An order cut-off time is the deadline for orders on a particular delivery, such as “order by 8 pm Monday for Tuesday morning”. The right cut-off is the latest time that still leaves your team enough hours to buy, pick, pack and load before the truck leaves. For next-day produce it often falls in the evening before delivery. Meat cut to order, fresh seafood and bakery goods usually need an earlier one, because the work starts sooner.
What a cut-off time does
A cut-off protects the work between the order and the delivery. Without one, orders keep arriving while the warehouse is picking, after the buyer has already placed orders with growers, and the truck waits for one last case. With one, everyone knows when the list for a delivery is final.
A cut-off has three parts, and customers need all of them.
- The time, in your time zone. For example, 8:00 pm Eastern.
- The delivery it applies to. For example, Tuesday’s delivery.
- What happens to an order placed after it. For example, it goes on the next delivery day.
“Order by 8” on its own leaves a customer guessing whether that means 8 tonight or 8 the night before Wednesday’s truck.
Choosing a cut-off by working backwards from the truck
Start from the first delivery and walk back through every step, using the times your team takes on an ordinary night. Here is an example for a produce distributor running three trucks.
| Step | When | Why it takes that long |
|---|---|---|
| First delivery window opens | Tue 6:00 am | Restaurants want product before lunch prep |
| Trucks leave | Tue 4:45 am | About an hour to the first stop |
| Loading starts | Tue 4:00 am | Three trucks, about 45 minutes |
| Picking and packing starts | Mon 11:30 pm | Four people, about four and a half hours |
| Buyer orders from growers and the market | Mon 9:00 pm | Needs the night’s totals by product |
| Cut-off | Mon 8:00 pm | An hour for the office to check and confirm orders |
In this example an 8 pm cut-off works. Moving it to 10 pm would leave the buyer no time, and product bought overnight would arrive after picking had started. Moving it to 4 pm would be safe, but customers who count their walk-in after dinner service would start calling in orders instead.
Build in a buffer. If everything has to go right for the cut-off to work, it is too late. Leave room for a slow picking night, a late supplier truck and the customer who calls at 8:05.
Typical cut-off patterns by product
The schedules below are examples to adapt. Yours will depend on your routes, your team and your own suppliers.
| Business | Delivers | Example cut-off | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Produce, next day | Tue–Sat, early morning | 8 pm the day before | Time to buy overnight, then pick |
| Meat, cut to order | Mon–Fri | 2 pm the day before | Cutting and portioning take a shift |
| Seafood | Tue, Thu, Sat | Noon the day before | Depends on landings and flights |
| Wholesale bakery | Daily, 5–7 am | Noon the day before, earlier for some items | Doughs that rest or ferment overnight |
| Specialty and dry goods | Once a week per route | Two days before the route | Longer routes, stock on hand |
Produce
Produce distributors often buy every day, from growers, packers or a terminal market, so the cut-off is set by when the buyer needs the totals. The later your buying happens, the later your cut-off can be, as long as picking still finishes before loading.
Meat and seafood
Cutting to order takes skilled labor, and the cutting room needs the list before its shift starts. Fresh fish depends on boats, weather and flights, so availability changes from day to day. Many seafood distributors send out what came in each morning and set a cut-off that leaves time to buy for the next delivery.
Bakery
Bread and pastry are made to order, and many doughs are mixed, shaped and proofed or retarded overnight. The cut-off follows the production schedule. If croissants are laminated two days ahead, a croissant order for Thursday has to arrive by Tuesday. Some bakeries keep one cut-off for most items and an earlier one for the few that need it.
Different cut-offs for different routes and customers
One cut-off for everyone is easiest to explain. In practice, many distributors need a few.
- By route. A truck that leaves at 3 am for stops two hours away needs an earlier cut-off than the in-town route leaving at 6.
- By delivery day. If Saturday’s orders are packed Friday afternoon by a smaller crew, Friday’s cut-off may need to be earlier.
- By customer. A large account may get a later cut-off because you prepare their regular items in advance, or an earlier one because their order takes longer to pick.
Keep the number small. Two or three cut-offs that your office can recite from memory work better than a different time for every account. Record each customer’s cut-off and delivery days on their account, so whoever answers the phone gives the same answer.
Delivery days and time windows
The cut-off is half the promise. The other half is when the truck arrives. Offer delivery windows wide enough to keep, such as 6–9 am or 9 am–noon, and avoid promising exact times. Windows matter most for restaurants that open at 10, stores that only receive before opening, and kitchens whose back door is locked after lunch.
Keep each address’s receiving hours and notes on file. A delivery that arrives outside its window may be refused, and a second trip costs more than a careful schedule.
Holidays and closed days
Holidays are when cut-offs cause the most confusion. A few habits help.
- Publish the holiday schedule at least two weeks ahead, by email and on your ordering page.
- Move deliveries rather than cancel them. If you are closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, offer Wednesday delivery with a Tuesday cut-off, and expect larger orders.
- Remember that your suppliers close too. Growers, packers and markets keep their own holiday hours, which change when you can buy.
- Plan for the day after. The first delivery after a closed day often carries two days of orders.
Telling customers about the cut-off
- Say it the same way everywhere. “Order by 8 pm Eastern for next-day delivery, Tuesday through Saturday.”
- Show it where they order. A countdown on the ordering page, such as “3 h 12 min left to order for Tuesday”, does more than a line in an old email.
- Remind the regulars who haven’t ordered. An hour or two before the cut-off, look at who usually orders for tomorrow and hasn’t yet, and send them a short message. It catches the forgotten order before it becomes an 8:30 pm call.
- Print it on order confirmations and invoices, where customers look when they plan their next order.
Handling late orders fairly
Late orders will happen. Decide in advance what you do with them, write it down, and apply it the same way to every customer.
- Next delivery. The simplest default is that an order placed after the cut-off goes on the next delivery day.
- Add it if you can. If picking has not started for that route and the items are in stock, add it, and tell the customer it is a favor rather than a new cut-off.
- Will-call. Let the customer collect it from the warehouse.
- Late fee. Some distributors charge for late additions. If you do, publish the fee in advance.
Watch who is late each week. A customer who is always half an hour late either has a cut-off that doesn’t fit their day, perhaps because they count stock after dinner service, or has learned that your cut-off is not real. The first calls for a scheduling conversation. The second is a consistency problem on your side.
Be careful with grace periods. If 8 pm quietly means 8:30, your cut-off is 8:30, and sooner or later every customer knows it.
If you are still collecting orders on paper, our wholesale order form template has room to print your cut-off at the top.
Cut-offs in Supligo
In Supligo each customer has delivery days for each of their addresses, and the cut-off is the day before delivery at that customer’s cut-off time. Same-day orders are not taken through the ordering page. Customers see a countdown to the cut-off, closed days are skipped, and you can offer delivery time slots. A minimum order, a delivery fee and a free-delivery threshold can be set for each customer.
Customers can change or cancel an order until the cut-off, as long as it has not been packed, and a change comes back to you to confirm. Regulars who have not ordered yet are listed with a ready message to send from your own phone or email. See how it looks on the online ordering page.