Virtual restaurants are a fairly new concept in the grand scheme of things, so restaurateurs are still figuring out exactly how to make them as great as possible. How do you maintain relationships with customers without ever talking to them? How do you promote your business online? It's all very exciting, but also very challenging.
Virtual restaurants are a fairly new concept in the grand scheme of things, so restaurateurs are still figuring out exactly how to make them as great as possible. How do you maintain relationships with customers without ever talking to them? How do you promote your business online? It's all very exciting, but also very challenging.
However, we know enough already to have some best practices, so we're going to go over the five most important factors in making your virtual restaurant great.
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If you're reading this, you're probably a pretty great chef. That means you know how to follow a recipe, which is good. Because, just as you follow one to make a great meal, you follow one to make a great virtual restaurant. If you throw all five of the following things together, you'll have a virtual restaurant to die for.
Starting a delivery-only restaurant in a competitive market is hard enough without trying to make food that everybody and their brother is making already. That's why it's crucial to identify a hole in the market and fill it. This could mean a couple things. Perhaps there is simply a type of cuisine that nobody is making in your area, and you're confident you can make it well. Or maybe it just means you make something unique, like hot dogs wrapped in bacon and deep fried or dessert pizza with marshmallows and chocolate. Whatever it is, just make sure you're doing something nobody else is doing yet.
This might sound like the same thing as number one, but it's not. Once you've decided what niche you can fill, you need to make sure all the dishes you're making within that niche lend themselves well to delivery. For example, you may be able to find success delivering dessert items, but you're not going to deliver fresh cookies à la mode (unless you think your customer likes cookie and ice cream soup). That is, of course, an obvious one, but you get the idea. You need to work hard on optimizing your menu for delivery.
You'll need to build a great website and social presence to be sure people know you exist. It's extremely difficult to make a name for yourself in a competitive market without a storefront and massive sign. So, you'll either need to put a lot of time and effort into marketing your business, or hire someone who. can. It doesn't matter if you're filling the perfect niche and making the best food if nobody knows about you.
This is obvious, but that's why it's so important. If you can't get the delivery part of, well, delivery, right, then nobody is going to take you seriously. The easiest way to do this is finding a reliable delivery service to partner with, but that may not always be the most cost-effective way. You'll have to do some research on this, but luckily (shameless self-promotion incoming) we have a couple articles focusing on that, so be sure to check those out.
Be sure you're collecting and paying close attention to feedback along the way. Listen to your customers and do everything you can to improve in any areas that seem to be lacking. As we've said about a million times now, food delivery is an insanely competitive market, so if you're not constantly finding ways to improve and keep your customers happy, they'll find someone who is.
These are the five most important things to keep in mind when launching and operating a virtual restaurant, but the process is obviously not quite so simple. That's why we at Superorder want to help. With the help of our team, you can use your existing operation, however big or small, to launch a virtual restaurant with multiple brands. This means you'll have even more chances to reach consumers, with even less investment.
We'll handle branding, website and menu design, and everything else needed to get you going. All you have to do is what you're best at: make great food (just for more people). If this sounds more like what you need, email us at signup@superorder.com or fill out this form to talk with a team expert!
