Use busy mode

Who is this article for?

• Gegsy merchants who want to give their kitchen more time during a rush without pausing online ordering.
• Merchants who know when their rushes happen — like Saturday brunch or a weekday lunch — and want the extra time added automatically.

About busy mode

Busy mode adds extra minutes to a location's usual prep time. While it's on, the earliest pickup and delivery times customers can choose move out by the same amount, in your online store and your app. You can use it two ways:

• Now — turn it on for a set amount of time when the kitchen falls behind. When the time is up, it turns off on its own.
• Scheduled — set busy times that repeat every week or fall on one day. Each one turns on and off by itself, and it also applies to orders placed ahead of time for that busy time.

Busy mode doesn't change orders that were already placed — they keep the times customers chose. If you need to stop taking orders altogether, pause online ordering instead (see Manage your locations).

Before you begin

• Busy mode is available on all plans.
• You can turn it on for locations that are active and visible to customers.

Turn on busy mode now

You can open busy mode from two places:

• Locations — select Busy mode at the top of the page. To start with certain locations already chosen, select Bulk edit, check the locations, then select Busy mode in the bulk action bar.
• Live Orders — select Busy mode in the toolbar. If you're viewing one location, it's already chosen for you.
• A location's settings — select Edit (the pencil icon) for the location, open Busy times, and select Turn on busy mode under Right now.

Then:

1. Under Locations, check each location busy mode should apply to, or choose Select all.
2. Under Add to prep time, choose how many minutes to add: +10 min, +15 min, +20 min, +30 min, +45 min, or +60 min. The minutes are added on top of each location's usual prep time — below the options you'll see each location's pickup and delivery prep time before and after (for example, Pickup: 15 → 30 min).
3. Under For how long, choose 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, Until end of day, or Until a set time. For Until a set time, enter the time under Busy until in each location's local time. Busy mode can last up to 24 hours.
4. Select Turn on busy mode.

If something is still missing, the window lists it under To turn on busy mode: — for example, Choose at least one location.

Schedule busy times

Schedule a busy time for any rush you can see coming. A location can have up to 20 busy times, so a lunch rush and a dinner rush on the same day are simply two busy times.

To add the same busy time to several locations:

1. On the Locations page, select Bulk Edit, check the locations, then select Busy mode in the bulk action bar. With more than one location checked, the window opens on Schedule busy times. (From the Busy mode button on Locations or Live Orders, select Schedule busy times for rushes you know are coming instead.)
2. Under Locations, check or uncheck locations as needed. Locations that already have busy times show how many.
3. Under Repeats, choose Every week and select the Days, or choose One day only and pick the Date.
4. Enter when it Starts and Ends, in each location's local time. If it ends after midnight, set an end time earlier than the start — for example, 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM.
5. Under Add to prep time, choose how many minutes to add.
6. Select Add busy time.

To see, change, or remove a location's busy times:

1. On the Locations page, select Edit (the pencil icon) for the location.
2. Select Busy times. Right now shows whether the location is busy at the moment, and Scheduled busy times lists each one — for example, Sat · 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM · +30 min.
3. Select Add busy time to add one, the pencil icon to change one, or the trash icon to remove one. Select Done when the busy time looks right.
4. Select Save changes.

One-day busy times that are over show Past and are cleared the next time you save.

See which locations are busy

• On the Locations page, the Busy mode button turns solid orange while any location is busy, and a busy location shows Busy · +15 min until 7:30 PM (with your own minutes and time) under its Accepting orders switch. During a scheduled busy time, it ends with · scheduled.
• On Live Orders, the Busy mode button turns solid orange and shows the extra minutes and when busy mode ends. When you're viewing all locations and more than one is busy, it shows how many.

Turn off busy mode early

1. Open busy mode from Locations or Live Orders.
2. Check the locations you want to turn it off for.
3. Select Turn off busy mode.

For one location, you can also open its settings, go to Busy times, and select Turn off busy mode under Right now.

This also works during a scheduled busy time: it turns off until that busy time ends, and your next scheduled busy time still turns on as usual. If you turn busy mode on during a scheduled busy time, your minutes and end time replace the schedule's until they run out.

How busy mode affects customers

• Customers choosing a time see later slots: the earliest pickup or delivery time moves out by the minutes you added, and later slots keep their usual spacing.
• Scheduled busy times also apply to orders placed ahead. For example, with a Saturday 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM busy time that adds 30 minutes, a customer ordering on Thursday for Saturday morning sees the first slot after opening 30 minutes later than usual. An order also gets the extra minutes when its prep would run into a busy time — a customer ordering at 8:50 AM on Saturday gets the extra minutes too.
• A customer who already picked a time that's now too soon has it moved to the earliest available time before they check out.
• For Managed Delivery, the courier is scheduled to arrive after the extra prep time, so they aren't waiting on the order.
• Catering and group orders already require advance notice, so busy mode doesn't add to their times.

For a lasting change to how long orders take, update the location's prep time instead (see Set up pickup for a location and Set up delivery for a location).