If you have questions or need help with your Ordering End-to-End project setup, we recommend you first check the frequently asked questions. For other questions, you can reach out to your Google contact.
For specific questions about formatting inventory feeds, you can also refer to the reference for the v2 inventory schema.
For questions about how users order food with Google's food ordering program, refer to the user support page for ordering food on Google.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Program coverage
- What types of restaurants or food locations can users order food from?
- For Ordering End-to-End, Google only supports establishments that prepare meals on premises and serve or deliver to customers. This includes restaurants, bakeries, cloud kitchens, as well as non-alcoholic drinks they might serve.
- Can I include alcohol or items that contain alcohol in my menu feeds?
- No, menus prohibit alcohol in all cases.
- Does Google support last-mile delivery services?
- Google doesn't provide any direct support for last-mile delivery of food from the restaurant to the Ordering End-to-End customer. Delivery services are either provided by you or your respective white label services. If you don't have your own delivery services, you can enable a "Pickup-only" option for online ordering.
- Does Google offer any customer service features for Ordering End-to-End customers?
- No, Google provides an experience for users to contact a partner directly, but does not handle any direct support. All customer support is handled directly by the respective partner.
- Can users place orders in advance for pickup and delivery?
- Yes, order ahead is supported.
User experience
- What platforms and devices can users order food on Google on?
- Users can order food on Google from desktop and mobile browsers, the latest versions of Google Maps for Android and iOS, and the Google app on mobile devices and smart displays.
- Is the feature set for ordering food the same across all available surfaces?
- The feature set across mobile and desktop is the same.
- Are there any browser restrictions when ordering food on Google?
- Users can order food on Google on most major mobile and desktop browsers, including Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. Support for Internet Explorer and Opera might be expanded to in the future.
Integration
- Does a single Ordering End-to-End integration enable availability across Android and iOS devices?
- Yes, the core Ordering End-to-End experience is a web-based experience that works on Android and iOS mobile devices through Google Search and Google Maps.
- Can I easily turn stores on or off for ordering food on Google?
- Yes, partners can send time-sensitive updates of their inventory to Google, including store closures, using an API for incremental updates.
- How do payments work?
The Ordering End-to-End process uses Google Pay to provide partners with tokenized information of the selected payment method. Partners then use a participating Google Pay processor to process the provided token.
All transactions appear to the user as if the order was placed directly with the partner. Google is not in the fund flow and is not the merchant of record.
- Does the user need a Google account and a partner account to complete transactions?
In order to utilize Google Identity and Google Pay, a Google account is required to complete transactions. However, partners can enable a guest checkout feature so users can place an order as a guest with no additional online credentials.
Partner support and requirements
- What business analytics can I get when my users order food on Google?
- Dashboards on the Actions Center display a number of key metrics around funnel/conversion performance and metrics related to user behavior. For example, some metrics that partners can track are average order volume, total revenue, most popular restaurants, and number of repeat users.
- What are the technical requirements for participating in the program?
- Partners are expected to do the following:
- Provide Google with licensed content including business listing information, menu data, and service areas.
- Integrate with Google APIs to support order states, support, and payments.
- Work with Google to identify quality and latency thresholds that might affect the quality and real-time accuracy of the licensed content.
- Are there any legal requirements for becoming a partner?
- Partners must adhere to all state and local laws required by their jurisdiction. Partners must comply with Ordering End-to-End Policies and Terms of Service.