---
title: How to set up standing orders for weekly wholesale coffee accounts
Metadescription: A weekly coffee account can repeat itself. How to set the schedule, when each order is built, and what happens when a bean runs out or a price changes.
author: Dan Edwards
author_role: Founder
author_url: https://danedwardsdeveloper.com
author_linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-edwards-developer
published: 2026-08-26
updated: 2026-09-27
---

Token estimate: ~2,000

# How to set up standing orders for weekly wholesale coffee accounts

A weekly coffee account is one schedule carrying a delivery day, a cadence, a start date and the bags the cafe takes. Each delivery's order is then created at that day's cutoff rather than written in advance, and every line is re-priced and re-checked at that moment, so what places is an order the roastery can fill at the price the cafe is on today. [What a standing order is in wholesale](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/what-is-a-standing-order-in-wholesale) covers the term on its own.

By **[Dan Edwards](https://wholesalehandler.com/about)**, Founder.

## Setting up a weekly coffee schedule

A schedule holds a single day of the week, a cadence of weekly, two-weekly, three-weekly or four-weekly, a start date, the product lines and any notes. Either the roastery or the cafe can create one, and both routes write the same schedule; the orders it generates record which side set it up.

[How to take wholesale coffee orders from cafes](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/how-to-take-wholesale-coffee-orders-from-cafes) covers the account and ordering setup a schedule sits on top of.

| What the cafe wants | How it is set up |
| --- | --- |
| The same bags every week | One schedule on that weekday |
| The same bags every other week | One schedule, two-weekly cadence |
| A delivery every weekday | Five schedules, one per weekday |
| Double the beans for one week | Skip that delivery, place a one-off order for the same date |
| More beans from now on | Update the schedule, which applies to every future delivery |

## Each order is created at the cutoff, not when the schedule was saved

Nothing exists as an order until that delivery day's cutoff passes. The schedule is a standing instruction, and the cutoff is the moment it turns into a real order on the roastery's list, subject to the same lead time, notice period and lock rules as an order a cafe typed in by hand. [How to stop wholesale customers ordering after the cutoff](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/how-to-stop-wholesale-customers-ordering-after-the-cutoff) covers setting that deadline per delivery day.

Three days before each delivery, the cafe gets a preview email showing what is queued, with links to skip that delivery or change the schedule. Both work without signing in. The skip confirmation page shows the lines and the prices as they read at the cutoff, the cutoff moment in the roastery's own timezone, the delivery date, and the date of the delivery after it, so a manager skipping a quiet week can see when the next one lands before confirming.

## Changing one week without changing the schedule

An update to a schedule applies to every future delivery, not to one of them. To make a single week different, skip that delivery and place a one-off order for the same date. The schedule is untouched and the delivery after it goes ahead as normal.

Cadence, delivery day, lines and notes are all editable on a running schedule, from either side, with the pending change summarised before it saves.

## A coffee that runs out is left off the order, not silently sent

Seasonal lots are the normal shape of a roastery's range, and a micro lot can finish with nothing behind it. Every line on a standing order is re-validated and re-priced at placement rather than trusted from the day the schedule was saved, so a coffee that is unavailable on the delivery date is left off the order and the cafe is emailed to say which line went, with the date it returns where that date is known.

The line stays on the schedule. When the coffee is available again it rejoins the next delivery on its own.

## A price change reaches the account at the next cutoff

Each cafe buys from exactly one price list, and a list can be a percentage of the default rather than a hand-typed sheet, with rounding and charm pricing applied after. Because a standing order prices at the cutoff, a list change reaches the account on its next delivery with nothing to re-enter. Order lines snapshot both the price paid and the list it came from, so a later change does not rewrite an order that already placed.

On the order form, a price that changed in the last thirty days shows the old figure struck through beside the new one, so a buyer sees the change while ordering rather than on the invoice. [How to charge different prices to different wholesale customers](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/how-to-charge-different-prices-to-different-wholesale-customers) covers how the lists are built.

## Pausing an account for a refit or a quiet month

A schedule can be paused until a chosen date, when it resumes on its own, or paused indefinitely until someone resumes it. No orders are created while it is paused. The pause form offers the next twelve real deliveries from that cadence rather than a blank date picker, so the choice is a delivery the cafe recognises.

Skipping is the lighter action. One delivery drops, the schedule carries on, and the next delivery is unaffected.

## What a standing order will not do

-   **There is no daily cadence.** Weekly is the shortest. A cafe taking a crate five weekdays needs five schedules, one per day, each maintained separately.
-   **A closure does not stop a standing order placing.** Closing a date blocks it on the order form, which stops cafes ordering into it, but a schedule landing inside the closure still places. Those schedules have to be paused by hand before the shutdown.
-   **A delivery under the minimum spend stops rather than places.** No order is created, the schedule flips to Needs attention naming both figures, and the cafe and the roastery are both emailed. It stays stopped until the quantities go up, or until below-minimum placement is allowed on that one schedule. [How to set and enforce a minimum order value](https://wholesalehandler.com/articles/set-and-enforce-minimum-order-value-wholesale) covers where that figure is set.
-   **A placed order cannot be edited by the roastery.** The route is to cancel it and re-place.
-   **Ten active schedules per customer** is the cap. Weekday schedules count against it, so a cafe on a delivery every weekday has used half of them.

## Q&A

**Q: What happens if the cafe does not open the preview email?**
A: Nothing needs confirming. The preview is notice rather than a request, and the order places at the cutoff unless someone skips that delivery.

**Q: Can a standing order be set for a day the roastery does not deliver on?**
A: No. The days a schedule can use come from that customer's order profile, so only a day the roastery already delivers to that cafe is available.

**Q: Does a standing order raise its own invoice?**
A: No. Invoicing stays manual. The roastery selects processed orders, they collate into one draft invoice per customer, and finalising it emails the PDF.

**Q: Can a cafe on a standing order still place one-off orders?**
A: Yes. A schedule does not replace ordinary ordering, so a cafe can place a one-off order on any delivery date its order profile allows, alongside its weekly deliveries.

**Q: What happens to the schedule if the cafe stops paying attention to it?**
A: It keeps placing. A standing order runs until it is paused, deleted, or stopped by a delivery falling under the minimum spend, so an account that goes quiet keeps receiving coffee on its usual day.