In short and in plain language
This article is for bakeries and butcher's shops. It is about holiday orders through your website.
Before the holidays, many orders come in on slips and by phone. It is easy for something to get lost.
An order page brings order. At the top it says when orders close. Then the customer picks the goods, the branch and a time to collect. Each time slot gets a limit that suits your counter.
Allergen details belong before the order, ideally right next to the product. Allergens are things some people react to badly.
A simple order form is often enough. We build the order page for your shop.
In mid-December a pad of order slips sits next to the till, the phone rings between two customers, and in the evening someone copies the notes into a list for the bakehouse or the sausage kitchen. In many businesses stollen, festive gateaux, roasts, fondue meat and platters are pre-ordered in exactly this way. It works until one branch cannot see another branch's order, a slip goes missing or more pick-ups land in the same hour on 23 December than the counter can handle. An order page on your own website does not take this work away, but it puts it in order: with an order deadline, pick-up slots per branch, maximum quantities and the allergen details before anyone orders. This article shows what belongs on such a page, which rules apply to closing times, food information and online orders, and when a simple order form is enough.
Key takeaways
- Food craft businesses sell in many places: 8,659 craft bakeries with around 35,000 branches (ZV Bäckerhandwerk) and 9,660 butcher's shops with 5,616 branches (DFV). Every pre-order therefore needs a pick-up branch.
- A holiday order page puts the order deadline at the top, followed by the range, the pick-up branch and the time slot. Every slot gets a cap that matches the number of free hands at the counter.
- In Lower Saxony, on 24 and 31 December only pharmacies, petrol stations and shops at stations, airports and ferry ports may open from 2 pm (NLöffVZG). In 2026 both days fall on a Thursday.
- Anyone offering loose food for sale on a website makes allergens and the additives that must be declared available before the order is concluded (LMIV, Art. 14(2)). The simplest way is a line right next to the product.
- There is no right of withdrawal for goods that perish quickly (BGB, Section 312g(2)). Anyone taking online orders with a payment obligation still needs a button reading 'order with obligation to pay' or equally clear wording.
- An order form with payment at the counter is enough if pre-orders only come in for a few occasions a year. A small shop with click and collect pays off if customers pay online or pre-order all year round.
December at the counter: where slips and phone calls reach their limits
Holiday orders are not a side business in the food crafts. Stollen and gingerbread sell for weeks, gateaux and dessert platters for particular days, roasts, poultry and cold cut platters for Christmas Eve, the holidays and New Year's Eve. Some of it can be produced in advance, the rest is only made in the last two days before the holiday. For both, the business needs the same thing: a reliable figure of how much of what will be collected on which day at which branch.
That figure is exactly what the paper route delivers late and full of gaps. Orders arrive by phone at the branch, at the counter, by email to head office or as a message to the owner. Whoever brings them together usually does so in the evening. Mistakes then only show up at pick-up: the wrong day, the missing phone number, the beef fillet that nobody claims to have ordered. On top of that, the calls come in precisely during the hours when the counter is busy anyway.
What the trade association figures show
This fits with what official statistics show about shopping habits. 29 percent of 16 to 74-year-olds bought food, drinks, toiletries or pet food online in the three months before the survey, and 24 percent ordered food from restaurants or fast-food chains online (Destatis, 2024). The assumption that regular customers do not order online also goes less far than many think: of 55 to 74-year-olds, 73 percent have bought something online at some point (Destatis, 2024). The phone still matters. The order page is there to take pressure off it, not to replace it.
The German Butchers' Association describes counter sales as the main source of revenue in the butchery trade, followed at a clear distance by party service and catering (DFV yearbook 2025). According to the same yearbook, moving into online retail plays a minor role in businesses' plans (DFV yearbook 2025). A pre-order page is therefore often a better first step than a full online shop: it strengthens the counter instead of competing with it.
What an order page has to settle before the first click
A good order page does not start with the form but with four decisions the business makes beforehand: what is on offer, until when orders can be placed, where and when goods are collected, and how much is possible. Only once these questions are answered can the page be built so that it saves follow-up questions. The following six building blocks work as a framework; not every business needs all of them in full depth.
Holiday range
A separate list just for pre-orders: stollen by size, gateaux by diameter, roasts by approximate weight, platters by number of people. Anything that is also available at the counter without pre-ordering stays off the list.
Order deadline
One date per product group, visible at the top of the page. Gateaux and platters usually need an earlier deadline than bread rolls for the holiday morning.
Pick-up branch
A required choice with address and the opening hours over the holidays. Without it, an order can easily end up at the wrong branch.
Time slots
Pick-up in slots of 30 or 60 minutes, each with a cap. Full slots are hidden or marked as fully booked.
Maximum quantities
A limit per product and order, so that a single order does not use up the allocation for a whole day.
Allergens and additives
The details sit next to the product before anyone orders, not just on the label at pick-up.
The order on the page matters. The deadline and pick-up days come first, then the range, and the form last. Anyone who only learns after filling in the form that the chosen day is already full will pick up the phone after all. For the form itself the usual rule applies: as few fields as necessary, required fields clearly marked, a confirmation at the end. How the number of fields affects the number of enquiries is covered in the article on contact forms with fewer fields.
Order deadline, time slots and closing time on Christmas Eve
The 2026 calendar is tight for the food crafts. Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve fall on a Thursday, Christmas Day on a Friday and Boxing Day on a Saturday. Pick-ups therefore bunch up on Wednesday, 23 December, and the morning of 24 December. For that morning Lower Saxony sets a firm limit: on 24 and 31 December, opening from 2 pm is only permitted for pharmacies, petrol stations and shops at stations, airports and ferry ports (NLöffVZG). Customers who are in the shop at closing time may still be served. A pick-up slot ending at 2 pm is therefore the latest one the page should offer.
On the holidays themselves, bakeries and butchers differ. Shops that, by size and range, focus on selling small quantities of bread, cakes and pastries may open in Lower Saxony on Sundays and public holidays for five hours a day (NLöffVZG). A bakery can therefore hand out rolls for the festive breakfast on 25 and 26 December, provided it displays these hours at the entrance so they can be read from outside. Section 4 of the NLöffVZG contains no rule of its own for butchers. The exception for shops geared to everyday small purchases does cover food and luxury foods in small quantities (NLöffVZG); whether a butcher's shop qualifies by size and range is, if in doubt, a question for the competent authority. For butchers, the last pick-up day before the holiday is usually 24 December. Other German states regulate shop opening in their own laws. The federal Shop Closing Act, which applies where a state has not passed its own rules, also sets 2 pm for 24 December (LadSchlG).
| Day in 2026 | What applies in Lower Saxony | What the order page shows |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, 18 December | Ordinary working day | Example of the order deadline for gateaux and platters |
| Wednesday, 23 December | Ordinary working day | Main pick-up day with tightly timed slots |
| Thursday, 24 December | Opening from 2 pm only for pharmacies, petrol stations and transport hubs (Section 3(3) NLöffVZG) | Morning pick-up slots, the last one ends at 2 pm |
| Friday, 25, and Saturday, 26 December | Public holidays; bakeries up to five hours a day (Section 4 NLöffVZG) | Bakery: rolls for the festive breakfast; butcher: no pick-up unless an exception applies |
| Thursday, 31 December | Opening from 2 pm only for pharmacies, petrol stations and transport hubs (Section 3(3) NLöffVZG) | New Year's Eve platters and fondue collected by midday |
The business sizes the time slots not by gut feeling but by what the counter can handle. A simple calculation is enough: how many pre-orders can one member of staff hand out in half an hour if the goods are already packed and labelled? That number multiplied by the staff who are free for it alongside normal sales gives the cap per slot. It applies per branch, not to the whole business. Anyone already taking appointments through the website knows the principle from online booking: a slot is an appointment with several places.
- Set pick-up days per branch, together with the opening hours over the holidays.
- Choose the slot length: 30 minutes at peak times, 60 minutes in quieter hours.
- Derive the cap per slot from hand-outs per staff member and the number of free staff.
- Set maximum quantities per product, based on oven, cold room and packing table.
- Keep a buffer for phone and counter orders that will keep coming in.
- Hide full slots on the page or mark them as fully booked.
Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve: closing at 2 pm
Allergens and additives: before the order, not only at the counter
For goods sold loose over the counter, the EU Food Information Regulation requires one thing above all from its catalogue of mandatory details: the allergens (LMIV, Art. 44). Annex II defines which substances are meant, namely 14 groups ranging from cereals containing gluten through eggs, milk, nuts, celery and mustard to lupin and molluscs (LMIV). For sausages and meat products, Germany additionally requires certain additives to be declared, such as 'with nitrite curing salt' or 'with phosphate' (LMZDV).
If these goods are offered for sale online, Article 14(2) of the regulation applies: the details required under Article 44 must be made available as in distance selling of prepacked food (LMIV). Under paragraph 1, this means they must be available before the purchase contract is concluded, either on the order page itself or through another appropriate means clearly identified by the business, without extra cost to the customer. For additives, the German regulation refers to exactly this rule in distance selling (LMZDV). The German implementing regulation also expressly allows electronic information for loose goods, provided it is directly and easily accessible and customers can take note of it before the purchase is concluded and before the food is handed over (LMIDV).
What this looks like on the page
Form or shop: payment, withdrawal and price details
The most important technical decision is whether customers only pre-order online or also pay. In the simplest case the order page is a form: customers choose products, branch and time slot, the business confirms by email, and payment happens at the counter. In the extended case it is a small shop with a basket, online payment and click and collect. Both have consequences for what the page has to state.
If an order is concluded bindingly through the website, it is generally a distance contract (BGB, Section 312c), even if the goods are collected in the shop. The statutory right of withdrawal rarely applies to holiday goods, though: it does not exist for goods that can perish quickly, nor for goods made to the customer's individual choice or clearly tailored to personal needs, such as a gateau with a name and inscription (BGB, Section 312g). Whether a stollen that keeps for several weeks falls under the first exception is less clear-cut. If customers have no right of withdrawal, the business must inform them of this (EGBGB, Art. 246a). Anyone accepting online orders that oblige the customer to pay, even if payment only happens at the counter, also designs the ordering step so that customers expressly confirm that they are committing to pay; a button then carries the words 'order with obligation to pay' (zahlungspflichtig bestellen) or equally clear wording (BGB, Section 312j). Whether a form that only records a request and becomes binding once the business confirms it is treated differently depends on how it is set up and is a matter for legal advice.
| Question | Order form, payment at the counter | Shop with online payment and pick-up |
|---|---|---|
| Payment | At pick-up, in cash or by card | When ordering, using the connected payment methods |
| Confirmation | Email from the business with order number, branch and time slot | Automatic order confirmation from the shop |
| Legal texts | Legal notice, privacy information, details on prices, allergens and pick-up; if the order already becomes binding online, the obligations in the right-hand column apply as well | The same details, plus terms and conditions, information on the right of withdrawal or its exclusion and the button under Section 312j BGB |
| Goods not collected | Stay with the business | Are paid for; the business sets the rules for cancellations in advance |
| Fits when | Pre-orders only come in for a few occasions a year | Customers pre-order all year round or advance payment is wanted |
For prices, meat and sausages have a special rule. If loose goods are offered by weight, only the unit price has to be stated (PAngV, Section 4), per kilogram or per 100 grams, depending on what is customary (PAngV, Section 5). A roast of roughly one and a half kilograms is then offered at its price per kilogram, and the final price is set when it is weighed. The page explains this in one sentence so that there is no surprise at the till. For stollen, gateaux and platters with fixed contents, the total price sits next to the product instead. Anyone charging a deposit for platters, bowls or warming containers states the amount next to the price and does not include it (PAngV, Section 7). Whether prices belong online at all is a separate decision; the arguments are set out in the article on whether to show prices on your website.
A holiday order is an appointment: this stollen, this branch, this time slot. The less of it has to be settled on the phone, the calmer 23 December will be at the counter.
From order to counter: lists, labels and confirmation
An order page only helps if there is a process behind it. Every incoming order needs a number that is the same on the confirmation, the packing list and the label. The orders produce two lists: a production list that adds up per day how many stollen, gateaux and roasts are needed, and a hand-out list per branch and time slot. To start with, a spreadsheet updated daily from the incoming orders is enough; a separate merchandise management system is not needed for this.
- Order number and name of the person ordering
- Pick-up branch with address
- Pick-up day and time slot
- Products ordered with quantity, and for goods sold by weight a note that the final price is set at weighing
- How and until when an order can be changed or cancelled
- The branch phone number for questions
An order needs very little data: a name, a way back by phone or email, and the order itself. Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation requires personal data to be limited to what is necessary for the purpose (GDPR). Date of birth, postal address or a customer account therefore do not belong among the required fields. Anyone who wants to tell customers about new offers after the holidays asks for this separately and on a voluntary basis.
At pick-up itself, a dedicated shelf or chilled area for pre-orders, sorted by time slot, saves searching behind the counter. The labels show number, name and time slot in a readable size. Printing the allergen line from the order page on the label as well answers the most common follow-up question at the same time.
Which scope fits the business
For a single bakery with one or two branches that takes pre-orders at Christmas and Easter, an order page with a form on a lean website is often enough. The starter website brings range, opening hours, branches and a contact form together on one well-structured page; a section for holiday orders with its own form can be added and hidden again after the holidays. What a website for food businesses should show beyond that is summarised on the page about websites for hospitality, which expressly includes bakeries.
If customers are to pay online, or if pre-orders come in regularly throughout the year, such as birthday gateaux or barbecue packs in summer, a small shop pays off. The online shop package is built on the open-source Shopware Community Edition, covers click and collect alongside shipping and integrates legal texts such as the withdrawal notice and price information; for food we point out the additional rules. Which pick-up rules can be mapped in the ordering process and where a manual confirmation makes more sense is something we clarify in the first conversation, based on your range.
If you also want to sell gift vouchers alongside holiday orders, the rules are covered in the article on selling gift vouchers online. How a farm shop organises pick-up boxes with an order deadline is shown in the article on the farm shop website, and how a retail shop takes reservations for pick-up without a basket in the article on the storefront website. To make sure the holiday hours are also right in local search, they belong in your Google Business Profile as well.
The next step
Sources and legal basis
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