Pesto Kitchen: pizza orders that go direct

The problem

Pesto Kitchen makes Neapolitan pizza, stone-baked at Elmgrove Farm in Gormanston. The product was never the problem; the ordering was. Orders arrived two ways: through delivery marketplaces, which charge a commission on each one and keep the customer’s details, and by phone, which meant someone leaving the oven to take a call at the busiest moment of the evening.

The owner wanted regulars to order directly, from a phone, in a few taps, without the kitchen paying a cut on every pizza. The site had to be simple enough to use once and come back to, fast enough to work on a farm with patchy signal, and easy for the kitchen to change when the menu did.

What we did

1. A menu the kitchen can edit. Every pizza, side and drink is an item the owner edits from a phone. Change a price or sell out of a topping and the site updates immediately. No PDF, no waiting for a developer.
2. Direct ordering as a progressive web app. The site installs on a customer’s home screen like an app and remembers them. A repeat order takes a few taps. Orders land in the kitchen the moment they are placed, with the collection time attached.
3. Card payments and collection slots. Customers pay online through a standard payment provider in Pesto Kitchen’s own name. The owner sets the collection slots and the lead time, so the kitchen is never promised more pizzas than it can bake.
4. Google Business Profile that matches the site. Hours, menu link, photos and the ordering link are the same on Google as on the site, so a search for pizza nearby leads straight to a direct order.
5. A WordPress Care Plan. Hosting, updates, backups and small changes every month, so the owner runs the kitchen and we run the site.

The result

The ordering site is live at pestokitchen.ie and is the path we point regulars to. The numbers that matter, the share of orders now placed directly, the repeat-order rate and the commission no longer paid each month, come from the order history and the marketplace statements, and are being agreed with the client and will be published here once they are signed off.

What we can say today is how it was built and what it is for: a commission-free path for repeat customers, with the marketplaces kept as a way for new customers to find the kitchen. The same build is the basis of our direct-ordering website service, priced on the pricing page.