pre-order-system

---
name: pre-order-system
description: Builds the pre-order run for a group booking so every choice, allergy and dietary requirement is in before the night: the deadline worked back from your supplier cut off, a form that collects by guest rather than by party, the written allergen information given before the choice is made, the data handled lawfully, the chase ladder, and the kitchen sheet and seating plan it turns into. Use whenever a party of ten or more is booked and you are still taking choices by reply email.
---

# Every guest's choice, allergy and name in the kitchen before service starts

You give this the booking, the menus as they will be offered, your supplier ordering deadlines and your table plan. You get back the pre-order run: the date the form must close, a form that collects a line per guest rather than a total per dish, the written allergen information that has to reach the booker before anybody chooses, a lawful way to hold what people tell you about their health, a chase ladder with dates, and the three documents that come out at the end, the kitchen sheet, the seating plan and the allergen alert card. It will not decide whether a dish is safe for anyone. It makes sure the question was asked, in writing, before the food was ordered.

## What it does

1. **Set the closing date by working backwards from your supplier cut off, not from the party date.** List each supplier, what they deliver for this booking and the last hour they accept a change. Work back: the kitchen needs the numbers before it orders, the ordering happens before the supplier deadline, and the form must close before that. For a Tuesday party with a Friday fish order the form closes on Thursday, not Monday. Publish that date to the booker at the moment the booking is confirmed, in the same message as the deposit terms, so that it is one deadline the party has known about since October rather than a surprise in the last week.

2. **Collect a line per named guest, never a tally per dish.** A form that returns "six beef, four salmon, two vegetarian" is unusable twice over: the kitchen cannot plate to a seat and the allergen information cannot be attached to a person. One row per guest, with the guest's name as the booker writes it, their course choices, and their stated requirements. The booker supplies the names. This also solves the problem that ruins service on the night, which is a table of twenty where nobody remembers who ordered the fish, and it is the only structure that lets the allergen alert card in step 9 exist at all.

3. **Treat what people tell you about allergies as the category of data it legally is.** The UK GDPR's special categories include "data concerning health", defined as "personal data related to the physical or mental health of a natural person, including the provision of health care services, which reveal information about his or her health status". An allergy is health data. The same list includes data revealing "religious or philosophical beliefs", which a stated dietary requirement can reveal, and the ICO's guidance treats inferred information as special category data where you act on the inference. So the form says what the information is for, holds it only for this booking, restricts who can see it, and deletes it on a stated schedule. This costs nothing to do properly at the point the form is built and is close to impossible to retrofit.

4. **Put the written allergen information in front of the booker before anyone chooses, not after.** Taking choices by email, a form or the phone is distance selling, and the Food Standards Agency's best practice guidance sets two moments: businesses "should make written allergen information available to the consumer both before the food is ordered", and "Written allergen information should also be provided upon delivery so the consumer can review it before eating the food." Where it lives online matters too. The guidance says it "could place this on the main menu" and, if not there, "it should ideally be no more than 'one click away' with a clear message and link". For a pre-order form that means the allergen matrix is on the form itself or behind a labelled link at the top of it, not sent afterwards on request.

5. **Re-ask on the night, person by person, because that is what the guidance actually requires.** The same FSA best practice is explicit about the case this skill exists for: "Where food in a restaurant has been pre-ordered (for example, for a large group booking) allergen information should also be discussed with individuals on the day, before the food is served." A pre-order does not replace the conversation, it makes the conversation short and specific. So the service pack carries a line for each guest with a stated requirement, the member of staff who spoke to them, and the time, and the food does not leave the pass for that seat until the line is signed.

6. **Work out whether anything you hand over becomes prepacked for direct sale, because the labelling rule is different.** PPDS is "food that is packaged at the same place it is offered or sold to consumers and is in this packaging before it is ordered or selected", and since 1 October 2021 it must carry "the name of the food and the ingredients list with the 14 allergens required to be declared by law emphasised within it". A plated pre-ordered meal is not PPDS. A boxed canape selection wrapped that morning and handed to guests on the way out is, and so is a packed lunch for a coach party. Decide this in the week the menu is agreed, because a PPDS label needs a full ingredients list and that is a kitchen job, not a printing job.

7. **Check whether calorie labelling reaches your pre-order form.** The Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021 apply where a business "on the first day of that financial year... has 250 or more employees", with part time staff included in the headcount, and require the calories at the point of choice along with the statement "adults need around 2000 kcal a day". A pre-order form is a point of choice. The exemption covers food "included on a menu for less than (i) 30 consecutive days, and (ii) a total of 30 days in any calendar year", which a one off banquet menu usually satisfies and a festive menu running from November usually does not. Record the headcount, the number of consecutive days and the conclusion, on one page, with the dates.

8. **Run the chase ladder to a real close, with a fallback that is safe rather than convenient.** Three contacts: at two weeks, at one week, and at forty eight hours before close, each to the booker and each restating the exact closing date and time. Then the fallback, decided in advance and written into the booking terms: guests with no choice recorded get a named default dish that is free of the fourteen allergens as far as your matrix allows, and nobody is defaulted into a dish at all if they have a stated requirement with no choice attached. The second half of that rule is the important one. Guessing a dish for a guest who told you they have an allergy is worse than having no order for them.

9. **Turn the closed form into three documents and date all of them.** The kitchen sheet, ordered by course and then by table and seat, with counts at the top and the allergen flags in a column the chef can see from the pass. The seating plan, with each guest's name against a seat so the food finds the person. The allergen alert card, one line per guest with a requirement, carried by the section waiter and signed on the night under step 5. Put the form close date, the version of the menu used and the build date in the footer of each. A kitchen sheet with no version on it is the document that gets printed twice, once before the booker changed three choices and once after.

## Then it checks

1. The closing date is later than no supplier cut off and earlier than every one of them, and the file names each supplier, each cut off and the hours between them.
2. Every guest has their own row with a name, and no row on the kitchen sheet is a quantity with no person attached.
3. Every stated requirement is recorded against a named guest with the date it was supplied, and the file states what the information is used for, who can see it and the date it will be deleted.
4. The written allergen information was available on the form itself or one labelled link from it before any choice could be submitted, and the file records where it was placed and the date the matrix was built.
5. The service pack contains a signature line for every guest with a stated requirement, and the file states whether any item being handed over is prepacked for direct sale and what its label must carry.
6. The file records the headcount, the number of consecutive days the menu runs and the resulting calorie labelling conclusion, and every guest with no recorded choice is either assigned the named safe default or listed as unresolved with the reason.

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 that a dish is safe for a person with an allergy, free from an allergen, or suitable for a stated condition. The skill records what the kitchen has declared and makes sure the guest was asked. Whether a dish can be served to a particular guest is a decision for the kitchen on the day, with the person in front of them.
- Never fill in an allergen cell from a dish name, a recipe title or last year's matrix. An undeclared cell is recorded as not stated and chased, because a wrong absent is the one error in this whole process that can put somebody in hospital.
- Never default a guest into a dish where a requirement has been stated and no choice recorded. An unresolved line goes to the booker and to the chef, and stays unresolved until a person answers it.
- Never hold dietary and allergy information beyond the booking. It is special category data, the form said what it was for, and a spreadsheet of guests' medical conditions sitting in a shared drive next January is a breach waiting to be reported.
- Never state a pre-order completion rate, a typical chase response rate or an average party size. No published figure exists for a single independent UK venue and none of them would change what the form has to ask.
- Never treat a pre-order as replacing the conversation on the night. The FSA guidance asks for both, and the pre-order exists to make the conversation short, not to remove it.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner's kitchen, environmental health officer and data protection adviser to check before it is used. It applies published food information and data protection rules to a draft process. It is not food safety advice, it is not a data protection assessment and it does not verify that any dish is free from any allergen.

## Built from
- 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, last updated 24 February 2025, read 16 September 2026: the two moments for written information and the one click away standard in step 4, and the instruction to discuss allergens with individuals on the day of a pre-ordered group booking in step 5.
- 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, last updated 17 July 2026, read 16 September 2026: the 14 allergens and the duty to supply allergen information for every non-prepacked item containing one, behind the matrix in steps 4 and 9.
- Information Commissioner's Office, "What is special category data?", https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/lawful-basis/special-category-data/what-is-special-category-data/, last updated 9 April 2024, read 16 September 2026: the nine special categories, the definition of data concerning health and the treatment of inferred information, all in step 3.
- Food Standards Agency and GOV.UK, "Introduction to allergen labelling for PPDS food", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-to-allergen-labelling-for-ppds-food/introduction-to-allergen-labelling-for-ppds-food, last updated 17 July 2026, read 16 September 2026: the PPDS definition, the 1 October 2021 change and the label contents in step 6.
- The Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021, SI 2021/909, regulations 4(2)(b), 5(2)(c) and 7(1), https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/909/body/made, read 16 September 2026, with the Department of Health and Social Care implementation guidance, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/calorie-labelling-in-the-out-of-home-sector/calorie-labelling-in-the-out-of-home-sector-implementation-guidance, published 17 September 2021, read 16 September 2026: the 250 employee test, the part time headcount rule, the 30 day exemption and the required statement in step 7.

# pre-order-system

## You are given
One group booking at a UK hospitality business: the event date and service time, the party size, the booker's name and contact details, and the table plan with seat references. The menu exactly as it will be offered, every dish named as it will appear, grouped by course. The kitchen's allergen declaration for every dish, made by a named person on a named date, marking each of the fourteen allergens as present, absent or not stated. The supplier list for this booking, each with what they deliver and the last date and hour they accept a change. The returned pre-order responses as the booker supplied them, one line per guest where that is what came back, or in whatever form it arrived where it did not. The owner's supplied decisions, already made: the named safe default dish, the deletion date for the dietary information, the list of people permitted to see it, and whether any item is handed over packed. The owner's headcount on the first day of the current financial year, and the first and last date the menu is offered. Every judgement about whether a dish may be served to a particular guest belongs to the kitchen on the day and is never made here.

## Produce
Write into a `./pre-order-system-output/` folder:

1. `deadline.csv` with these columns in this order: `supplier`, `delivers`, `change_cut_off_date`, `change_cut_off_time`, `kitchen_ordering_date`, `hours_before_cut_off`, `is_binding_deadline`. `is_binding_deadline` is `yes` for the single earliest cut off and `no` for the rest. A final row `FORM CLOSES` carries the date and time the form must close, which must be earlier than every `change_cut_off_date` and time.
2. `guests.csv` with columns: `guest_ref`, `booker_ref`, `guest_name_verbatim`, `table`, `seat`, `starter_verbatim`, `main_verbatim`, `dessert_verbatim`, `requirement_stated_verbatim`, `requirement_type`, `date_supplied`, `choice_status`. `guest_ref` is G001 upward. `requirement_type` is exactly one of `allergy`, `intolerance`, `medical`, `religious or belief`, `preference`, `none stated`. `choice_status` is exactly one of `complete`, `partial`, `none recorded`, `unresolved requirement`. A guest with a stated requirement and no recorded choice is `unresolved requirement` and never `none recorded`.
3. `allergen-matrix.csv` with columns: `dish_ref`, `dish_name_verbatim`, `course`, then one column per allergen in this exact order: `celery`, `cereals_containing_gluten`, `crustaceans`, `eggs`, `fish`, `lupin`, `milk`, `molluscs`, `mustard`, `peanuts`, `sesame`, `soybeans`, `sulphur_dioxide_and_sulphites`, `tree_nuts`, then `declared_by`, `date_declared`. Each allergen cell is exactly `present`, `absent` or `not stated`. Every `not stated` cell is counted in `gaps.md`.
4. `information-provision.csv` with columns: `stage`, `what_was_provided`, `format`, `where_it_appeared`, `date`, `before_choice_possible`. `stage` is exactly one of `before the order`, `on the day`, `on handover`. `format` is exactly one of `written on the form`, `written one click from the form`, `written separately`, `oral`. `before_choice_possible` is `yes` or `no`, and every `no` at the `before the order` stage is listed in `gaps.md`.
5. `service-pack.csv` with columns: `guest_ref`, `guest_name_verbatim`, `table`, `seat`, `requirement_stated_verbatim`, `dishes_ordered_verbatim`, `dish_refs`, `allergen_cells_not_stated`, `spoken_to_by`, `time_spoken_to`, `signed`. The last three columns are written empty for the owner's staff to complete on the night. One row for every guest with a `requirement_type` other than `none stated`.
6. `kitchen-sheet.csv` with columns: `course`, `dish_name_verbatim`, `dish_ref`, `count`, `tables`, `seats`, `guest_refs_with_requirements`, `menu_version`, `form_closed_at`. Ordered by course then by dish. Every count is derived from `guests.csv` and never from a tally supplied by the booker.
7. `data-handling.md` recording, on separate lines and nothing else: what the dietary and allergy information is used for, in the owner's supplied words; the list of people permitted to see it; the supplied deletion date; the number of guests whose recorded requirement falls in the `allergy`, `intolerance`, `medical` or `religious or belief` types; and the date this file was written.
8. `calorie-labelling-test.md` recording, on separate lines and nothing else: the headcount supplied and the date it refers to; whether that is 250 or more; the first and last date the menu is offered; the number of consecutive days; whether that is 30 or more; and the conclusion stated as `in scope`, `out of scope on headcount` or `out of scope on the 30 day exemption`.
9. `gaps.md` a numbered list of: every allergen cell reading `not stated` with the dishes it sits on; every guest with `choice_status` of `unresolved requirement`; every guest with no name; every guest with no seat; any supplier whose cut off falls before the form close date; every stage at which written information was not available before a choice could be made; every dish on the menu with no allergen declaration and no named declarer; and any figure or declaration supplied without a date.

## Rules
- Codex records, counts, matches and schedules. It never declares a dish free from an allergen, never fills an allergen cell, never assigns a dish to a guest, never writes to the booker and never makes the calorie labelling judgement. Those belong to the kitchen and the owner.
- Never infer an allergen cell from a dish name, a recipe, a similar dish or last year's matrix. An undeclared cell is `not stated`, is counted, and is reported first.
- Never assign the safe default to a guest whose `requirement_type` is anything other than `none stated`. Those rows stay `unresolved requirement` and appear in `gaps.md` and in the return.
- Never derive a dish count from a total supplied by the booker. Every count in `kitchen-sheet.csv` is a count of rows in `guests.csv`, and any discrepancy with a supplied total is recorded in `gaps.md` rather than reconciled.
- Never copy dietary or allergy information into any file other than `guests.csv`, `service-pack.csv` and `data-handling.md`, and never into a file name. It is special category data.
- Never write a pre-order completion rate, a chase response rate, an average party size or any benchmark into any file. No such figure exists for a single independent UK venue and none is to be recorded.
- Never send anything. No chase email, no form, no reminder. Each chase is a dated row for the owner to action.
- Every guest name, dish name and stated requirement is copied exactly as supplied, including spelling, punctuation and capitalisation. A misspelled guest name is recorded as it arrived and flagged in `gaps.md`, never corrected.
- Use British English, GBP written as `GBP` or the pound sign, DD Month YYYY dates and the 24 hour clock for times. No em dashes in any file you write, and any supplied text containing one is recorded verbatim and flagged in `gaps.md`.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner's kitchen, environmental health officer and data protection adviser to check before it is used. It records supplied declarations and supplied choices and does not verify that any dish is free from any allergen.

## Return
The absolute path of every file written, the row count of each CSV, the form close date and time and the supplier cut off it was set against, the number of guests recorded and how that compares with the supplied party size, the breakdown of `choice_status` across all four values, every guest with `choice_status` of `unresolved requirement` named with their stated requirement, the count of allergen cells reading `not stated` with the dishes they sit on, the count of dishes with no named declarer or no declaration date, the dish counts by course from `kitchen-sheet.csv`, the number of guests in the service pack, the deletion date recorded in `data-handling.md`, the conclusion recorded in `calorie-labelling-test.md` with the two figures it rests on, and the `gaps.md` item count.