own-ordering

---
name: own-ordering
description: Turns your existing menu, your food business registration, your hygiene rating and your platform contract into a direct ordering channel you can actually switch on: a total price built to the CMA rule, the written cancellation position for prepared food, the allergen answer at both required stages, the hygiene rating placed where it must appear, a lawful way to email the customer again, and a dated sheet comparing what the channel costs you against the commission it saves. Use when you are paying commission on orders from customers who already know you and you want those orders coming straight to you instead.
---

# A direct ordering line you can switch on this month, with the price, the allergens and the permission all settled before the first order

You give this your current delivery menu, your food business registration details, your food hygiene rating, your platform merchant agreement and whatever ordering route you are considering, whether that is the phone, your own website or a QR code on the door. You get back the total price wording, the cancellation position for prepared food, the allergen answer at both stages the rules require, the hygiene rating placement, the lawful basis for emailing the customer again, and a dated sheet showing what the channel costs against the commission it removes. It will not tell you how many customers will switch. No published figure exists for a single independent UK venue, and an owner who builds a direct channel against a borrowed switching rate will abandon a channel that was working.

## What it does

1. **Confirm the registration is right before you take a single direct order.** Selling direct does not create a new food business, but it does change what you are doing, and the registration must reflect it. GOV.UK is unambiguous that "When you start a new food business, or take over an existing business, you must register with your local authority", that "You are required to register at least 28 days before trading", and that "Registration of your food business is free and can't be refused". If you are moving preparation to a different address, adding a kitchen, or starting to deliver from a site that was registered as a cafe only, tell the local authority now rather than at the first inspection. Record the registration reference and the date you checked it.

2. **Decide exactly which route you are building, because the rules differ by route.** A phone order, an order on your own website and a QR code menu at a table are three different things. GOV.UK states the principle that catches the first two: "If you sell food without face to face contact with the consumer, the food you sell is subject to UK law", and that "all food must be delivered to consumers in a way that ensures that it does not become unsafe or unfit to eat". Write down which routes you are switching on, which member of staff answers each, and at what hours. A direct channel that rings out at half past seven on a Friday costs you the order and the customer.

3. **Build the price as one total, with every compulsory charge inside it.** This is the rule the platforms already follow and the one owners break first when they go direct. CMA209 states that "In the invitation to purchase, you must give the customer the total price of the product", and defines the test in one line: "A charge is mandatory if the customer must pay it to buy the product. This could be any fee, like a delivery or booking fee, tax, like VAT, or other unavoidable payment." Delivery is named directly: "Mandatory delivery charges must be included in the invitation to purchase. If you can reasonably calculate them, you must include them in the total price too." And the practice has a name: "It's illegal to hide additional fees, taxes or other charges that the customer will have to pay until later in the purchase process (sometimes called 'drip pricing')." CAP Code rule 3.18 says the same for your advertising: "Quoted prices must include non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges that apply to all or most buyers."

4. **Write the cancellation position down once, in plain words, rather than copying a returns policy from a retail site.** Selling at a distance normally brings a fourteen day cancellation right, and prepared food is one of the places it does not apply. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 remove the right to cancel for goods "which are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly", which is what a hot meal is. Regulation 6 goes further for a particular trading pattern and excludes contracts "for the supply of foodstuffs, beverages or other goods intended for current consumption in the household and which are supplied by a trader on frequent and regular rounds to the consumer's home, residence or workplace". Say in your own terms which of these you are relying on, and say what you will actually do when an order is wrong, because the exemption from a cancellation right is not an exemption from the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which treats every contract to supply goods as including a term that "the quality of the goods is satisfactory".

5. **Put the allergen answer at both points the rules require, not just on the menu.** The Food Standards Agency guidance is specific about distance selling: "If food is sold online or by phone through distance selling, allergen information must be provided at two stages in the order process." Before the purchase is completed, it may be given "in writing (on a website, catalogue or menu) or orally (by phone)". When the food is delivered, it may be given "in writing (allergen stickers on food or an enclosed copy of a menu) or orally (by phone)". The FSA best practice guidance adds the placement rule for a website: "If not on the main menu it should ideally be no more than 'one click away'." Build both stages into the channel now. Retrofitting the delivery stage after the first complaint means printing labels in a hurry, and the allergen-on-delivery skill exists to do this properly.

6. **Put your food hygiene rating where a customer sees it before they choose.** Display is compulsory in some parts of the United Kingdom and not others, and the FSA states the position plainly: "Food businesses in Northern Ireland and Wales must display the rating sticker sent to them. It is the law." Online, the FSA sets three placement principles, that the rating should "appear prominently on your website so that it is readily seen when your customer accesses a page", "be adequately sized so that it is easily read by your customer", and "appear anywhere prior to the point where your customer selects food or places an order". It adds the test that decides it: "if the user can select food or place an order without the food hygiene rating being in their field of vision prior to that point then the placement would not be 'readily seen'". A direct channel that hides the rating your platform listing displays looks worse than the listing you are trying to replace.

7. **Get the permission to contact the customer again, because that is the only durable advantage a direct channel has.** The platform keeps the customer relationship by design. Your own channel is the one place you can lawfully ask to keep in touch, and the rule is narrow. The Information Commissioner's Office describes the soft opt in for an existing customer who "bought (or discussed buying) a similar product or service from you in the past", and it applies only if you "gave them a clear chance to opt out of getting marketing emails or texts when you collected their details" and give "a clear chance to opt out" in "every message". Build both opt out points into the order flow at the start. A list gathered without them is a list you cannot use.

8. **Read your platform agreement before you price the direct channel differently.** Deliveroo's published partner terms state that for Delivery and Marketplace+ "prices for the menu items you provide for display on the Platform should be the same as the prices for menu items published in your dine-in or in-store menu", and for Pickup the platform will refund a customer the difference and "deduct an amount equal to the refund from the payment we make to you". Whether your own signed agreement carries a parity clause, and what it treats as your published menu, is a question for your own copy and your solicitor. Record the clause reference and the answer before you set a direct price, because discovering the constraint after you have advertised a discount is expensive twice.

9. **Hand the assembled facts to Codex to build the channel sheet.** Every judgement is already made: the routes, the prices, the cancellation position, the allergen wording and the opt out wording are the owner's. Run:

   ```
   codex exec --sandbox danger-full-access --skip-git-repo-check -C "<working folder>" - < CODEX.md
   ```

   Claude hands over the menu with each price and every charge marked compulsory or optional, the registration details, the hygiene rating, the allergen wording for both stages, the cancellation wording, the opt out wording, and the costs of running the channel. Codex returns the price build table, the channel cost comparison against commission, the required wording checklist and a gaps file. Codex writes no customer facing sentence and invents no cost.

10. **Compare the channel against the commission it removes, and date it.** One page: what the direct channel costs per month in payment processing, any ordering software, any delivery cost you now carry yourself, and the staff time to answer it, set against the commission you would have paid on the orders that moved. Put the date each figure was read from a statement or an invoice in the footer. Then write the one sentence that matters, which is whether the channel is being kept, and on what evidence it will be reviewed. A direct channel that nobody reviews quietly becomes a second full price menu that three regulars use.

## Then it checks

1. Every price shown to a customer on the direct channel includes every charge the customer cannot decline, and any charge shown outside it is named and is genuinely optional.
2. The cancellation position is written in the owner's own terms, names which exemption it relies on, and states what happens when an order is wrong.
3. The allergen answer is present at both the pre purchase stage and the delivery stage, and the file says in which physical or on screen form each one is given.
4. The food hygiene rating appears at a point a customer reaches before selecting food, and the file records the page or screen it sits on.
5. The order flow captures a clear opt out at the point details are collected, and every marketing message drafted carries an opt out.
6. The channel cost sheet carries a dated source for every figure, and contains no switching rate, adoption percentage or direct order benchmark.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never state a typical direct ordering switch rate, a percentage of customers who will move off the apps, an average direct basket or a payback period. No published figure exists for a single independent UK venue, the figures in circulation are published by companies selling ordering websites, and an owner who measures a real channel against a borrowed rate will close something that was working.
- Never advertise a direct price that the platform agreement forbids until the clause has been read and recorded. The saving is not worth a deduction you did not expect and a relationship you still need.
- Never collect a customer's details for marketing without the opt out at the point of collection. A list gathered without it cannot be used lawfully, which makes the whole point of the channel worthless.
- Never treat the allergen answer as satisfied by a website page alone. The rule is two stages, and the second one happens at the door.
- Never launch a direct channel with hours nobody has agreed to staff. An unanswered phone at the busiest hour is worse than not offering the number, because the customer who tried is the one who was ready to switch.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner to check with their own solicitor on the ordering terms and the platform agreement, their accountant on the pricing and VAT, their environmental health officer on the allergen route, and their insurer if they begin carrying food themselves. It applies published rules to a draft channel. It is not legal advice and it is not a ruling that the channel complies.

## Built from
- Food Standards Agency and GOV.UK, "Starting a food business", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/starting-a-food-business, updated 19 August 2026, read 23 September 2026: the registration duty, the 28 day deadline and the distance selling principle in steps 1 and 2.
- Competition and Markets Authority, "Providing clear and accurate information about prices: summary" (CMA209), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/price-transparency-cma209/providing-clear-and-accurate-information-about-prices-summary, updated 7 January 2026, read 23 September 2026: the total price duty, the mandatory charge test, the delivery charge rule and drip pricing in step 3.
- The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, regulation 28 and regulation 6, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/regulation/28/made and https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/regulation/6/made, read 23 September 2026: the rapid deterioration exemption and the regular rounds exclusion in step 4.
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 9, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/9, read 23 September 2026: the satisfactory quality term that survives the cancellation exemption, in step 4.
- Food Standards Agency and GOV.UK, "Allergen guidance for food businesses", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/allergen-guidance-for-food-businesses/allergen-guidance-for-food-businesses, updated 17 July 2026, read 23 September 2026: the two stage distance selling duty in step 5.
- Food Standards Agency and GOV.UK, "Allergen information for non-prepacked foods best practice", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/allergen-information-for-non-prepacked-foods-best-practice/allergen-information-for-non-prepacked-foods-best-practice, published 24 February 2025, read 23 September 2026: the one click away placement in step 5.
- Food Standards Agency and GOV.UK, "FHRS: Displaying your rating", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fhrs-displaying-your-rating/fhrs-displaying-your-rating, updated 10 July 2026, read 23 September 2026: the compulsory display position in Wales and Northern Ireland and the three online placement principles in step 6.
- Information Commissioner's Office, "Electronic mail marketing", Guide to PECR, https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/guide-to-pecr/electronic-and-telephone-marketing/electronic-mail-marketing/, no publication date shown on the page and the page states the guidance is under review following the Data (Use and Access) Act, read 23 September 2026: the soft opt in conditions in step 7.
- Deliveroo, "Deliveroo Partners Terms and Conditions", https://merchants.deliveroo.com/en-GB/legal/terms, page states last updated 14 January 2021 with later dated sections, read 23 September 2026: the price parity wording in step 8.

# own-ordering

## You are given
The direct ordering routes one UK hospitality business intends to switch on, each named as phone, own website, QR code or other, with the hours each route is staffed and the named person answering it. The food business registration reference, the registering local authority and the date the owner last confirmed it. The current food hygiene rating, the date it was awarded, and the nation the premises sits in. The full direct channel menu with, for every item, the item name exactly as it will be shown, the price the owner has decided, and the VAT status the owner has decided. Every charge a customer may be asked to pay on a direct order, each marked by the owner as compulsory or optional, with its basis stated as per order, per item, percentage or flat. The owner's cancellation wording and the exemption the owner is relying on. The owner's allergen wording for the pre purchase stage and for the delivery stage, each copied exactly. The owner's opt out wording for the point of collection and for outgoing messages. The monthly cost lines for running the channel, each with a supplier, an amount and a document date. The commission and fee figures the owner would otherwise have paid on the same orders, taken from platform statements. The relevant clause from the owner's platform merchant agreement on price parity, quoted exactly, or the owner's statement that no such clause was found. All judgement calls, including every price, every charge classification, the cancellation position and all customer facing wording, have already been made by the owner and are supplied to you.

## Produce
Write into a `./own-ordering-output/` folder:

1. `channel-routes.csv` with these columns in this order: `route_ref`, `route_type`, `hours_open`, `staffed_by`, `orders_accepted_from`, `allergen_stage_one_method`, `allergen_stage_two_method`, `hygiene_rating_placement`, `notes`. `route_type` is exactly one of `phone`, `own_website`, `qr_code`, `walk_in`, `other`. `allergen_stage_one_method` and `allergen_stage_two_method` are each exactly one of `written on screen`, `written on menu`, `written on label`, `oral by phone`, `oral at door`, `not stated`.
2. `price-build.csv` with columns: `item_ref`, `item_name_verbatim`, `base_price_gbp`, `charge_name`, `charge_basis`, `charge_amount_gbp`, `compulsory`, `inside_total_price_shown`, `total_price_payable_gbp`, `vat_status`, `source_of_price`. `item_ref` is I001 upward. `charge_basis` is exactly one of `per order`, `per item`, `percentage of order`, `flat`, `none`. `compulsory` and `inside_total_price_shown` are `yes` or `no`. `vat_status` is exactly one of `standard rated`, `zero rated`, `not registered`, `not stated`. Any row where `compulsory` is `yes` and `inside_total_price_shown` is `no` is listed in `gaps.md` as a price transparency failure.
3. `required-wording.csv` with columns: `wording_ref`, `requirement`, `where_it_must_appear`, `wording_supplied_verbatim`, `supplied`, `source_named`. `requirement` is exactly one of `total price`, `allergen before purchase`, `allergen at delivery`, `cancellation position`, `hygiene rating`, `opt out at collection`, `opt out in message`, `business name and address`. `supplied` is `yes` or `no`. No wording is written or edited by Codex. An unsupplied requirement has an empty wording cell and a line in `gaps.md`.
4. `registration-check.md` recording, on separate lines and nothing else: the registration reference as supplied; the registering local authority; the date the owner last confirmed it; whether any new address or new activity is being added; and the resulting conclusion stated as `registration covers the new activity`, `registration needs updating` or `not stated`. Every line names where the figure came from.
5. `channel-costs.csv` with columns: `cost_ref`, `cost_name`, `supplier`, `document_date`, `amount_gbp`, `frequency`, `applies_to_route`. `frequency` is exactly one of `per order`, `per week`, `per month`, `per year`, `one off`. Any cost with no document date is listed in `gaps.md`.
6. `commission-comparison.csv` with columns: `period_start`, `period_end`, `orders_moved_to_direct`, `gross_order_value_gbp`, `commission_avoided_gbp`, `direct_channel_cost_gbp`, `net_position_gbp`, `source_document`. `commission_avoided_gbp` is calculated only from a commission rate the owner supplied from their own agreement. Where no rate was supplied the cell is empty and the row is listed in `gaps.md`.
7. `parity-clause.md` recording, on separate lines and nothing else: the clause quoted exactly as supplied or the owner's statement that none was found; the agreement and platform it came from; whether the clause names the dine in menu, the in store menu or any other channel; and whether the owner's direct prices differ from the platform prices as supplied. No conclusion on whether the clause is breached is written, because that is a legal judgement.
8. `gaps.md` a numbered list of: every compulsory charge shown outside a total price; every required wording not supplied; every route with an allergen stage recorded as `not stated`; every cost line with no document date; every menu item with no VAT status; the parity clause if it was neither quoted nor recorded as absent; and any figure the owner supplied without a date.

## Rules
- Codex tabulates, compares, counts and records. It never writes or edits a customer facing sentence, never sets or adjusts a price, never decides whether a charge is compulsory, never decides which cancellation exemption applies, and never states whether a parity clause is breached. Those were supplied or are for the owner's solicitor.
- Never estimate a missing number. A cost with no supplied amount has an empty cell and a line in `gaps.md`. A part costed channel reports its net position as incomplete rather than as a figure.
- Never write a switching rate, a percentage of customers expected to move, an average direct basket, a payback period or any industry benchmark into any file. No such figure exists for a single independent UK venue and none is to be recorded.
- Never move a charge inside a total price to make a row pass. Where a compulsory charge sits outside the shown price, the row is recorded exactly as supplied and the failure is listed in `gaps.md`.
- Never mark an allergen stage as satisfied from a menu file alone. Only an explicit statement from the owner naming the method supports a value other than `not stated`.
- Never carry a commission rate, a cost or a price forward from a previous file. Each figure comes from a document supplied for this build, with its date.
- Use British English, GBP written as `GBP` or the pound sign, and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write, and any supplied text containing one is recorded verbatim and flagged in `gaps.md`.
- Every item name, charge name, clause and customer facing line is copied exactly as supplied, including its punctuation and capitalisation.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check with their own solicitor on the ordering terms and the platform agreement, their accountant on pricing and VAT, and their environmental health officer on the allergen route. It applies supplied rules to a draft channel and is not legal advice or a ruling that the channel complies.

## Return
The absolute path of every file written, the row count of each CSV, the number of routes recorded and their types, the count of compulsory charges found outside a shown total price and the items they sit on, the list of required wordings not supplied, the conclusion recorded in `registration-check.md` stated in full, the number of allergen stages recorded as `not stated`, the net position figure from `commission-comparison.csv` or the word incomplete, whether a parity clause was quoted or recorded as absent, and the `gaps.md` item count.