Online food has been around for nearly a decade now but really started to come into its own during the pandemic. With restaurant shut downs and social distancing, going out to eat was essentially non-existent. And in came online ordering, a knight in shining armor that gave customers a truly contactless experience, from ordering to picking up or delivery.
And now, as the pandemic winds to a close, online ordering is still a valuable solution for many restaurants.
Let’s look at exactly what online food is and the many ways that it can help your restaurant strategy.
What’s the Deal with Online Food Ordering?
Online food ordering systems are platforms
Many people have heard of such services as UberEats and Doordash. However, many restaurant owners have experienced high commissions and surprise fees that severely eat into their bottom line.
But the latest food ordering tech addresses many of these issues, with monthly subscriptions, and transparent pricing options. Plus, many offer additional services, such as email and social media promotions, as well as custom website design.
Without a doubt, online ordering systems have come a long way in the last few years! Which is why you might want to look into this option again!
Here are the top ten reasons why your restaurants should invest in online food ordering.
10 Advantages of Adding Online Food Ordering to Your Strategy
1. Pain-Free Ordering
Online ordering is currently without a doubt the easiest way to order food – and that’s what customers want! From picking out their food, seeing their order total, and tracking when their order is ready, online ordering systems just make the whole process easier! This has the potential to increase your total ordering, as well as encourage recurring orders.
2. Extends Your Reach
It can create much greater reach. In essence, anyone with access to the internet can order from your restaurant. Whether someone is local, from the next town over, or from the other side of the globe with plans to visit your area, they can access your restaurant and menu!
3. Ensures Order Accuracy
In the past, the larger the order, the more likely it was that the waiter would make a mistake. But with online ordering systems, you cut down on many potential mistakes. No matter the size of the order, the customer can rest assured that it will be conveyed accurately to your chef! And this makes it more likely that you will have happy customers at the end of the day.
4. Gives Customers Control
With online food ordering, customers enjoy greater control of their orders. For example, they can customize their order exactly how they like it and see what time their order will be ready.
5. Lays Out All the Options
An online ordering system assists customers to find the right food to satisfy their hunger. You can even include mouthwatering visuals of your food to help your customers better navigate their menu.
6. Can Extend Your Hours
With these systems, customers can now place their orders beyond the stipulated business hours. This increases the number of orders you can take. Customers even have the freedom to pre-order their food while you’re closed and pick it up once you’re open!
7. Delivers Insights on Customers
An online ordering system is constantly gathering data insights on your customers and their order preferences. Once you tap into these insights, you can create a better, more personalized menu that improves your customer relationships.
8. Helps with Short Staffing
Staffing issues have become a harsh reality for many restaurants. Nowadays, many restaurants struggle to hire enough staff, which causes significant operational delays.
Online food ordering cuts out many of the traditionally necessary hosts, waitstaff, and bussers. Instead, your food orders come directly to the kitchen, where it can be prepared by your chefs and packed for pickup or delivery. This significantly reduces the need for more staff and allows you to operate with a skeleton crew if necessary.
9. Offers Key Marketing Features
When used right, these systems offer incredible marketing potential. You can organize your menu to feature your top-welling products, design your system to upsell and cross-promote your dishes – make recommendations to make sure your customers leave happy and even increase sales.
10. It’s 100% Safe and Secure
An online ordering system gives both you and your customers peace of mind – with payment information securely stored. And with pre-payment, you never have to worry that your customer will skip out on the bill!
Concluding Thoughts on Online Food Ordering Systems
Customers are more likely to support businesses that help make their lives easier and it is important to adapt to this new technology to be ahead of the competition. GetDevourNow has online ordering solutions for restaurants with built-in marketing tools that can help you increase your revenue. You can request a free demo to make you ahead of the competition.