If your online ordering runs on GloriaFood, you need a plan. Here is what to look for in a replacement - and what matters specifically in Kenya.
GloriaFood has been a common way for small restaurants to take online orders without paying for software. With the service winding down, every restaurant using it needs a replacement - and the ones who move early will have a far calmer time than the ones who wait.
What you actually lose
More than an ordering button. Typically:
- The order page your customers have bookmarked
- Any menu links you have shared on social media or in your bio
- Kitchen printing tied to that system
- Whatever customer records sat inside it
Export your customer data before anything is switched off. That list is the most valuable thing you have, and it is the easiest to lose in a migration.
What to look for in a replacement
It should live on your own domain. The lesson of a shutdown is dependence. If your ordering page sits on someone else's domain, you will be doing this again.
M-Pesa has to be native. Most international ordering tools handle cards well and M-Pesa not at all, which is the wrong way round for Kenya.
Orders must reach the kitchen reliably - a printer or a screen, not just an email.
No commission. Some free tools replace a subscription with a percentage of every order, which costs far more as you grow.
eTIMS. Given KRA now expects electronic tax invoices from businesses of all sizes, a system that cannot produce them is a short-term fix.
Someone local. When ordering breaks on a Saturday, a support ticket in another time zone is not much use.
How to migrate without losing orders
- Export your customer list and menu now, while the old system is still running
- Set up the new ordering page and test it thoroughly yourself
- Run both for a week - keep the old link live while the new one beds in
- Update every link: social bios, Google Business Profile, WhatsApp, printed material and QR codes
- Tell your regulars directly. A short message to your customer list is the cheapest marketing you will ever do
Turn it into an upgrade
A forced migration is annoying, but it is also the moment to fix things you had been tolerating. Most restaurants using free ordering tools were running the till separately, reconciling M-Pesa by hand and keeping stock in a book. Moving to one system that does ordering, the till, stock and compliance together turns a chore into a genuine step forward.
Related reading
Replace it with something you own
Orderly gives you online ordering on your own domain, M-Pesa built in, riders when you want them and eTIMS when you need it - for a flat monthly fee with no commission. See plans and get set up.
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