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13 Advantages of an Online Food Ordering System for Restaurants

Server using a POS to take an order

The digital world has gotten people accustomed to extreme convenience and super-fast solutions to their problems. With a simple tap or a click of a button, customers can get whatever they want from their favorite restaurant, no matter where they are.

Having an online presence make you more visible to consumers who would otherwise never hear about your business or see any ads, and hence, would probably never visit your restaurant. However, if you build an online presence, you can gently tap the shoulders of your potential customers and tell them about your wonderful restaurant.

Customer-friendly ordering systems for cafes and restaurants can help you skyrocket your sales and drastically improve your profit margin. While you can just be online without having the feature of online orders, you’d be missing out on a great cash-cow opportunity. Restaurants that don’t keep up with the age of digitalization can say goodbye to foot traffic, especially with the recent lifestyle changes that have come with the COVID-19 pandemic.

People have shifted from ordering offline to ordering online because it’s convenient, easy, and transparent. Here are some advantages of getting an online food ordering system for your restaurant:

1. A better customer experience

The chances that a customer will place an order significantly increase when the process of ordering is easy. People don’t want to spend precious time waiting in lines or at the table as their food gets prepared. They want fast and immediate service, making the user experience a critical factor when it comes to purchases.

delivery person on a bike??

2. Easier for individuals with social anxiety

Let’s be honest—we all know someone or are that certain someone, who hates talking to people on the phone or at the counter of a restaurant. People with social anxiety often find it extremely harrowing to talk to another person about their order and are often too afraid of the embarrassment that would be caused by them stuttering or saying the wrong thing to even attempt it. Online order systems make the process much easier for people, helping restaurant owners cater to consumers who would have otherwise shied away. All you have to do is look up the menu, add your preferred items to your cart, enter your payment details, and wait for the food to arrive! You can even opt for contactless delivery for safety reasons.

3. Streamlined business operations

An online ordering system can streamline your kitchen operations. The staff won’t need to spend time on the phone to take orders and details anymore; they can just view them online! With the amount of background noise in restaurants, it can be very easy to mishear an order and deliver the wrong item, leading to further wasted time as the staff rushes to get it replaced.

It’s also possible to lose track of the order of food with multiple slips littering the area, but a proper ordering system can neatly keep everything in one place. After saving all this extra time, your workers can focus on completing the order instead—cooking the food, packing it, and then delivering it.

4. More time to go through the menu

Listing details and descriptions of the different food items on your menu is a smart move. Customers like knowing the specifics of what they’re going to get so that there aren’t any unwelcome surprises. Online menus can provide additional information in just a tap and also lets customers take as much time as they need to peruse the menu without having to worry about a waiter standing over their head.

5. Larger transactions

When customers get more time to go through a menu online, they’re more likely to add extra food items into their order. While an additional dessert or appetizer may seem insignificant on a personal level, the numbers add up over the course of time.

6. Customers have more control over their orders

It’s really easy to accidentally let small details about orders slip through during busy lunch or dinner hours. Your staff can’t spend too much of their time on phone calls, which often results in rushed conversations that make them miss out on important information. One of the main benefits of ordering online is that customers can manage their orders by providing additional details and special instructions in the notes section or tapping on the add-ons that they want.

7. Easily place larger orders

When customers place large orders over the phone, there’s a significant chance of miscommunication. Customers who want large and complex food orders can go with the easier option of simply placing them online. People often avoid ordering over calls because it can be rather tedious to verbally share the details of full order. Online ordering systems can decrease the chances of miscommunication while increasing customer satisfaction.

8. Stay on top of industry trends

The main method of gaining success is to stay relevant by keeping up with all of the top trends. Stay competitive and up to date by maintaining a strong online presence and simplified methods of placing digital orders. Customers are less likely to have a good impression of your brand and services if you don’t have a website while your competitors have their own apps for food delivery.

A burger in a box??

9. Fewer orders get abandoned

It often happens that customers place orders over the phone for a pickup and then never show up when it’s ready. When customers place orders from an online system, your restaurant can reap the benefits of online payments. Digital payments during the ordering process can reduce the probability of abandoned or fake orders, helping you reduce any risks and covering any potential losses in case they don’t pick up their food.

10. It’s more visually appealing

According to new research, an empty stomach can lead to an empty pocket. Hunger makes humans think about seeking and consuming food, and the thoughts of acquiring it can spill into making us get non-food items regardless of their capabilities of satisfying the hunger.

Hence, hungry customers tend to place larger orders online, which translates into bigger orders and larger streams of revenue that fuel your account. According to a popular saying, “the first bite is with the eye,” so allowing your hungry customers to conveniently go online and see the menu with its pictures and descriptions will push them into ordering more food than they would have ordered over the phone.

Proper menu engineering and well-written dish descriptions are key components of creating a successful online presence.

11. It’s open 24/7

Your restaurant doesn’t have to be open all day, every day, but the online ordering system is up 24/7. You can make money in your sleep! Providing your customers with an online food ordering system gives them enough flexibility to browse your menu and place an order whenever it’s convenient for them, which might be outside of your working time.

This can also help scale up the order sizes by considerable amounts since customers can choose their preferred delivery or pickup time that’s within your business hours. Hence, you’ll already have a list of orders to review as soon as you open! No time wasted in waiting for customers to walk in.

12. Online menus are easier to manage

It’s extremely easy and cheap—sometimes even free—to create a great menu that’s aesthetically appealing and compels customers to place an order whenever they come across it. You’ll get rid of the extra printing expenses and gain a large amount of flexibility over changes in the menu. You can also use it for market research! You can test out different placements for your dishes to see what entices customers the most, or set up weekly or daily promotions, or advertise limited food items that are in stock.

A line cook working in a kitchen??

13. Less of a hassle for restaurants

Customers can sometimes take a really long time to decide on their order, but with an online ordering system, that will no longer be an issue for you. There won’t be any more hassle of dealing with indecisive calling clients or precious staff time that’s lost in the process. Time is money, and saving time saves you money! You can also eliminate any follow-up calls once you get the hang of using the online system. Just provide them with real-time confirmation and updates!

Running your own restaurant? Check out this online ordering software

MenuCRM provides the highest quality food ordering software for restaurants that want to take their business to a whole new level. We also provide loyalty program software for restaurants that can help them increase their customer retention! Our restaurant order-taking system is sure to optimize the performance of your staff and the profits from each of your menu items.

We also offer custom demos to restaurant owners who are interested in our services so that they can get a better idea of how the system would work and how it can benefit them. Contact us to get more details about our innovative software.

Posted By SEO Guest | 3/17/2023