Online Ordering for Restaurants in COVID-19 times
Gail Sawchuk
Small Business | Non-Profit Operations Consultant | Content Writer & Strategist | Creator of Marketing Materials | Templates to Grow Your Non-Profit
COVID-19 has brought a lot of changes for small restaurants, one of the main changes is a switch to a focus on pick-ups and delivery. Many businesses were not set up for handling this transition and have scrambled to integrate an online ordering system and maybe finding exorbitant fees or time-consuming systems to set up. Others are trying to take orders by phone. While phone orders may seem like the best way to ensure that the order is correct, customers are frustrated when the phone is busy and that sale may be lost at a time when every sale matters.
Photo by kayleigh harrington on Unsplash
While restaurants and stores are starting to reopen in several states, the hesitation to shop or dine inside will most likely remain for months. If you haven't already set up an online ordering system, the time may be now! There are many options for online ordering as well as many considerations.
1) Does your existing POS system have an online ordering feature?
Using your current system is the easiest way to ensure that orders come right to your kitchen and sync with your inventory and cost controls. Here are some of the top used and rated POS systems that all have an online ordering option.
https://upserve.com/platform/restaurant-pos/
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale
https://www.ncraloha.com/aloha-pos/
If you aren't currently using a POS system, a few of these can be used just for online ordering such as Squareup.
2) Partial Menu
One important thing to consider is whether you want to offer your whole menu for take out. Some foods keep their quality while stored in a take-out container better than others. Food items that have a lot of choices involved may be better to keep off or changed to a standard selection. What is the capacity of your current back of the house staff?
3) Categories
For your current customers, it may be easiest if your online ordering is divided into similar categories as your print menu. You will want to find a good balance between not having too many items in each section and not having too many different categories that customers need to click on to find what they want.
4) Photos
Photographs sell! If you have beautiful photographs of your food definitely used them. If not, you could use stock photos to represent different food groups such as salads, pizza etc. Consider whether taking the time to snap a few shots of food as it is prepared would help increase sales.
5) Entry
Setting up your system will take time. Is this something you need to do or do you have a staff member who is tech-savvy and would love some additional hours? Some sites will do the set up for you. I am also happy to help! Contact me at [email protected]
6) Do you want to use a third-party system for delivery?
Grubhub, Doordash, Ubereats and other third-party apps can provide increased advertising since new customers can find you and try your restaurant for the first time using one of these services. They also take on the ordering and delivering operations for you. However, as online ordering has increased, many restaurants are feeling the pain of the fees and stipulations of these companies. Make this decision only after doing some careful research! You'll want to find a company that has a good presence in your community, with low fees and driver-friendly policies.
Viral post raises questions about how much restaurants earn from delivery apps