How New Trends Fit Into Your Online Ordering System
An increasing number of people are focused on eating clean and local these days. Farmers’ markets and organic local produce are all the rage. It does not seem like there is an end to this trend any time soon. As a restaurateur, you need to ensure you are capitalizing on this trend, particularly with your digital presence.
Whether your restaurant serves locally sourced, farm-to-table food or not, there is no time like the present to get started. Running a clean, local-eating restaurant has advantages for both you and your customers. Not only are you investing in your local economy, but you are also providing healthy eating options for health-conscious clientele.
These customers actively seek out businesses that are focused on both individual health and supporting the local community. Once word gets out that you are supporting clean and local eating, customers will choose your restaurant over the competition. Here are some ways you can get started with implementing and promoting healthy local eating trends for your restaurant.
Hyper-local Sourcing
Some restaurants get as local as possible by growing the food they use right on their premises. Many forward thinking restaurants are now growing fresh ingredients in self-sustaining rooftop or hydroponic greenhouses. Not only are all ingredients fresher than ever, but the customer can be a part of your garden-to-table process via the internet through your online ordering and social media presence.
Periodically post a live Facebook or Instagram video-tour of your on-premises garden and how your vegetables, herbs, and greens are progressing. Share your planting and cultivation process with your potential customers, and post follow-up images of the freshly-ripened, ready-to-prepare produce in the kitchen. Link or embed these videos on your site so customers can see them when they are browsing your menu. If they were not already sold on your fresh local ingredients, then the videos and photos will seal the deal for you.
Fast-Casual Menus
Your establishment may not be a casual dining venue, but that does not mean you cannot take advantage of the fast-casual dining trend. Work with your chef to compose a fast-casual menu for online ordering takeout items and promote these menu items with a video of your chef preparing them while being interviewed about them. Offering fast and healthy meals via your website or mobile app is crucially important to health-conscious customers looking to feed their families wholesome meals with limited time to prepare it themselves. These videos are also a great way to showcase your locally-sourced fresh ingredients, too. So, do not forget to mention these additions to your menu in the interviews.
Clean Eating Blog Posts
As a part of your regularly-scheduled blog postings, include some articles about fresh ingredients that you buy locally or grow yourself. Highlight how you use them in specific menu items. You will make your customer feel more informed and deliberate about dining with you. It will also help you promote your brand as the fresh, local ingredients expert. Using locally-raised and grown ingredients, and publishing how you make them can be an integral part of your menu and will help you win the hearts and minds of health-conscious diners.
Publish Root-to-Stalk Tutorial Videos
Using the whole vegetable to add flavor, texture and nutritional value to your dishes is the heart of root-to-stalk cooking. Record video footage of your chef using every part of the vegetables to prepare dishes that are on your menu. Add audio to the video that explains how using the vegetables evokes unique flavor profiles and adds extra nutritional content to the various foods you serve. Your customers will feel like they are getting a personal tour of your kitchen. It will also demonstrate that you practice effective and health-conscious cooking techniques to provide your diners with unparalleled locally-sourced dishes that help everyone eat healthier. Promote these videos on your menu page and add mobile-friendly videos to your app as well.
DIY Meal Kits
Many families have a hard time finding enough time to prepare a healthy, home-cooked meal. That’s where DIY meal kits come in. Offer pre-cut, ready-to-cook meal kits using fresh, locally- sourced ingredients, and post them on your app or website as online-order-only options. Your customers can place an order off the DIY menu and pick it up on the way home from work. Then, they can quickly and easily make a tasty and nutritious meal that will make the whole family happy. You will be further established as the eating-clean-and-local expert, and you will also become a source for those who want to feed their family clean and local foods they prepare themselves.
You have innumerable opportunities for expanding your customer base and improving your menu by offering clean and local menu choices. Is your site ready for you to embrace the fresh and local food trend? Do you have a mobile app that will support all the additional media channels that you will be posting and adding to your website? Orders2.Me is here to help you become the clean-and-local-eating expert in your area with our online ordering systems and web development services. Message us or visit our site today to find out more about how we can help you make your menu clean-eating-friendly and locally-sourced.