Running your business
Playbooks for the mechanics of taking orders — the fields on your form, the deposit rule you pick, and the platform features that keep it all glued together.
- Which fields to require vs. leave optional
- How to write a form that pre-qualifies custom orders
- Where to place the deposit request in the flow
- How to size deposits by order type
- A refund policy template you can copy
- How to phrase deposits so customers don't push back
- What ships in Core vs. Pro
- How deposits and balances move through the system
- How to hand off to Square at pickup
By business type
The right defaults depend on what you make. These guides adapt the same platform to home bakeries, small catering, and meal prep — three businesses that share a home kitchen but almost nothing else.
- Structuring a custom-cake intake form
- Design fees vs. ingredient deposits
- Pickup windows that survive a Saturday rush
- Setting minimum lead times per package
- How to bill delivery vs. pickup differently
- A quote-to-deposit flow that closes
- Running a weekly menu without confusion
- Order cutoffs and prep-day protection
- Communicating with recurring customers
Getting started in under an hour
The fastest path from spreadsheet to real order flow: create the account, add three items to your menu, set your pickup windows, decide on a deposit rule, and share your storefront link in the same chat where you're taking orders today. The first order that comes through the form is the moment it starts saving you time. Full walkthrough in the help center.
Sizing your deposit
A good default is 25% for standard orders and 50% for anything custom or over $100. That's enough to cover ingredients if a customer flakes, and low enough that no one balks. Cake artists doing sculpted work should charge a flat non-refundable design fee on top of the ingredient deposit — the full breakdown is in the deposits guide.
Setting pickup windows
Pickup windows are the single biggest quality-of-life win over group-chat orders. Pick 3–4 tight windows per pickup day (say 4–5pm and 6–7pm) instead of "anytime after 3." Customers self-schedule, everyone shows up on time, and you're not fielding "on my way!" texts for four hours. The features page shows exactly how blackout dates and pickup blocks work together.
When you outgrow Instagram DMs
The signal isn't order volume — it's overhead. If replying to messages, capturing orders, and chasing deposits eats more time than actually baking, the DM workflow is done. disbatch is the replacement most home operators land on, and the Core plan covers the moment you're in now.
Support and help
Every disbatch account gets human email support from the team that built the product. Reach us at hello@disbatch.app, or browse the help center for common questions about deposits, pickups, Square, and billing.