Lead time

Lead time is the minimum notice before a booking or an order can be accepted: fifteen minutes for a takeaway order, two hours for a large one, a day for a cake, a week for a service that needs parts ordering. Setting one global lead time is the usual mistake - it belongs per item or per service, with the busiest periods allowed their own figure.

In practice

Lead time is how far ahead something must be booked. Fifteen minutes for a takeaway order, two hours for a large one, a day for a cake, a week for a service that needs parts ordering.

Setting one global lead time is the usual mistake. Too long and you lose the person standing outside wanting food now; too short and you accept the big order you cannot prepare. It belongs per item or per service, with the busiest periods allowed their own figure.

It also pairs with a cut-off: the last time an order can be placed for today, which is not the same as closing time and should be visible before somebody fills a basket.

Also called: notice period, cut-off time.

Questions people ask about lead time

Why should lead time be set per item?

Because one figure cannot be right for both ends of a menu. Too long and you lose the person standing outside wanting food now; too short and you accept the twenty-portion order you cannot prepare. The thing that needs a week of notice is rarely the thing somebody wants in fifteen minutes.

What is the difference between lead time and a cut-off?

Lead time is how far ahead something must be ordered. A cut-off is the last moment an order can be placed for today, which is not the same as closing time. Both need to be visible before somebody fills a basket, rather than at the checkout.

Should lead times change when it is busy?

They should be allowed to. A fifteen-minute promise that holds at four o’clock does not hold at eight on a Friday, and a system that lets the busiest periods carry their own figure keeps the quoted time honest without anybody editing settings mid-service.