Catching Up: Online Ordering 101 for New Readers
For years now, online ordering for restaurants has been shaking up the industry, and changing the way that smart restaurant owners do business. And here on the Orders2Me blog, we’ve been documenting and discussing the ways that online food ordering can benefit restaurateurs and help businesses grow. If you’re just starting to research online ordering for the first time though, don’t worry: it isn’t too late to start benefiting from an online food ordering system. And it isn’t too late to learn a whole lot about the new technology here on our blog. Here’s a brief overview of the ways that online ordering can help your business, if you are just starting to follow us here or research the innovation.
1. Online Ordering Adds Convenience for Customers
From the perspective of your customers, online ordering is an incredibly valuable means of more efficiently and conveniently ordering food for delivery and pick-up. Customers can browse your menu directly on their phone or home computer, and place orders without ever dialing a phone. As more and more people shift away from ever using their phones to make calls, having an integrated technology in place like online ordering makes it easy and convenient for your customers to enjoy your cuisine.
2. Online Ordering Takes Pressure off Your Wait Staff
A true expert serve is a master of the dining room, moving fluidly between their tables, delivering food, and creating a rapport with customers that helps create your restaurant’s ambiance and create a unique dining experience. But constantly ringing phones from delivery and pick-up orders can throw servers off of their game. By slowing down the rate of orders that come into your business over your phone, online ordering allows your wait staff to focus on providing a high quality experience to the customers inside of your actual restaurant. And when that pressure is alleviated, everyone wins.
3. Online Ordering Helps You Boost Ticket Prices
In addition to your serving staff, online ordering takes pressure off of your customers too. When your customers can look at your whole menu on a screen and order at their own rate, they are more likely to order more food. Plus, online food ordering systems make it easy for you to optimize your menu layout, highlight signature dishes, and prompt customers to add extras like drinks and appetizers. All of which adds up to higher ticket prices and higher profit margins for you and your restaurant.
4. Online Ordering Affords You New Promotional Opportunities
As a new and exciting technology, online ordering is easy to get excited about and an easy way to promote your food and business to new and existing customers alike. You can promote online ordering in your restaurant directly, leading to more pick-up and delivery orders from your regular customers. You can promote online ordering extensively on social media and your website, giving you a great subject to post about that will quickly convert into profits. As a restaurant owner, you probably don’t revitalize your menu too frequently: it’s smarter and easier to stick with what works. But that kind of consistency means it can be hard to find new things to promote and get excited about. Online ordering fills that void.
5. Online Ordering Helps You Keep up With the Competition
As more and more neighborhood restaurants adopt online ordering technologies, the whole playing field is getting shifted. These days, customers almost expect online ordering systems from the favorite eateries, since the technology is getting so widespread and adds so much to the customer experience. If you want to keep up with the competition and keep your loyal customers interested in your eatery, online ordering is becoming more and more of a necessity. Of course, you run your own business, and you can decide if online ordering makes sense for your restaurant or not. But if you want to keep up with the competition, an online ordering system for your restaurant can surely help.
It’s Not Too Late to Seize These Benefits!
While online ordering technologies have existed for some time now, they are still adapting and evolving quickly. And they still possess a level of novelty for many customers, who haven’t used online ordering extensively and will be easily excited when your restaurant adopts the technology. Plus, the prices of investing in a great online ordering system is lower than ever. All of which is to say that it’s not too late for your restaurant to start benefiting from online ordering, even if you are only learning about the new technology now. The sooner you adopt and online ordering system for your restaurants, the sooner your business can start seizing the benefits above.
As you decide whether or not online ordering is right for you, make sure to browse our previous blog posts to learn everything there is to know about the new technology. And stay tuned for new updates as they unfold.