A Woolston local for 30 years
Fish & Chips On Ferry has been feeding Woolston, Christchurch, for 30 years. The menu is what a good Kiwi chippy should be: fish and chips, burgers, combos, fried chicken and a growing list of Chinese meals. Regulars know exactly what they want. The shop is open seven days, and the busy hours are very busy.
The food was never the problem. The ordering was.
Orders arrived in too many ways
Like most independent takeaways, orders came in from every direction. Phone calls during the dinner rush. Customers at the counter reading a long menu board and asking what is in each combo. Some orders through third-party apps, which take a commission on every meal.
Every order had to be written down or keyed in again, then passed to the kitchen by voice. When it got busy, that is where mistakes and waiting happen. And next to the big chains down the road, with their self-order screens and branded apps, a small shop can look old-fashioned even when the food is better.
One system, from the customer's phone to the kitchen
BestAI designed and built the whole system from scratch, around the way this shop actually works.
Its own ordering website. fishandchipsonferry.nz is the shop's own brand site and ordering channel. We moved all 136 menu items across, with options, extras, combos and specials, in English and Chinese. Customers browse on their phone, choose a pickup time and order directly from the shop.
A self-order kiosk in the shop. Walk-in customers can order on a large touch screen with photo menus and categories, just like at a fast-food chain. They pick their combo, choose options, check the order and receive a pickup number. The kiosk uses the same menu as the website, so a price change or a sold-out item updates everywhere at once.
A staff order app. Every order, from the website, the kiosk or a phone call, lands in one order app on an Android tablet or a Windows computer. Staff accept it, set a wait time and move it through cooking, ready and collected. Counter and kitchen can work their own parts, or one person can run the whole order on a quiet shift.
An owner dashboard. The owner controls menu, prices, specials, opening hours and reports. On a crazy night they can pause online orders or limit pickup slots, so the kitchen is never buried.
What changed
The shop now has an ordering experience that looks and works like the big chains: a branded website, online pickup orders and a self-order kiosk at the counter. Orders arrive complete and readable, so there is less copying, less shouting across the kitchen and less "what did they order again?"
Regular customers have a direct way to order that does not pay a platform commission on every meal. The shop owns its website, its menu and its customer channel. The owners are very happy with how professional the whole setup looks, and how much smoother a busy night runs.
How we built it so quickly
This was a full custom system, not a template: a public website, three apps and the server behind them. We used our AI-assisted development workflow for research, design, build and testing, with our team reviewing the work and checking it with the owners at each step. That is how a small local business can get software that used to need a big-chain budget.
Could this work for your shop?
The same system can be set up for restaurants, takeaways, bubble tea and cake shops, and food stores that take pickup orders. See what is included on our online ordering page, or read about custom software for small businesses.