Glossary
Restaurant Ordering Technology Glossary
Explore short, clear definitions of terms you will often meet in online ordering, POS, QR menus, payments, delivery, marketplaces and restaurant tech.
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Ordering & Menu
Online, QR, table and delivery channels, plus digital menu concepts.
- Online Ordering
- A digital way for customers to view the menu and place orders via website, mobile app, or QR.
- QR Ordering
- A method where customers scan a QR code to open a digital menu and place an order from their phone.
- Table Ordering
- Orders placed from the table — usually via QR or tablet — without calling a waiter.
- Delivery Order
- An order prepared at the restaurant and delivered to the customer’s address.
- Pickup / Takeaway
- Orders placed online that the customer collects in person at the restaurant.
- Contactless Ordering
- Ordering (and often paying) via QR or screen without printed menus or physical contact.
- Self-Service Ordering
- A model where customers place their own orders via kiosk, tablet, or phone.
- Click & Collect
- Order online and collect at a designated point (branch or kiosk); related to pickup.
- White-Label
- Technology offered under another business’s brand, logo and domain — infrastructure from the provider, brand owned by the business.
- Omnichannel Ordering
- Managing web, QR, mobile app, table, delivery and other order channels through one unified system.
POS & Restaurant Operations
Point of sale, kitchen display, checks and operational hardware.
- POS
- Point of Sale — software or device that takes orders, processes payments and records sales.
- Restaurant POS
- POS built for restaurants — tables, modifiers, kitchen routing and restaurant reporting.
- KDS
- A system that shows kitchen orders on a digital screen and helps manage prep flow.
- Kitchen Display System
- The full name for KDS — shows order flow on a kitchen screen instead of paper tickets.
- Order Management
- The process of receiving orders, sending them to the kitchen, updating status and completing fulfillment.
- Guest Check / Adisyon
- An open tab for a table or guest where items are added and payment is closed out.
- Cash Register POS
- POS usage closer to a classic register, including receipt printing and fiscal recording.
- Kitchen Printer
- Printer that outputs paper tickets at kitchen stations — alternative or complement to a KDS.
- Order Terminal
- Tablet, handheld or fixed POS screen used by staff to enter orders.
- Inventory Management
- Tracking ingredient and product stock, low-stock alerts and depleting inventory with orders.
- Recipe Management
- Defining each item’s ingredient list and quantities — the basis for cost and stock calculations.
Payments
Online and in-person collection, security standards and refunds.
- Online Payment
- Secure collection of order amounts online via card, digital wallet or bank integration.
- Payment Gateway
- Technical infrastructure that processes online payments between the merchant and a bank or payment provider.
- Virtual POS
- A virtual point of sale that accepts card payments online without a physical terminal.
- Physical POS
- A physical POS or payment terminal that accepts card or contactless payments in the restaurant.
- 3D Secure
- A security protocol that adds an issuer verification step to reduce online card fraud.
- Tokenization
- Replacing card data with a reusable token so the real card number is not stored in systems.
- PCI DSS
- Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard required for parties that handle card data.
- Refund
- Returning a collected payment to the customer in full or in part.
- Chargeback
- A customer dispute of a payment via their bank, which can reverse funds from the merchant.
- Payment Link
- A link sent to the customer that opens a secure payment page when clicked.
Marketplace & Commission
Intermediary platforms, commission models and customer ownership.
- Marketplace
- An intermediary ordering platform listing many businesses in one app — visibility for a commission.
- Marketplace (EN)
- English term for a third-party ordering platform that aggregates restaurants.
- Commission
- The percentage fee an intermediary or marketplace takes on each order.
- Commission-Free Ordering
- A model where the business takes orders on its own channels without paying order commission.
- Direct Ordering
- Customers ordering via the business’s own site, app or QR instead of an intermediary.
- First-Party Ordering
- The business receiving orders directly through its own website, app or QR channel.
- Third-Party Ordering
- Orders taken through a third-party platform rather than the business’s own channels.
- Marketplace Commission
- The commission rate or amount a marketplace deducts from each order total.
- Customer Ownership
- Who controls customer data and the customer relationship created by orders.
Delivery
Couriers, zones, ETAs and last-mile delivery concepts.
- Delivery Management
- Software-driven management of assigning deliveries, zone/fee rules and fulfillment.
- Courier Management
- Operations for tracking courier shifts, assignments, routes and performance.
- Delivery Zone
- The geographic area a business delivers to, defined by map or postal codes.
- Delivery Area
- Turkish equivalent of delivery zone — which addresses can receive delivery.
- Delivery Fee
- A fee added to delivery orders, often varying by zone or cart size.
- ETA
- Estimated Time of Arrival — predicted time until the order is ready or delivered.
- Live Tracking
- Showing the order or courier location to the customer on a live map.
- Dispatch
- Assigning ready orders to the right courier and sending them out.
- Fleet Management
- Central management of delivery fleets — vehicles, couriers and capacity.
- Last-Mile Delivery
- The final delivery leg from the kitchen to the customer’s door.
Integration & Technical Terms
APIs, webhooks, sync and connecting systems.
- API
- An interface that lets different software systems exchange data with each other.
- API Integration
- Connecting two systems via API to share orders, menus or payment data.
- Webhook
- A mechanism that automatically notifies another system when an event happens.
- REST API
- A widely used API design style that accesses resources over HTTP.
- JSON
- A lightweight, readable data format commonly used to exchange data between systems.
- OAuth
- A standard that lets apps get secure authorization without sharing user passwords.
- API Key
- A secret key used to identify and authorize API calls.
- SDK
- A toolkit of libraries and tools that makes integrating a service into an app easier.
- POS Integration
- Connecting a POS with online ordering, payments, kitchen or other restaurant software.
- Payment Integration
- Connecting a payment gateway or virtual POS to the ordering system.
- Third-Party Integration
- Connecting the business’s software to an external platform or service.
- Open API
- A documented, developer-accessible interface used for custom integrations.
- Data Synchronization
- Keeping menu, stock or order data consistent across multiple systems.
- Real-Time Sync
- Reflecting changes across systems with little or no delay.
- Order Aggregator
- A system that collects orders from different channels onto one screen.
- Middleware
- A software layer that lets dissimilar systems communicate with each other.
- ERP Integration
- Connecting restaurant order/POS data to accounting and resource planning (ERP) systems.
- Headless Commerce
- Architecture where the front end is separated from commerce infrastructure so many UIs can share one backend.
Often confused terms
Side-by-side clarity for concepts that look similar but mean different things.
QR Menu ≠ QR Ordering
QR Menu
Only displays the menu.
QR Ordering
Also lets the customer place an order via QR.
POS ≠ KDS
POS
Manages order taking and sales transactions.
KDS
Manages kitchen prep flow for those orders.
API ≠ Webhook
API
Lets systems request and send data to each other.
Webhook
Automatically notifies another system when an event occurs.
Marketplace ≠ First-Party Ordering
Marketplace
A third-party platform.
First-Party Ordering
The business’s own ordering channel.
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