How do we make sure customers know our lead time for custom orders?

Reflys can require a minimum lead time before an order's accepted, so a same-day request for a design that needs advance notice gets redirected to what's actually available in time.

Does this create a separate order list, or does it fit into how we already track orders?

It fits into what you already use — Reflys connects via API or webhook, configured directly into your automations, writing new orders into your existing system in parallel, no separate list to check.

Take Custom Cake Orders Without a Single Phone Tag

Custom orders need a back-and-forth on flavor, size, design, and pickup time, and that conversation is hard to have over a rushed call between batches.

Reflys moves the whole order — photos, details, deposit, pickup slot — into one WhatsApp thread you can answer between trays.

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Bakery Automation: a customer question answered and confirmed in a Reflys chat

Where custom orders
compete with the ovens

Custom cake requests come in by phone with no easy way to attach a reference photo
Same-day requests for orders that need 48 hours' notice eat up time explaining the lead time
Deposit collection for custom orders means a separate payment link or an awkward in-person ask
Order details and pickup times live in the POS, disconnected from wherever the actual request came in by phone or message
“Do you have anything nut-free?” gets asked daily with no standard answer ready to send
Pickup-time mix-ups happen when a confirmation only ever existed in someone's memory

From Reference Photo to Pickup

Bakery Automation workflow: inquiry captured, request handled, and details synced by Reflys

Custom Order Intake
Photos, flavor, size, and design details are captured in one thread instead of a rushed call.
Lead-Time Enforcement
Orders that need advance notice are automatically routed to a valid pickup date.
Deposit & Pickup Confirmation
Deposits are collected and pickup times confirmed without a separate payment step.
CRM Integration
Connects to your order system via API or webhook, configured directly into your automations — writes new custom orders and pickup times back in parallel, so the record's always current.

Where Bakery Conversations Happen

WhatsApp-led — custom orders need photos and real detail that a phone call during production hours can't accommodate but a chat thread can. Instagram DM is often where the order starts, since customers usually screenshot a design they saw in your feed.

Start the Order From a Design in Your Feed

Instagram DM is often where the order starts, when a customer screenshots a design they saw in your feed.

Best for:

Design inquiries
Feed screenshots

Run the Whole Order in One Thread

WhatsApp captures photos and details, collects the deposit, and confirms the pickup slot.

Best for:

Custom order intake
Deposit & pickup

Bakery Order Management Software for Custom Orders Without Phone Tag

A custom cake needs a real conversation about flavor, size, design and date, and it usually arrives as a phone call while your hands are in a batch of buttercream. Details get half heard and written on whatever is nearby. Bakery order management software moves the whole order into one written thread you can answer between trays.

How it works

Capture the order in one thread
A custom cake order form in chat collects the reference photo, flavors and fillings, serving size and design notes, so nothing depends on memory.
Enforce your lead time automatically
Requests that need advance notice are guided to a valid date. You stop explaining lead time to every same-day caller. Customers see the earliest available date instead of hearing a no.
Collect the deposit and confirm pickup
Cake order deposits are taken and the pickup slot is confirmed in the same conversation. Bakery pickup scheduling ends with a written order confirmation both sides can check.
Connect your order system
By API or webhook, Reflys writes order details and pickup times into the system that drives your production schedule.

In practice

Say a customer screenshots a cake from your Instagram feed on Monday and messages asking for one like it for Saturday. She sends the photo, picks vanilla with raspberry filling for thirty guests, pays the deposit and chooses a 10 am pickup. You reply once to confirm the color. On Saturday the box has her name, the time and the paid balance on it.

Practical tips

Ask for a photo and a guest count before anything else. Those two details set the price range and stop long conversations about custom cakes you cannot make in time.
Prepare one clear answer to allergen questions, including whether nut-free options are made in a shared kitchen. Say exactly what you can and cannot guarantee.
Repeat the pickup date, time and balance due in a message the day before. Pickup mix-ups usually come from a detail nobody wrote down.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions? We've got answers.

Everything you need to know about Reflys, automations, integrations, and getting started.

Yes — customers send reference photos and confirm flavor and size, and the details stay attached to the order, which is easier to work from than notes taken over the phone.