FAQ
Questions owners ask.
Price, ownership, the delivery apps, the tablet, timelines. If it isn't here, email contact@zavidigital.com.
Price and ownership
What does it cost?
$5,000, one time. There's no charge from us after that. If the upfront number is the blocker, there's a 12-month payment plan: $459 a month by credit card, $5,508 total, then you're done. The extra $508 is the cost of not paying it at once. It's a payment plan, not a subscription.
What do I actually own?
The running app: your ordering or booking system, guest site and admin together, on your own hosting account, your own database and your own domain, with every order and customer record living in a database in your name, which you can query or export from that account whenever you want. There's no export button in the admin today. It keeps running whether or not we're around.
Can another developer work on it later?
Changes to the system itself come from us, at an hourly rate quoted up front. What another person can do without us: everything in the admin, your menu, prices, hours, staff, services, plus your domain and your data, because those accounts are in your name. If total independence from us on day one is what you're buying, say so now and we'll tell you honestly whether this is it.
What do I pay after handoff?
Your domain, about $15 a year, to your registrar. That's it. Hosting and your database sit on free accounts in your name and stay free at your volume. Nothing comes to us.
Do you take a percentage of my orders or bookings?
No. 0%. We don't take a percentage of anything, on any order or booking.
Is there a deposit?
The demo costs you nothing. If you say yes, it's $2,500 to start the live build on your own accounts and the balance at launch. On the payment plan, the 12 payments replace the split.
What if you disappear?
The system keeps running. The hosting and the database are accounts in your name, not ours. There's no Zavi server in the middle that can go down and take your system with it.
What about support?
Two calls are included: a 30-minute launch walkthrough and a 30-day check-in. A bug in something we shipped, found shortly after launch, is fixed at no charge. Changes, new features and help months later are at an hourly rate, quoted up front.
Pickup orders and the delivery apps
Does this replace the delivery apps?
No. Keep the delivery apps for delivery. This is for your pickup orders, where you pay the same 25-30% and the apps add nothing. You use both.
What does Monday morning look like with both?
Two screens for a while: the app tablet for delivery, our tablet for pickup. Your pickup orders leave the app's screen as your regulars move over, and the 8pm end-of-day summary covers the direct orders. Nothing about your delivery setup or your POS changes.
Where does the savings number come from?
Pickup orders you already get, times a $30-35 average order, times the 25% commission you stop paying when those customers order from your site. 100 pickup orders a month at $35 is $875 a month going out, $10,500 a year. We assume only 45% of those regulars switch: $393 a month back, $4,725 a year, and the build is paid back in month 13. If every one of them did, 6 months. It counts nothing else: no delivery orders, no new customers, no bigger tickets.
Customers find us through the apps.
Keep the apps for discovery. This is for your regulars who already know you. Put a flyer in every bag: "Order pickup direct next time." Redirect the repeat pickup customers and you both save.
Will customers actually switch?
Most owners are surprised. App menu prices are usually marked up and the app adds fees on top, so the same order costs your customer more through the app than direct. Tell them that in the bag and a lot of them switch. A small direct-order incentive helps: even 10% off beats paying 25-30% commission.
Do customers pay online?
Not in this build. Customers place the order and pay at pickup: cash, debit or card when they arrive. The checkout says so.
Do customers need an app or an account?
No. They order from your website on their phone. No download, no account. An account is optional if they want order history.
Do they keep phoning to ask if it's ready?
Less. Their order page counts down in front of them, says "Ready around 6:42 PM", and flips to "Your order is ready for pickup!" when you mark it ready. No refresh, no app.
The tablet and the day-to-day
I don't understand the technology.
You don't need to. Any tablet or old phone with a browser runs the kitchen board: a $150 tablet is plenty, and hardware isn't in the $5,000. Nothing to install. Orders come in, you hear a chime, you tap Accept, and every tap has a 5-second Undo. We set it up and walk you through it in 30 minutes.
What does the chime do?
A new order plays a two-tone chime and repeats it every 4 seconds until someone accepts the order or taps Silence. There's also a Device Status panel in Settings that tells you if the tablet has gone quiet. The order timer turns amber and then red on your own thresholds, 5 and 12 minutes by default, and you can change both in Settings.
Can I run out of something mid-shift?
Yes. 86 an item and it disappears from the customer's menu immediately. Set "out of stock until 5:00 PM" and it comes back on its own. Restock all clears the board in one tap. A customer can't order something you just 86'd, even if it was in their cart a second ago: the price, the availability and your open hours are all re-checked on our side the moment they hit Place Order, not in their browser.
What if we get slammed?
Pause ordering for 20 or 40 minutes and it resumes by itself. Or pause until the next opening, or close for the rest of the day. Three taps from the home screen.
My kitchen closes between lunch and dinner.
A day can hold more than one open window, 11 to 2 and 5 to 10 for example, and a Friday that runs to 1am still counts as open at 12:30. Pickup times only ever come from hours you're actually open.
Do I get any numbers out of it?
Yes. The home screen shows today's revenue, orders, tips and average ticket against the same day last week, an hourly chart, and your top five sellers. At 8pm it closes the day out for you: completed, rejected, revenue, tips, busiest hour, top seller.
Does it work with my POS?
It works alongside whatever you use. We aren't replacing your POS. Pickup orders from your website come to the kitchen tablet. Everything else stays the same.
Do I need to buy a tablet?
Any tablet or old phone with a browser works, and a $150 tablet is plenty. Hardware isn't in the $5,000. Nothing to install.
I have two locations.
The site can show both addresses and hours. The ordering and the kitchen tablet are one restaurant per build: two locations means two builds and two tablets, priced separately. If that's you, tell us on the form and we'll quote it straight.
Can I take table reservations?
Yes, it's a switch in Settings. Guests pick an area, a date and time, a party size, and get a booking reference. You set the weekly schedule, capacity per area and blocked dates.
Booking businesses
Who is the booking build for?
Massage studios, barbershops, salons, chiro, and any small multi-staff business that books people against a calendar and takes payment in person. Not for clinics that bill insurance: no clinical notes, no insurance receipts, no digital intake in this build.
What does a client see?
Five steps: choose a person or Any Available, choose a service, choose a date and time on a 30-minute grid, enter name and email, confirm. Then an 8-character booking reference. No account, no app.
What can I do from my phone?
See today, this week and total confirmed bookings, complete or cancel any open booking, add staff and set their week, block a vacation, add or edit services with price and duration, set business hours and closed dates, set how far ahead clients can book and the minimum notice, and pause all online booking with one button. What you can't do yet: key a booking straight into the board or move one to another time. A phone booking goes in through your own booking page, for tomorrow onward.
Does it send reminders or take payment?
Email reminders and confirmations ship at handoff, from your sending account. Card payments go through your own processor (the one you already use, or one we help you open) and we wire it at launch. Text reminders, deposits, memberships, gift certificates and a waitlist are not in this build.
Can clients cancel or reschedule themselves?
Not from a link. You cancel from the board in two taps and the slot is free again. Rescheduling is a cancel and a new booking. If a client-facing cancel link is the deal, say so now.
Is there a per-staff fee?
No. Add staff in the admin and set their week. There's no per-staff fee and no per-seat charge. The $5,000 was the whole bill.
Is $5,000 worth it against my subscription?
Run it on the calculator with what you pay a month, all-in. $150 a month is $5,400 over three years and $9,000 over five. Under $138 a month with a three-year horizon, the subscription is cheaper and we'll say so. Owning wins in years four and five, and your client list is yours from day one.
Getting built
How does it start?
You fill in the form. We get in touch within 1 business day, collect your menu, logo, photos and hours, and build your demo at a password-gated address. You place a test order. Then you decide.
How long until it's live?
5 business days after we have everything on the list: your menu with prices and options, your logo, photos, your hours, your phone number, and how you want to hear that an order came in. For a booking build: your staff list and their weeks, your services with prices and durations, your hours and your logo. The clock starts when the last of those lands, not when you send the form.
Why does the demo come down?
Because it's a real system on our infrastructure, and it's either yours or it's gone. The date is written on your offer sheet. At launch the real system is on your accounts and the demo is retired.
Can I think about it?
Of course. Print the calculator sheet with your numbers and put it next to your last delivery-app statement. When you're ready to stop paying commission on pickup orders, call us.
Where are you?
Ottawa. Zavi Digital Inc., contact@zavidigital.com, (613) 558-0614.