Online ordering is the norm for the restaurant business now. People order delivery from much more than just pizza places now. They expect their favorite restaurants to offer delivery so they can enjoy their food from the comfort of homes. This is beneficial to restaurant owners, too, because it provides you with an additional revenue stream.
Online ordering is the norm for the restaurant business now. People order delivery from much more than just pizza places now. They expect their favorite restaurants to offer delivery so they can enjoy their food from the comfort of homes. This is beneficial to restaurant owners, too, because it provides you with an additional revenue stream. If you’re not currently offering delivery, now is the right time to consider implementing it.
In today’s article, we discuss why restaurants should offer online ordering and delivery and its benefits for modern restaurants. If you want to make implementing delivery operations as easy as possible, contact the Superorder team. In the meantime, read on to learn more about the benefits of online ordering.
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Offering online ordering gives you a new way to reach customers. You’re no longer limited to your brick-and-mortar location. Miles away customers can discover your restaurant online and quickly place an order. If your customers enjoy their online orders, they’ll also be more inclined to visit your restaurant in person.
Reaching new customers and gaining their loyalty is essential in the restaurant business. While marketing and word-of-mouth are great tools, there’s no better way for a customer to be convinced than to try your food for themselves. Plus, you’re getting direct revenue from this method of marketing. A customer sees your menu online or through a delivery app, places their order, and potentially becomes a repeat customer. It really can be that easy when you offer online ordering.
Unless your restaurant is constantly booked for every meal and your kitchen staff has no time, you never want to shut down an opportunity for new customers. Online ordering is quickly becoming one of the best ways to reach them.
Online ordering gives customers another reason to give your restaurant their business. You may have loyal customers who don’t feel like trekking to your restaurant for a sit-down meal, but they might be more than happy to place an order for delivery. The aforementioned new customers might have never considered your restaurant, but your good reviews on their delivery app convinced them to order. Delivery can be a huge source of revenue when you optimize your delivery operations. Even if delivery is a smaller source of revenue, it’s still revenue you didn’t have before.
Often, online orders can bring in more money than an order in a restaurant. When a customer is browsing an online menu, they don’t feel rushed or pressured. They’re likely to go through all of the menu options, add what they want and even buy add-ons that cost extra. You can include these add-ons and upsells in your online menu, encouraging customers to make that extra purchase.
While it’s true that you’ll be hit with fees from the significant delivery apps, the incoming revenue can easily outweigh these costs. Also, nothing is stopping you from offering online ordering directly from your website, cutting out the middleman. Offering delivery through your website and the major delivery apps will maximize your reach and give customers as many opportunities as possible to spend money with you.
With online ordering, you’ll automatically improve your marketing efforts. With your menu on delivery apps, you’ll get your name out there through new channels. You can also run ads and promotions on your website to encourage customers to take advantage of your delivery deals.
There are plenty of ways to market to your customers through online ordering. You can discount new customers to get them hooked, offer specials when ordering traffic is low and give deals to repeat customers.
If you have online ordering on your restaurant website, capture customer contact information during checkout. This is a great way to increase customers for your email and SMS marketing efforts. You can remarket to customers that sign up and get them to give you repeat business regularly.
Put simply, the competition is likely offering online ordering and delivery. If you don’t want to fall behind, offering the same service is essential. The food delivery industry is only growing, so it’s unlikely that this will be a one-time trend. The pandemic forced restaurants to embrace delivery like never before. Once things returned to normalcy, customers realized they enjoyed the convenience of online ordering from every restaurant rather than being limited to some select options.
Many businesses implemented delivery options afterward to keep that revenue stream going. Since they had time to perfect and optimize their operations, they were able to continue using them while also offering dine-in service.
If your competitors already offer online ordering, now is the time to catch up. It’s never too late to jump on the delivery bandwagon and get an additional source of revenue. Many options like Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats allow you to sign up and get started easily.
At this point, customers expect delivery from most restaurants. Ensure you’re meeting these expectations and that the competition isn’t catching up on you.
When you offer online ordering, you’ll get access to a ton of data and analytics that you can use to optimize your restaurant and make customers happier. Food delivery management systems typically collect numerous data points that give you actionable insights about what your customers want. For instance, you’ll get an understanding into which dishes customers order most. This can help you plan inventory ordering and ensure the most popular items are always on hand. You can also see what isn’t selling well and adjust to remove or alter these items to meet customer expectations.
If you have a brick-and-mortar location, your delivery operations also work great as a test kitchen. If you’re considering offering a new menu item, you can offer it online first and see how customers respond. If it’s a hit online, you can confidently start offering it in your restaurant.
Of course, you’ll also be getting useful customer data like contact information, which can be used in your marketing strategies. This will allow you to reach your target audience and send them deals, promotions and ads that will encourage them to come back and enjoy more food from your restaurant – either online or in person.
Customers will also leave reviews online and give their opinion about your food. Whether these reviews are negative or positive, you can learn from them. With negative reviews, you can learn what needs to be adjusted to accommodate customer expectations better. Positive reviews can show you what is resonating with your customers.
Restaurants that pay attention to customer data will be able to improve and make customers happier than ever continually. Satisfied customers mean more revenue.
Online ordering provides you with highly accurate food orders. When taking orders over the phone or in person, there is always a chance that miscommunication will cause an issue with the food. When customers order online, they can click on the exact menu items they want and make requests. This minimizes the chance that their order will come out wrong. It also provides a clear receipt that customers and your staff can see, so if there is confusion, you can go back to the receipt and see what went wrong.
Customers will inevitably be more satisfied when they get exactly what they ordered. Better customer satisfaction means more revenue, repeat customers and a more efficient delivery process.
In summation, online ordering is something that delivery restaurants can no longer ignore. It’s the present and future of delivery, and the benefits far outweigh any possible downsides. Superorder is your solution if you need help setting up your online ordering and delivery operations.
Superorder makes it easy to manage your online ordering and delivery operations. We can help you get set up, optimize your online menu and streamline your delivery process. Contact Superorder today to learn more.
