Get your restaurant on Loko: from first hello to first order

Why kitchens join

• New customers who discover you in the app—no marketing budget required.
• Orders arrive in one clean console: accept, prepare, hand off. No phone-order chaos.
• Couriers are our job, not yours—verified partners handle the last mile while your team cooks.
• You stay in control: your menu, your prices, your hours, your pause button.

Step one: get set up

Reach out through the app or lokoglobal.org and we will get your restaurant registered: name, location, cuisine, and the account your team will manage orders with. Location matters more than it sounds—your pin is what couriers navigate to and what delivery ranges are measured from, so we make sure it is exactly right on day one.

Step two: build a menu that travels

Delivery menus are their own craft. Start with the dishes that survive twenty minutes on a motorbike and still make someone close their eyes on the first bite. Photograph them in honest light, write descriptions that say what the food is (not what it “journeys toward”), and price with packaging in mind.

The menu tools are yours after launch, too—86 an item mid-service, tweak modifiers, or spotlight a special without waiting on anyone.

• Lead with 8–15 dishes you can execute fast, not the full dine-in book.
• Real photos beat stock photos—phones today are good enough, and honesty converts.
• Name modifiers clearly: “extra sadza” sells; “supplementary starch option B” does not.

Step three: run your first service

When you go live, orders land in your console with a chime you will learn to love. The rhythm is simple: accept quickly (the customer is watching), prepare honestly (statuses are promises), seal and label, then release the bag against the courier’s pickup code.

One habit separates smooth kitchens from stressed ones: give a single person ownership of the screen during rush. Two people tapping one queue is how orders get made twice or not at all.

Getting paid

Your sales accrue to your restaurant account with every completed order, itemised so your bookkeeper stays calm. Payouts are settled to you on a regular rhythm by our payments team—and because customers increasingly pay by EcoCash and OneMoney before the kitchen even fires, the money side keeps getting cleaner as the platform grows.

Your first week, done right

• Keep prep times honest—an accurate 25 minutes beats a fantasy 15 every time.
• Answer order-detail questions in chat before sealing the bag, not after.
• Watch your dashboard between rushes; it tells you where tonight is heading.
• Use the pause control if you are slammed—a short pause protects your ratings better than ten late orders.
• Read your first reviews out loud at close. Customers will tell you exactly how to win.