Built for orders that have to go through: Playfood H1 2026 Product Update
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
In the food delivery industry, success lies in the operational details.
It's not about big launches or flashy campaigns, but whether the vendor heard the notification. Whether the courier arrived when the food was ready. Whether the customer saw a fair delivery price before abandoning their basket.
It is these moments that determine whether an order is placed or abandoned. Over the first half of 2026, we focused on ensuring more orders were completed successfully.
We improved order completion on the vendor side. More accurate numbers for couriers and customers. We created a marketplace that converts at every step — not just at the top of the funnel.
What follows is what we built and what we measured. Features with real data show you what has changed. New features are marked as such — there are no numbers yet, but you can be the first to try them out.
01 — ORDER COMPLETION
The vendor side is where most orders are lost. We fixed that.
A missed order rarely announces itself. The vendor is busy, the tablet is face down and the notification goes unheard. By the time it is noticed, the customer has already moved on. In the first half of 2026, we developed three solutions to change this dynamic.
Sound Notifications for Vendors
Vendors can now enable audio alerts in both the app and the web panel. There are five alerts, each with a different level of urgency. Vendors can choose between a gentler chime and a hard-to-ignore alarm, depending on how busy they are during the kitchen rush. The important thing is not the sound itself. In a kitchen environment, where screens go unnoticed and tablets get buried under activity, it is the right sound that measurably changes response behaviour.
Redesigned Acceptance Buttons
The order acceptance process in the Vendor App has been completely redesigned. There are larger tap targets. The layout is clearer. There is less room for error under pressure. It's the kind of change that doesn't make for an exciting product demo, but that you'll see the benefits of directly in your data.
Adjustable Prep Time After Acceptance
The moment a vendor accepts an order, the system activates a timer to determine when to start searching for a courier. The problem is that kitchens do not run on fixed schedules. A dish may be ready sooner than estimated or require more time. Previously, the preparation time was set at the point of acceptance. Now, however, vendors can update it mid-order, and the courier dispatch and customer estimated time of arrival (ETA) adjust in real time.
In terms of delivery accuracy, the gap between estimated and actual delivery time shrank by 2–4x among partners actively using prep time adjustments. One partner reduced their deviation from +15.6% to +4.0% within two months. This illustrates the difference between a customer who trusts your estimated time of arrival (ETA) and one who does not.
These numbers come from live marketplaces. If you want to see what they'd look like for your market, we'll show you.
02 — PRICING ACCURACY
If the numbers are wrong, everyone pays the price.
The customer feels overcharged. The courier disputes the payout. It is your support team that handles the fallout. Pricing inaccuracies are not dramatic; they are slow, persistent and costly. In the first half of 2026, we closed several of these inaccuracies.
Route-Distance Calculation
Until now, the distance of a delivery was calculated as the distance between the restaurant and the customer in a straight line. In cities with rivers, mountainous terrain, restricted zones or winding road networks, this figure could be significantly lower than the actual route taken by a courier.
Now, delivery costs are calculated based on the actual road route. Customers pay the actual cost of delivery. Couriers are compensated for the distance they actually travel.
Delivery Cost Range in Vendor Profiles
Customers can now see a delivery cost range from minimum to maximum before adding any items to their basket. Seeing this range in advance reduces the most avoidable reason for abandoning the checkout process – surprise.
Small Order Fee + Rounding Fee
These two tools are designed to address the economics of small orders. The Small Order Fee allows you to apply a surcharge to orders below a certain value, ensuring that low-value orders remain viable without being subsidised by higher-value ones. The Rounding Fee tool automatically rounds up totals in cash-heavy markets, removing friction for couriers and customers at the point of payment.
Marketing Tab: Corrected Average Cart Data
The Marketing tab in the Admin Panel wasn't tailored specifically to each partner's average check size, as it was set with general parameters. This has now changed. The figures shown are now accurate and within custom ranges. Because promo thresholds, discount logic and campaign settings are based on these figures, their accuracy affects every marketing decision you make.
Delivery pricing, courier payouts, order analytics — all of this is configured before your first order goes live.
03 — CONVERSION
Each step between intent and order increases risk. We reduced the steps.
Conversion is not just a problem at the top of the funnel. It occurs at every stage at which the customer has to take action: opening the app, finding a restaurant, understanding the price and placing the order. Each of these is a moment when they could leave. In H1 2026, we addressed all of these issues.
App Embedding + Seamless Authentication
Food delivery does not have to exist only as a standalone app. If your business involves people spending time on their phones: for example, if you run a city entertainment guide, an events and ticketing platform, a mobile operator app or a banking or fintech application, you can embed a food ordering button directly inside it.
This works in the same way that food delivery was integrated into ride-hailing apps in the Super App model: a button is added to the host app and opens the Playfood marketplace in a web view. The user is then automatically authenticated without having to register separately. Users stay inside the app they already use. This gives you a food delivery channel without having to build one from scratch.
Dynamic Welcome Screen + Deep Linking
The first screen that customers see when they open the app is now fully configurable. You can choose to display a featured vendor, a promotional category or a time-limited offer. Customers end up where you want them to, rather than wherever the algorithm takes them.
There is also a commercial angle here. Vendors who want premium placement on the welcome screen can pay for it, creating an additional revenue stream for your marketplace that is not dependent on order volume.
Back Button for Catalogues
This small fix has a measurable effect on grocery platforms. When customers scroll down a long catalogue, the back button now remains visible. Eliminating navigation dead ends reduces one of the less obvious reasons why people exit without ordering.
Multi-Language Categories
Category names can now be configured in multiple languages simultaneously. Customers see the catalogue in their preferred language. In markets with multiple official languages or a significant proportion of international users, reducing this language barrier can directly increase the number of orders.
If you have an app with users and a use case around food, this is worth a 20-minute conversation.
04 — JUST SHIPPED
Just launched: Available for enabling features.
The features below shipped in the last release of H1. They are live and ready to be enabled. While we do not publish impact data that we have not yet measured, the mechanics are ready and early partners are already using them. If you would like to conduct tests before the benchmarks exist, now is the time.
Offers — marketplace-wide promotions
This is the first full-scale promotion tool to be built at platform level. Create an offer centrally, including the discount range, active dates and combination rules. Vendors can then opt in and choose which items to apply the offer to — either their entire catalogue or specific dishes — all in one action. Customers can see the 'Offers' section at the top of the marketplace. Vendors with active offers are prioritised there. In this initial version, discounts are funded by the vendors. Future releases will expand the model.
Bulk Promo Code Assignment by Phone Number
Assign promo codes to a specific list of customers using their phone numbers. Use cases include bringing back users who have not ordered in 60 days, encouraging ride-hailing users to try food for the first time and compensating customers after a delivery problem. You handle the segmentation on your side and the platform handles the assignment on a large scale.
Vendor App: Extended Restaurant Management from Mobile
80–90% of vendors primarily use the mobile app. This release brings the app in line with the web panel for the operations that vendors use most often, such as setting working hours, applying offers to the catalogue and opening and closing the restaurant. No web panel is required. In H2 2026, we will close the remaining gaps until the two are fully identical.
Would you like to enable any of these features?
Contact your account manager. We will talk you through the setup process to ensure you get the most out of every update.
Want to learn more about Playfood and try it out for yourself in a demo? Leave your contact details here and our dedicated Key Partners Manager will get in touch.
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