Put the pickup spot, the parking rule, and the best callback number in one place, then use the same wording on the phone.

Use a short checklist:

• Where the guest should park or stop
• Whether they should call again on arrival
• Whether you bring the order out or meet at the door
• What name the staff should look for
• Whether the caller should keep hazard lights on

Example script line: "When you arrive, please park at the curbside sign and call us from the same number so we can match your order." If you have a few curbside spaces, number them and say which ones are reserved for pickup.

ROAL can answer questions about address, parking, and hours from the restaurant’s public pages, which helps before the order is even placed. If the caller asks something it cannot answer, the question lands in an inbox so you can add the answer once and use it going forward.

The kitchen should get a ticket that is easy to read and easy to start. For curbside pickup phone orders, the most important details are the guest name, items, modifiers, notes, and ready time.

A clean workflow looks like this:

1. Take the order.
2. Repeat the order back.
3. Quote the ready time.
4. Send the ticket to the kitchen.
5. Mark the order as preparing, then ready.

That ticket matters because curbside customers often arrive right when the food is supposed to be done. If the order is missing a modifier, the remake costs time and product. ROAL sends a clean ticket to the kitchen screen and keeps live order status in the dashboard, so staff can track new, preparing, and ready orders.

Here is a practical example you can swap for your own numbers: say your curbside pickup order is $28 on average and you take 20 orders a day. That is $560 in daily phone-order sales before you factor in your own ticket size. The point is not the exact number; the point is to keep each order accurate enough that the kitchen can move without extra calls back and forth.

Busy lines are where curbside orders get lost. Decide in advance what happens when the phone rings during rush.

A simple plan:

• Forward all calls when you are short-staffed.
• Forward only unanswered calls during regular service.
• Send busy calls to the host line if your carrier allows it.
• Tell staff who handles allergy-sensitive questions and manager requests.

A useful phone line is: "We’re busy right now, but I can still take your pickup order and get you a ready time." If your line goes unanswered often, forwarding can help. On many landlines and some carriers, 72 then the forwarding number forwards all calls and 73 turns it off. On GSM mobile carriers, *21number# and ##21# often control all-call forwarding, while *61number# may forward unanswered calls and *67number# may forward busy calls. Verizon Wireless commonly uses 72 / 73, and *71 for busy/no-answer forwarding. Codes vary by carrier and plan, so confirm with your carrier and test with a call.

ROAL gives each location its own phone line automatically after you claim the host, and you forward your existing number to it. You keep your own number, and forwarding can be turned off any time.

For many restaurants, curbside pickup by phone can be a cleaner margin than third-party delivery apps. Delivery apps commonly charge roughly 15-30% commission per order, which can take a big bite out of a ticket.

Phone ordering costs can look different. Many AI phone tools charge a fixed monthly fee per location, whether or not orders come in. Human answering services usually bill per minute or per call. ROAL uses a pay-per-completed-order model: $0.90 for each confirmed phone order whose ticket reaches the kitchen screen. There is no monthly fee, no setup fee, no per-minute fee, and no contract.

Here is a simple comparison you can plug your own numbers into:

If your curbside business is seasonal or rush-heavy, a per-order model can be easier to understand than a bill that stays the same every month.

Before you send live calls to a phone host, test the details that matter most on pickup orders. Start with the basics, then try a real order from your own menu.

Pre-live checklist:

• Menu prices match your current menu
• Sold-out items are marked correctly
• Hours and address are right
• Parking or curbside instructions are clear
• Ready time wording sounds natural
• Staff know where the ticket appears
• Allergy and manager calls reach the right person

ROAL lets the owner paste a website, Google Maps link, or "Name, City" at /try, then reads the menu, hours, and address from public pages and builds a phone host in about two minutes. The owner can test-call it in the browser with no sign-up needed, then claim the host when ready.

A good final test is this: call in a simple pickup order, ask one question about parking, and make sure the kitchen ticket looks clean. If the guest can get the right answer and the staff can start the order without extra cleanup, the curbside flow is in good shape. When you are ready, build a free test host and hear how it sounds with your menu.