What ala.menu does, spelled out
Every line below is read from the product’s code and dated.
Every fact, by theme
Delivery
- Distance by road. Distance rings measure in a straight line by default, or by road with Google driving distance, kept for 24 hours, falling back to a straight line if Google does not answer. On Plus.
- Postal codes. A postal zone holds 1 to 500 codes or prefixes, and an exact code wins over the longest matching prefix. On Plus.
- Four kinds of zone. Delivery can be priced four ways: by named area, by distance rings, by shapes drawn on the map, or by postal codes and prefixes, each zone with its own fee and minimum order. On Plus.
- Delivery minutes and estimate. Delivery minutes, from 0 to 240, are added to the preparation time, and with the estimate switched on, a diner ordering for now sees a 10-minute window before ordering. Free.
- A minimum per zone. Each delivery zone has its own minimum order, and below it the order button shows the amount still to add. On Plus.
- Outside every zone. An address outside every zone is refused by default, or accepted with the fee confirmed by the shop if you choose. On Plus.
After the order
- Nobody misses an order. An order nobody has accepted keeps the order board chiming every 15 seconds and can re-alert the team’s phones every 20 seconds for 5, 10 or 15 minutes. On Plus.
- Kitchen ticket on Telegram. The kitchen ticket can go to up to 10 Telegram chats, staff groups included. It lists items with options, the address, totals and payment method, in English or Arabic. On Plus.
- Change for the driver. Cash-on-delivery checkout asks which note the diner will pay with ($20, $50 or $100 on dollar and lira menus), so the driver brings change. On Plus.
- Reject with a reason. A pending order can be rejected with one of five reasons, and a live order, items and delivery fee included, can be edited until it is completed. On Plus.
- Unpaid orders clear themselves. An online payment left unpaid for 30 minutes expires by itself, and any promo or loyalty reward it held goes back. On Plus.
- Cancellations reach the kitchen. When a diner or one of your staff cancels an order, the same Telegram chats get a cancellation message. On Plus.
- Telegram in one link. Connect Telegram gives a t.me link for a private chat or a staff group; the link works once and expires after 15 minutes. On Plus.
- Reminders that count the wait. Each reminder push reads like “Order #012 not accepted” over “Waiting 1 min 20 s”, and the last one says “Last reminder”, so the team knows the phones go quiet after it. On Plus.
- Five cancel reasons. Cancelling an order picks one of five reasons: out of stock, kitchen too busy, customer requested, unable to deliver, or other. On Plus.
- Busy mode. Busy mode adds 10, 20 or 30 minutes to the time new diners are quoted, for an hour, two hours or the rest of the day, then switches itself off. On Plus.
- Refunds on cancel. Rejecting or cancelling a paid order refunds it through Stripe, MPGS, PayPal or CyberSource; a Whish refund you send yourself, wallet to wallet, and it is tracked as due or sent. On Plus.
- A second currency. A menu can show the order total a second time in another currency, for example LBP next to USD, at your own rate, rounded to a step you pick between 0.5 and 5,000. It is display only and does not pause payment. Free.
- The diner hears from you. Once the diner taps to message you, they get a WhatsApp message when their order is confirmed and when it is ready or out for delivery. A “preparing” message can be switched on, and a rejected order, or one you cancel, is always messaged. On Pro.
- Scheduled orders. Diners can schedule orders in 30-minute slots by default (from 10 to 120 minutes), up to 60 days ahead. Free.
- Opening hours that hold. “Order now” is refused outside opening hours unless you turn that off, and hours that run past midnight work. Free.
- Free delivery over an amount. Each delivery zone can waive its fee above an order amount you set. On Plus.
- One review ask. Two hours after a completed order, a diner who messaged you on WhatsApp gets one Google review link there, never more than once per restaurant. On Pro.
- The cart they left. A diner who typed a phone number at checkout and left is listed under Customers with what was in the cart. One tap opens WhatsApp with a reminder in their language, and a promo code if you choose. On Plus.
AI that acts
- No allergy promises. The AI waiter never tells a diner that a dish is safe for an allergy. It quotes the dish’s allergen tags and offers the restaurant’s WhatsApp. On Plus.
- 13 voices, your dialect. The AI waiter can talk back in one of 13 voices, in the Arabic dialect of the restaurant’s country. On Pro.
- Translation that keeps up. AI translation updates itself: edit one dish and that dish alone is translated again, and sizes, add-ons, banners and offer labels are included. On Plus.
- Undo on every edit. Every change the AI editor makes has an Undo, and nothing goes live until you press Save. It can work across 36 kinds of edit, prices, hours, delivery zones and promo codes among them. Saving needs Plus.
- The waiter fills the cart. The AI waiter recommends up to 8 dishes at a time and up to 3 that go with them, adds dishes to the cart with size, add-ons and a kitchen note, up to 10 in one reply, swaps or removes a line, fills in the diner’s name and phone, and opens the checkout. On Plus.
- Delivery price and reorders. The AI waiter can price delivery to a place the diner names, offer a returning diner “same as last time”, and say where the order from this conversation is. On Plus.
- Prices in bulk. The AI editor changes prices in bulk by a percentage, a flat amount or a set value, with rounding to .99, .00 or .50 if you want; the sums are worked out in code. Saving needs Plus.
- The editor handles dishes. The AI editor creates, duplicates, moves and deletes dishes, sets sizes and add-on groups, marks dishes sold out or Popular, adds diet tags and up to 4 gallery photos from a link, and finds and replaces text across the menu. Saving needs Plus.
- The editor handles categories. The AI editor creates, renames, reorders, merges and deletes categories, and reorders the dishes and the Popular list. Saving needs Plus.
- The editor handles design. The AI editor changes the design, applies a colour palette or a template theme, and matches the menu’s colours to your logo and cover. Saving needs Plus.
- The editor handles settings. The AI editor sets your hours, ordering and fees, languages, delivery zones by distance, banners, schedules for dishes and categories, dated discounts, promo codes, Google reviews and a currency change, as a new symbol or converted at your rate. Saving needs Plus.
- Import, then tick. In the AI editor, attach a PDF or a photo, or paste a link, and the new dishes and price changes come back as a list you tick before anything is applied. Saving needs Plus.
- AI tag suggestions. The AI suggests allergen and diet tags for a dish, picked from the 16 dietary tags and 9 allergens diners filter by. On Plus.
- AI calorie estimates. The AI estimates calories, protein, carbs and fat for each dish, 25 dishes at a time, and per ingredient on a build-your-own dish. On Plus.
- The builder reads details. From your PDF, photos or text, the AI builder also reads the business name, description, phone, email, website, address, city, country, business type, cuisines and Instagram, Facebook and TikTok handles. Free.
What you are told
- New, returning, lapsed. The customer list sorts every diner into New (one order), Returning (two or more) and Lapsed (no order in 30 days), with one record per phone number however the number was typed. On Plus.
- Every save kept. Version history keeps every save for 48 hours, then one checkpoint a day for 30 days, and any of them can be restored. On Plus.
- Low ratings reach you. Any 1 or 2 star review emails you, and a diner who gives 3 stars or fewer can leave a phone number for a call back. On Plus.
- Searches that found nothing. Analytics shows what diners searched for on the menu, including the searches that found nothing. On Plus.
- A Monday morning email. Every Monday at 09:00, Beirut time, you get an email with the week’s views, visitors, orders, revenue, top items, the peak time and the questions the AI waiter could not answer. On Pro.
- Longer date ranges. Analytics adds a 90-day view and any date range up to 365 days. On Pro.
- Campaign attribution. Campaign attribution credits the last non-direct visit within 30 days and separates QR, social, search, paid and AI-assistant traffic. On Business.
- Purchases sent server-side. Meta purchases are also sent server-side and deduplicated with the browser pixel, so an order still counts when a blocker stops the pixel. On Business.
- An unhappy diner. A 1 or 2 star review emails you. A diner at 3 stars or fewer can leave a number for a call back. On Plus.
- 20 Page versions. A Page keeps its last 20 saved versions, and any of them can be restored. On Plus.
- Offer performance. Analytics lists up to 10 of your offers and codes, with the orders each one brought and the discount it gave, for the dates you pick. On Pro.
- Page analytics. A Page’s analytics add a map of where visitors come from, new versus returning visitors and CSV export. On Pro.
- Campaign links. The campaign link builder makes tagged links with Instagram, Facebook and TikTok presets or your own values, for the menu or a Page, each with a QR code to download. On Business.
- Campaign results. Each campaign shows its visits, orders and revenue, with a day-by-day series. On Business.
- A Meta catalogue feed. With pixels on, the menu publishes a Meta catalogue feed, one row per published dish, with sold-out dishes kept as out of stock. On Pro.
- Pixels on your Pages. The menu’s ad pixels also fire on the Pages linked to it. On Pro.
- A checked API token. The Conversions API token is write-only and checked against the pixel, and the dashboard warns you if the pixel ID moves away from the one checked. On Business.
- The regular who stopped. The customer list filters to anyone with no order in 30 days. Open the row, tap WhatsApp, and on Pro attach a coupon locked to that person. On Plus.
Menu depth
- Diet and allergen filters. Diners can filter by 16 dietary tags (Halal, Vegan, Keto-Friendly and more) and exclude 9 allergens, sesame and shellfish included. Free.
- Designs on every plan. Every plan has 13 header styles, 11 category header styles, 6 category scroller styles, 30 colour palettes and 12 font pairings, on top of the 11 card layouts. Free.
- Wi-Fi card and socials. Every plan has a Wi-Fi card diners join by scanning, links to 11 social platforms, and a live “open now” status. Free.
- How the filters match. Diet filters show the dishes that carry every tag the diner picks, allergen filters hide any dish carrying a picked allergen, and the sheet shows how many dishes match. Free.
- Price on request. A dish with no price reads “Price on request” and cannot be ordered, or, if you switch it, can be ordered with “Price confirmed by the shop”. Free.
- Bundles in steps. A bundle is a set of steps, such as “Choose a drink”, each drawing from dishes, a category or an add-on group, required or optional, with 1 to 5 picks per step, each included in the price or charged. On Pro.
- Numbered table tents. Numbered table tents print for tables 1 to 10 by default, up to 50 in one download, or follow your table-service count. On Plus.
- One add-on group, many dishes. One add-on group can serve many dishes, and per dish an option can be hidden, priced differently or given its own defaults and limits. Free.
- Add-on prices by size. An add-on can have its own price on each size of a dish, so a topping can cost more on a Large. Free.
- A name for the kitchen. An add-on can carry a kitchen name, such as “NO PICKLE” for “Hold the pickles”, printed on the kitchen ticket and the order board and never shown to the diner. On Plus.
- Live macros. On a build-your-own dish, the calorie and macro totals update as the diner changes the ingredients. On Pro.
- Categories on a schedule. A whole category can be scheduled by day of the week and time of day, on the restaurant’s clock, overnight windows included. Free.
- Three sold-out modes. A sold-out item can stay greyed in place, drop to the end of its section, or be hidden while still showing in search. Free.
- The diner’s language. The menu opens in the diner’s browser language and remembers the language they picked across the menu and the Page. On Plus.
Also
- Booking reminders. Booking clients get a WhatsApp reminder 24 hours before, with an optional second one 3 hours before. On Pro, for services venues.
- Booking messages. Booking clients get a WhatsApp message and an email with a calendar file when a booking is confirmed, moved or cancelled; a request still waiting for you gets the email, without WhatsApp. On Pro, for services venues.
- Clients move bookings. Booking clients can move their own booking up to 6 hours before it starts, a limit you can change. On Pro, for services venues.
- A calendar link. A read-only calendar link, per venue or per bookable person, room or equipment, shows confirmed and pending bookings from 7 days back to 60 days ahead. On Pro, for services venues.
- People, rooms, equipment. A person, a room or a piece of equipment can be booked: clients pick people by name, rooms and equipment are assigned, and each has its own photo, hours and time off. On Pro, for services venues.
- The till’s exchange rate. A connected till can send the day’s exchange rate for the prices diners see. On Business.
- Dashboard in Arabic. The owner dashboard runs in Arabic as well as English, French and Spanish, on every plan. Free.
- Loyalty card defaults. A new loyalty card starts at 5 orders for a reward valid 30 days. The card can be set from 2 to 20 orders, and the reward limited to chosen dishes or categories. On Pro.
What you get
Ordering
- Website ordering with delivery zonesPlus
- WhatsApp orderingFree
- Order board with statusesPlus
- Live order tracking for dinersPlus
Customers and marketing
- Loyalty stamps with Apple Wallet and Google Wallet passesPro
- Offers and promo codesPlus
- Review collectionPlus
- Customer listPlus
- Customer CSV exportPro
- Order and sales analyticsPlus
Design and menu
- More than 20 templatesFree
- 11 item card layoutsFree
- 53 fontsFree
- QR designer, 4 dot patternsPlus
- Arabic menus, right to leftFree
- AI translation, 21 languages including yoursPlus
- AI menu builder from a PDF or photoFree
Brand and domains
- Custom domainPro
- White label, no "Powered by" badgeBusiness
- Branches, priced per locationPlus
Team and integrations
- Team rolesPro
- POS sync and APIBusiness
- AI waiterPlus
Start on the free plan
A full menu, a QR code, your own Page and WhatsApp ordering, with no card.
Start free