Google Food Ordering: Product Overview

Summary

This page aims to assist clients with the onboarding process for Google Food Ordering.   

We detail here the Google requirements for data matching to successfully integrate stores, and what your customer can expect when ordering through Google Food.  

Information is provided on how to recognise and manage Google orders at the POS, the payment gateway required to collect the money, and how to take a store offline should a crisis situation arise. 

 

Contents

Data Matching Requirements

What your customer will experience when ordering through Google

Google Orders Received at POS

Payment Gateway - Stripe

Taking a Store Offline

Data Matching Requirements

The integration between Redcat and Google utilises data matching between the details in the POS Location record for a store, and the Google My Business (GMB) entity for that store. 

The following data must be matched: 

• Name 
  Google matches the name of the GMB entity with the location name submitted when publishing web menu data from Redcat.  So that you do not need to change the names of your POS Locations Redcat has provided a Location Name Override field in the Google Integrations section of Polygon Central. 
• Address 
  The address on your GMB entity MUST match the address in the POS Location record in your BOH database. 
• Phone Number 
  The phone number on your GMB entity MUST match the phone number listed in the POS Location record in your BOH database.

 

What your customer will experience when ordering through Google

A Google search for your business will return a Google My Business information card which includes an Order Takeaway button as shown. 

Using this button will direct your customer into your food ordering site. 

The Order Food menu page is displayed.

Customer chooses Pickup option (Delivery option may be enabled, please discuss with your Redcat Contact the delivery provider options available). 

Use the As Soon As Possible button to select the required pickup time. 

Ready for pickup in xx min shows the Average Order Production Time listed against the POS Location in Polygon POS Management. 

The Customer Ordering Keypads are displayed across the page under the Menu section. 

The items in each category of menu options are displayed down the page. 

Clicking on an item will present the Item Card displaying the Ingredient Choices available  
for this item. 

The Add to Order button will add this item and chosen modifications to the cart. 

Items added to the cart now appear on the right hand side of the screen. 

Any other notes or instructions can be entered in the Any other requests? field.  These will be included as notes on the order at the POS. 

Using the Checkout button will perform validation of the order items, and take the customer to the payment page. 

The customer can enter their payment details in the Google Pay section and use the Place Order button. 

Confirmation of a successful order!

An email detailing the Order Acknowledgement is sent to the customer at the email address connected to their Google Account. 

Google Orders Received at POS

Orders received at the POS via the interface are recognised at POS as Web Orders. These can be viewed in the Finalised section of the Manage Web Orders file.

Payment Gateway - Stripe

The only payment gateway interfaced for use with the Google integration is STRIPE.  If you do not have a STRIPE account, you will need to create one and connect it in Polygon Central. 

If you need to do this, please ask your Redcat contact for a copy of the cheat sheet:  
Cheat Sheet - Polygon Central Connecting Your Stripe Account.

Taking a Store Offline

The stores that will be available to the Google Integration for ordering are assigned in Polygon Central. 

The Force Store Offline option is available as an emergency response for crisis situations.  This option will override the daily (2am) upload of store details which include opening hours and order acceptance timelines.  The setting will take effect on the next scheduled read of data from Google (generally this occurs each hour). 

To do this:  

• Access Polygon Central | Integrations | Google. 
• Use the Edit button next to the location you need to take offline to open the Integration record. 
• Place a tick in the Force Store Offline box. 
• Use the Submit button to save. 

 

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Related Articles

From 1 July 2024, Google Food Ordering requires the inclusion of Action Links in the menu export.  When customers use the Order Takeaway or Order Delivery buttons on a GMB card they will no longer place the order through Google, instead buttons embedded with the Action Link will redirect the customer to a specific ordering page.

You can learn more about configuring the Action Links here.

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