Everything BlockWorks does, through the working day

One order inbox

WhatsApp messages, emails, voice notes and your customers' online quick orders all land in one inbox with a badge when something new comes in. Each one says who it's from and what it still needs.

Read into a draft order

One click reads the message into a draft order at that customer's prices. Every line shows the words it came from, so you can check it against the message. Nothing becomes an order until someone confirms it.

WhatsApp ordering number

Your customers message your own WhatsApp ordering number, matched to their account by their phone number. Messages you forward from your own phone can be tagged with the customer. An automatic "we've got your order" reply is there if you want it.

Set-up: we set the number up for you as part of set-up. Meta has to approve it, which can take a few days.

Email, PDFs and photos

Orders sent to your orders address, typed, forwarded or attached as a PDF, a photo of a handwritten list, or a CSV file.

Not yet: Excel and Word attachments can't be read. They're flagged in the inbox rather than lost.

Voice notes

Voice messages come in with the recording to play back and a written transcript beside it, so you're checking a list rather than writing one.

Transcripts can mishear product names, so always listen before you confirm.

The order pad for phone orders

Type the customer's name, then product codes or a few letters of each product, and press Enter. Their usual products and last order sit beside it, and "order again" adds the whole last order at today's prices.

Your own ordering site

On your own web address, with your logo, your range and each customer's own prices. Laid out for ordering on a phone, as most chefs do.

Usuals and reorder

Customers keep their usual products, including the exact cut and size, and can reorder a past order at today's prices in one tap.

Quick order by text or voice

Customers can skip the catalogue and type or say their order. It goes into your inbox like a WhatsApp.

Standing cutting notes

"Trim to 5mm fat" saved once against a product and filled in on every order after that. Customers can ask for things that aren't in your catalogue too, priced by you later.

Order history and tracking

Every order with its status, the invoice, and a tracking link once it's out for delivery.

Announcements and specials

A message customers see when they sign in, such as today's special, which can link straight to the product.

Not yet: there's no specials list or offers email. Per-customer deals with an end date are under Products and prices.

Invites, not passwords

Customers get an emailed link to choose their own password. You can see who has signed in.

Accounts on stop

Put an account on stop for unpaid invoices. The customer can still see their orders but can't place a new one, and the office is asked before taking one by phone.

Each, kilo or box on one product

A product can be ordered by the piece, by weight, by the box, or any mix. You say what a box is (5kg of ribs, 10 chickens) and the order converts it.

Options with their own prices

Fillet 6oz, 8oz and 10oz as options of one product, each with its own price, plus product codes you can search by everywhere.

Price bands and deals

Bands A, B, C and D as a percentage off your standard price, or a different percentage by category, plus fixed prices. A customer's own deal can have an end date, after which they go back to their band. Bands never drop below your cost plus a margin floor.

Change prices in one go

Put a set of products up or down by a percentage or an amount, rounded how you like, with the new margins shown before anything changes.

Printed price lists

A customer's own price list, with every option at the price they'd pay, ready to print or send as a PDF.

Photos and go-live checks

Product photos with a crop tool, and a check before you go live that catches missing prices, prices below cost and products with no weight.

The prep sheet

Everything to cut for a day across all orders, with the weight to cut and who each line is for, by category or by round. Ticks are shared, so two people can work from it.

The packing screen

The day's orders as pick sheets, on a phone, tablet or computer. No prices anywhere on it. Packers enter the real weight and lot number as they go, and the office sees it the moment it's saved.

Weights that finish the invoice

Anything sold each but priced by the kilo carries an estimate until it's weighed. Once every line is weighed, the invoice is ready at the real price, without anyone retyping it.

Hands-free entry

Say the number into the mic and it fills the box and moves to the next one. Works in Chrome and Edge.

Box labels and printing

A label for each box with the customer, round and "box 2 of 3", plus packing sheets. Prints work from an iPhone too.

Not yet: product labels with ingredients, allergens and use-by dates.

Rounds by postcode

Set up your routes by postcode area once, and new orders put themselves on the right round with its usual driver.

The round planner

Each van's drops in order around each customer's delivery window, with an arrival time per stop and a warning if one will miss its window. Arrival times learn from your real deliveries.

Times are worked out from distance and time of day. There's no live traffic.

The driver's phone

Each driver gets a link on their own phone, no app to install. The next drop, the address, the access notes, a call button and Navigate or Waze. They can reorder or add drops on the way.

Works with no signal

A delivery saved in a basement kitchen with no signal is kept on the phone and sent when signal comes back, with no double emails.

Proof of delivery

Who took it, a signature and a photo, or the reason it couldn't be delivered. It shows on the order, and the customer can get a "delivered" email.

Live map and tracking

The office sees where each driver is and which drops are at risk of running late. Customers get a tracking link: "two drops before yours". Other customers' names and addresses are never shown.

The driver's position updates while their round page is open, so it pauses if they're in the satnav app.

Van checks and reminders

Start-of-round checks with photos, fridge temperatures at each drop and damage reports, plus MOT, service and insurance reminders for every van.

Delivery report and round costs

First-time delivery rate, how many arrived in their window, failed drops and why, and what each round cost in fuel, time and van.

Pro-forma until it's final

Every copy is a pro-forma until you finalise the invoice, which waits until everything priced by the kilo is weighed. Finalise a whole day's orders and email them in one go.

Invoice after delivery

An order can go out first and be invoiced afterwards, dated the day it was delivered.

Credit notes

A finalised invoice is never edited. Money back goes on a numbered credit note against it, for a quantity, an amount or both.

Service charges

A fuel charge and a small-order charge, set by you, shown to customers at checkout, and waived per customer if you like.

Xero and Sage 50

Export your invoices and credit notes as a file Xero or Sage 50 imports, with your own account codes and each customer's payment terms. Invoice numbers match the printed copy.

Straight into Xero New

Connect your Xero and send invoices and credit notes straight in as drafts, then see which are paid and who is overdue.

Margin as you price Full back office

Cost prices stay in the office, never shown to customers or packers. See the margin on every product, every order and every line as you go, flagged when it's under your target.

Costing sheets Full back office

Weight in, weight after trimming and the cost per kilo, with anything else sold off it credited, gives the true cost of the cut. The weights can be done on a phone at the block, with no prices on the phone.

Profit after delivery Complete

Gross profit by customer and by product, then each customer's share of what the rounds cost, so you see which accounts actually pay. Rep commission too.

Customer score Complete New

Each customer scored out of 10 on margin, delivery cost, how they pay and how they order, explained in plain English.

Stock control Complete New

Stock takes valued at cost, live stock by lot and product, cutting a lot into its cuts, mixing (sausages from trim) and write-offs, with actual yields against your usual.

Purchasing Complete New

Suppliers, their items and purchase orders, sent by email, WhatsApp or print, and booked in against the order when the delivery arrives.

Goods In reads the paperwork Full back office

Photograph the box labels and the delivery note, and Goods In reads them: supplier, batch, weights, kill and use-by dates. You check it, save it, and it gets a lot number and a label to print.

One lot number, start to finish Full back office

The same lot from the delivery you bought to the box you sent out, with packers offered the lots that came in.

Recall search Full back office

Type a lot and see every order, customer and date it went to, as a spreadsheet to ring round.

Beef register Full back office

Every beef lot checked for the labelling details an inspector asks for, and who it went to, printable for the visit.

Delivery checks Full back office

Vehicle, cleanliness and temperature checks on deliveries coming in, with temperatures flagged when they're out.

Daily food safety checks Complete New

Fridge, freezer and product temperatures, cleaning, and probe tests done on staff phones, with what was done when something's wrong, a manager's sign-off, and records printed for an inspection.

It keeps the records auditors and inspectors ask for. It doesn't make you approved.

Logins for each person

An owner and staff logins, each with what they can use: invoicing, customers, products, costs, profit, deliveries and stock, each as no, look or change.

Who did what

Office changes to orders, customers and products are logged with who made them and when, and orders show who weighed each line.

Separate packing and Goods In logins

The packing screen and Goods In have their own sign-in, so the cutting room never sees prices or customers' details.