Pre-orders let customers claim and pay for products before they arrive at your farm stand, so they never show up to find their favorite item already gone. The simplest way to add pre-orders is a shareable ordering link where customers see your products, select what they want, pay with a credit card, and choose their pickup time at the stand. This takes 15 minutes to set up through a platform like Homegrown ($10 per month) and eliminates the single biggest frustration for farm stand customers: driving out only to find the good stuff is already sold.
The short version: A pre-order system works like this: you post your weekly product list with an ordering link on Monday. Customers order and pay online by Wednesday. You produce exactly what was ordered (plus extra for walk-ins). Saturday, pre-order customers pick up their labeled bags at the stand while walk-in customers browse what is left. Pre-orders solve three problems at once: customers get guaranteed products (no more "sold out"), you get predictable production (no more guessing how much to bring), and you collect payment before production (no more unpaid orders or no-shows). For context on how pre-orders fit into the broader picture of direct-market farm sales, UC ANR's farm stand resource covers the regulatory and operational framework. The result is less waste, happier customers, and more revenue per market day.
Without pre-orders, a farm stand operates on hope: you hope you brought enough product, you hope customers show up, and you hope the popular items do not sell out in the first hour while late-arriving customers miss out.
Pre-orders replace hope with data. Here is what changes:
Your sourdough is gone by 9:30 AM. The customer who planned to come at 11 AM drives 20 minutes only to find an empty table. They are disappointed, frustrated, and may not come back.
Pre-order fix: That 11 AM customer ordered their sourdough on Tuesday and paid $8. It is labeled with their name and set aside behind your display. When they arrive at 11 AM, their loaf is waiting. The 9:30 AM sellout does not affect them.
Without pre-orders, production is guesswork. Last week you sold 15 loaves, so you bring 15 this week. But it rains and only 8 people come. You take 7 loaves home and eat the cost. Next week, perfect weather, and you sell out in an hour — but you only brought 15 again because that is what you always bring.
Pre-order fix: By Wednesday night, you have 12 pre-orders. You make those 12 plus 5 extras for walk-ins. Total production: 17. You know the minimum demand before you start baking.
A regular customer tells you at the market "save me 3 loaves for next week." Next week, they do not show up. You held 3 loaves that you could have sold to someone else.
Pre-order fix: The customer orders online and pays in advance. If they do not pick up, you have their payment and can sell or donate the product. No lost revenue.
With walk-in-only sales, you spend money on ingredients Monday through Friday and do not earn it back until Saturday. With pre-orders, customers pay when they order (Monday through Wednesday), so you have revenue before you start production.
A Homegrown storefront gives you everything a farm stand pre-order system needs:
Setup takes 15 minutes: add your products, set your pickup location (your farm stand address), choose your pickup window (e.g., Saturday 9 AM to noon), and share your link. From that point, customers can pre-order anytime during the week for Saturday pickup.
Create a Google Form listing your products. Customers fill out the form with their name and what they want. You send a Venmo request for the total. They pay. You track everything in the Form's response spreadsheet.
Downsides: No built-in payment (separate Venmo step adds friction), no automatic confirmations, no pickup scheduling, and manual tracking of who paid.
This works for low volume (under 10 pre-orders per week) but becomes unmanageable quickly. Most vendors who start with Google Forms switch to an ordering platform within 2 to 3 months. The Wisconsin Extension's permits and labels guide is worth reading before you start taking pre-orders — it covers what labeling and packaging your state may require for products sold through any channel.
Customers message you on Instagram or Facebook to place pre-orders. You reply, quote prices, send payment requests, confirm orders, and coordinate pickup through individual conversations.
This is the worst option because every order requires 5 to 8 messages of back-and-forth. At 15 pre-orders, you are managing 75 to 120 messages per week just for ordering. For why this is unsustainable and how to switch, see our guide on DM orders vs online storefronts.
Pre-orders do not replace walk-in sales. They supplement them. Here is how the two work together:
| Component | Pre-Orders | Walk-In Sales |
|---|---|---|
| When ordered | Monday-Wednesday | Saturday at the stand |
| Payment | At order time (online) | At purchase (cash or card) |
| Products | Guaranteed, labeled, set aside | Available inventory only |
| Production planning | Exact quantities known | Estimated based on history |
| Revenue certainty | Guaranteed before production | Uncertain until sold |
Start with 25 to 30% extra beyond your pre-orders. If you have 15 pre-orders for sourdough, bring 20 loaves total (5 extra for walk-ins). Track how many extras sell versus how many you bring home. Adjust over a few weeks until you find the right buffer.
As pre-orders grow, your reliance on walk-in sales decreases. Some farm stand vendors eventually reach 70 to 80% pre-order and 20 to 30% walk-in, which makes production nearly perfectly predictable.
Every walk-in customer is a pre-order conversion opportunity:
"This week's menu is live. Pre-order by Wednesday 9 PM for Saturday pickup at the stand: [link]. Walk-in inventory is limited — pre-ordering is the only way to guarantee your favorites."
For more on using email to drive pre-orders, see our guide on how to build an email list from your farm stand.
Not every product needs to be available for pre-order. Focus on:
Products that work less well for pre-orders:
Pre-orders typically increase total farm stand revenue by 20 to 40% for three reasons:
For a typical farm stand doing $400 per week in walk-in-only sales, adding pre-orders can bring total weekly revenue to $500 to $560 within 2 to 3 months.
For more on choosing the right pre-order platform, see our comparison of the best platforms to sell food from home. And for building the complete weekly ordering cycle around pre-orders, see our guide on how to build a weekly drop model.
Some walk-in customers will shift to pre-ordering, but your total revenue increases because pre-orders capture sales you were previously losing to sold-out products. The walk-in customers who switch to pre-ordering were already buying from you — they are just buying more reliably now.
Give it 3 to 4 weeks of consistent promotion. Most farm stands see slow pre-order adoption in week one (1 to 3 orders) growing to 10 to 15 orders by week four as customers learn the system. The inflection point usually happens when a customer has a positive pre-order experience and tells other customers about it.
Your core products should be available for both. Some vendors offer "pre-order exclusives" — products only available through pre-order (like special flavors or larger quantities). This incentivizes pre-ordering but is not necessary when starting out.
Keep pre-order bags in a separate area from your walk-in display. When a pre-order customer arrives, hand them their labeled bag from the pre-order area. This takes 30 seconds and does not interrupt walk-in browsing. You do not need two checkout systems — pre-orders are already paid, so the only interaction is handing over the bag.
Your pre-order terms should state that orders not picked up during the window are considered fulfilled. Since the customer already paid, you keep the payment and can sell or donate the product. For more on handling no-shows, see our guide on what to do when a customer pays and does not pick up.
Yes. Set a pre-order cap in your ordering platform. If you can make 20 sourdough loaves and want 15 available for pre-order and 5 for walk-ins, cap the pre-order at 15. When 15 are claimed, the product shows as "sold out — available for walk-in only." This protects your walk-in inventory while maximizing pre-order convenience.
Pre-orders work best for farm stands with set selling days (Saturday only, weekends only). If your stand is open daily, pre-orders are less necessary because customers can visit anytime. However, pre-orders still help with production planning and reducing waste for daily stands that sell perishable products.
Set a clear cutoff policy and stick to it. Most vendors close pre-orders 2 to 3 days before pickup to allow production time. After the cutoff, orders are final. If a customer contacts you wanting to add items, you can offer to add them as walk-in purchases at the stand (no guarantee). If they want to cancel, your policy should state whether refunds are available after the cutoff. A simple line on your ordering page — "Orders are final after Wednesday 9 PM" — prevents most of these conversations from happening.
