Running a pop-up is controlled chaos.
You announce the spot (a brewery patio, a church hall, a friend's café on their day off) three days ahead. Within an hour you have thirty comments and fifteen DMs. Half the comments ask where exactly it is. The DMs range from real orders to people asking whether you deliver.
You answer as many as you can. By the time you reach the last few it's been four hours, and some of those people have made other plans.
On the day, you bring what you guessed. It's always a bit off. Either you sell out by noon and turn people away, or you pack up food you can't sell. Three days of building interest, and you still went in blind.
Why pre-orders rarely work for pop-ups
Pre-ordering tools are built for restaurants: one fixed address, the same hours every week. A pop-up moves. You might do a Saturday market, a Wednesday evening pop-up and a private order in the same week.
So you improvise with DMs and absorb the losses.
Set it up the way you actually work
Every spot is a pickup location. Add your home, the market and each pop-up venue. Buyers see the area before ordering. The exact address only appears once their order is confirmed, which helps when the spot is somewhere you'd rather not post publicly.
Your week can change. Set a weekly pattern, then override any date in the next two weeks: close it, change the hours, or move that day to a different location. The pop-up on the 14th doesn't have to break the rest of your schedule.
Buyers order for a real time slot. They pick a time inside your hand-off hours. Each dish has a lead time, so nobody can order something you don't have time to make.
Portions keep you honest. Plan how many plates you'll make. Orders for that day confirm themselves until you're sold out. Anything you haven't planned for comes in as a pre-order, and you accept or decline it.
Questions go to one place. Every order has its own chat. If you want, you can also let people message you before they order.
One pause button. Plans change, so you can stop new orders until a date you choose, with no announcement and no mass-DM. Orders you've already accepted stay on your list.
On the day, you know what you're making, for whom, and when they're coming. People who pre-ordered pick up in their slot and pay you directly, with cash or Interac e-Transfer. Walk-ins get what's left.