Learn English – Difference between walk-in order and walk up to order

word-difference

I came across ColleenV's comment in this post:
What are words that can distinguish these two business types?

I clicked the links of "counter service" and "table service" in his comment.
I did not understand the two terms at first, so I used Google search for the terms. Then I came across some other terms, walk in order, walk up to order from the Google results.

I have heard some people say walk in order, but not walk up to orders.
I would like to know their difference or if one of the terms is rare.

When I go to a fast food store to order a hotdog or a hamburger in person,
is it called a walk-in order? or I am wrong?

Best Answer

A walk-up is an apartment in a building that lacks an elevator.

A walk-in is a person who comes into an establishment without an appointment or without having phoned beforehand. A walk-in order is an order placed by such a person. Many different kinds of establishments refer to "walk-ins" to describe some of their customers: health clinics, car dealerships, restaurants, spas and salons, and so forth.

You can walk up to the counter and place an order. But such an order would be called a counter order (in AmE), not a walk-up order. [But see @Muzer's answer about "walk-up fares|prices", which are terms used in transportation contexts in both BrE and AmE".]

P.S. I know that "walk-in" is used in AmE, and it seems to be used in BrE as well, though perhaps the term is just catching on in England, since it is such a cultural backwater :p

With this tailor-made EPOS technology, JUST EAT will now be able to offer its takeaway restaurant partners a central system for managing orders, whether online, ‘walk-in’ or over the phone.

And "walk-up" is used in England as well.

"...which tended to be composed entirely ... of walk-up tenement flats..." (Cambridge Cultural History of Britain: Volume 9, Modern Britain edited by Boris Ford. 1992).

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