Sales order process and system

A system for receiving product orders and order payments from customers and presenting ordered products to the respective customers, the system comprising:

• a) a plurality of user interface devices each including an order entry device and a payment processing device, wherein the order entry devices are configured to receive the orders from the customers and the payment processing devices are configured to receive and process at least some of the order payments, wherein the user interface devices are configured to output to the customers tickets with identifiers associated therewith and corresponding to the orders;
• b) a plurality of product delivery stations adapted for presenting the ordered products to the customers;
• c) a plurality of delivery station display devices with each one disposed proximate to one of the delivery stations and configured to display to the customers the identifiers, wherein the customers can match the identifiers associated with their tickets to the corresponding delivery station display devices to determine at which of the delivery stations to receive their respective ordered products;
• d) one or more delivery attendant output devices associated with the product delivery stations and configured to output to product delivery attendants the orders and the identifiers;
• and
• e) a main computer in communication with the user interface device, the delivery station display devices, and the delivery attendant output devices, wherein the main computer is programmed to receive the orders and the order identifiers from the user interface and send the orders and the identifiers to the delivery station display devices and the delivery attendant output devices.

A system for receiving product orders and order payments from customers and presenting ordered products to the respective customers, the system comprising:

• a) a plurality of user interface devices each including an order entry device and a payment processing device, wherein the order entry devices are configured to receive the orders from the customers and the payment processing devices are configured to receive and process at least some of the order payments;
• b) a plurality of product delivery stations adapted for presenting the ordered products to the customers;
• c) a plurality of product preparation zones each one associated with one of the product delivery stations;
• d) a plurality of delivery attendant output devices each one associated with one of the product preparation zones and configured to output to the product delivery attendants the orders and the identifiers;
• and
• e) a main computer in communication with the user interface device and the delivery attendant output devices, wherein the main computer is programmed to receive the orders and the order identifiers from the user interface and send the orders and the identifiers to the delivery attendant output devices.

A system for receiving product orders and order payments from customers and presenting ordered products to the respective customers, the system comprising:

• a) a plurality of user interface devices each including an order entry device and a payment processing device, wherein the order entry devices are configured to receive the orders from the customers directly without needing an order-taking attendant and the payment processing devices are configured to receive and process at least some of the order payments from the customers directly without needing an order-taking attendant, wherein the user interface devices are configured to output to the customers tickets with identifiers associated therewith and corresponding to the orders;
• b) a plurality of product delivery stations adapted for presenting the ordered products to the customers;
• c) a plurality of delivery station display devices each one associated with one of the product delivery stations and configured to display to the customers the identifiers;
• d) a plurality of product preparation zones each one associated with one of the product delivery stations;
• e) a plurality of delivery attendant output devices each one associated with one of the product preparation zones and configured to output to the product delivery attendants the orders and the identifiers;
• and
• f) a main computer in communication with the order entry devices, the payment processing devices, the delivery station display devices, and the delivery attendant output devices, wherein the main computer is programmed to receive the orders and identifiers from the user interface devices and to send them to the delivery attendant output devices and the delivery station display devices associated with the product delivery stations having a fewest number of orders that are unfulfilled, wherein the customers can match the identifiers associated with their tickets to the corresponding delivery station display devices to determine at which of the delivery stations to receive their respective ordered products.

A method of processing orders for products from customers, the method comprising:

• a) receiving the orders from the customers directly without an order-taking attendant;
• b) receiving and processing payments for at least some of orders from the customers directly without an order-taking attendant;
• c) outputting to the customers tickets with identifiers associated therewith and corresponding to the orders;
• d) correlating the identifiers to delivery station display devices and delivery attendant output devices associated with product delivery stations;
• e) displaying the identifiers on the delivery station devices, wherein the customers can match the identifiers associated with their tickets to the corresponding delivery station display devices to determine at which of the delivery stations to receive their respective ordered products;
• f) outputting the orders by the delivery attendant output devices;
• g) preparing the products based on the orders output by the delivery attendant output devices;
• and
• h) presenting the ordered products to the customers at the corresponding delivery stations.