Guide
How to run a group order round
A round is one occasion of ordering from a menu: today’s lunch, this evening’s delivery. The menu stays put and rounds come and go. This guide covers opening one, collecting choices without chasing people through chat, and closing it so the totals stop moving.
Open the round
From a shared menu, choose Start round. Everyone the menu is shared with is added to the round automatically and receives a notification, so there is no second invitation to send.
The round takes the menu’s items, prices, and fee policy as they are at that moment. Later edits to the menu do not reach back into a round that is already running.
Collect choices
Each person opens the round and sets quantities against the items they want. They see their own running total including their share of fees, so nobody has to ask what they owe.
As organizer you see who has answered and who has not. That is the part that usually costs the most time in a chat thread: the answer is on one screen instead of scattered through a hundred messages.
People can change their choices while the round is open. Every change updates the aggregate immediately, so the total you are looking at is always current rather than a figure you calculated ten minutes ago.
Freeze and place the order
When everyone has answered, freeze the round. Freezing stops further changes and locks the prices, so the total cannot move while you are on the phone to the restaurant.
The frozen view groups identical items together, which is what you actually read out when ordering: eight of one sandwich rather than eight separate lines.
Settle up
After the order is placed, each person’s share is already calculated, including VAT, service, and their part of delivery according to the policy on the menu.
Receipts stay available after the round closes, so a question a week later has an answer that does not depend on anyone’s memory.
Run an order round
- What if someone never answers?
- You can freeze the round without them. They are simply not part of the totals, and the people who did answer are not held up by one person.
- Can I reopen a frozen round?
- Yes, while it has not been completed. Reopening allows changes again and recalculates the totals; a completed round stays as it was so past receipts remain accurate.
- Does everyone see what other people ordered?
- Participants see the combined order so the group can check it before it is placed. Personal totals stay attached to the person they belong to.