The meal-prep operator's real workflow
Sunday you plan the menu. Monday you post it. Tuesday-Wednesday orders come in. Thursday afternoon you cut off ordering. Friday you shop and prep. Saturday morning you cook. Saturday afternoon customers pick up. Then you do it again.
Every step of that workflow lives in disbatch. Publish the menu, share the storefront link, watch orders come in, hit the cutoff, aggregate the totals, produce the plan, hand out the containers.
Weekly menu, one storefront
Update your menu once per week. Every item — proteins, sides, sauces, add-ons — is a menu entry with a photo, price, description, and any customization questions (spice level, no rice, extra sauce). Customers see a clean menu on your disbatch.app/your-shop page and check out in under a minute.
Order cut-offs that actually cut off
Set advance-notice rules per shop or per item so the calendar refuses orders past your prep deadline. If you cook Saturday and stop taking orders Thursday at 5pm, disbatch enforces it — no rogue Friday-night orders, no manual "sorry, we're closed" replies.
Pickup windows, not "text me when you're here"
Pickup windows in 15- or 30-minute blocks keep the Saturday scramble civilized. Customers self-schedule at checkout, so you're not staffing a five-hour open window. If you use a partner's commercial kitchen for pickup, the address goes on the storefront and the confirmation email.
Deposits or full payment
Most meal-prep operators charge full payment at checkout — you know the exact totals, and there's no balance to chase at pickup. disbatch supports both. If you'd rather collect a deposit and take the rest in cash on pickup, toggle it on. See deposits for the full picture.
The Saturday prep sheet
Open the dashboard, filter to this Saturday, and see totals by item: 34 chicken bowls, 18 salmon, 12 vegan, 40 side salads, 22 requests for no cilantro. Print it or keep it on your phone. It replaces the notebook, the whiteboard, and the group chat you were using to keep track.
Recurring customers without a subscription product
Meal-prep businesses live on repeat buyers. disbatch keeps a customer view so you can see who orders every week and reach out with next week's menu. No subscription billing needed — most meal-prep operators find weekly reorders convert better than locked-in subs anyway.
Growing beyond the Core plan
The Core plan handles up to 40 orders per day and 10 menu items. For a solo prep run of 3-5 mains and 3-5 sides that's plenty. When you outgrow either cap — bigger menu, bigger Saturday — upgrade to Pro in one click. See pricing.
Start free
14-day trial, no card. Set up your first weekly menu and share the storefront in place of the group chat you're using now.