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The restaurant industry is booming and that’s pretty evident with hundreds of new restaurants opening up every week in the US alone. Technological advancements and busy lifestyles are supposedly two major contributors to this boom, enabling even small vendors and restaurant owners to make decent profits. While a number of restaurant technologies have contributed to this booming market, there’s one particular technology that has and is changing the way restaurants operate worldwide, and that’s Online Ordering For Restaurants. Over the last year in the U.S., the volume of online food ordering grew by 35% and is predicted to make up 90 percent of sales within 10 years, which is higher than the retail industry as a whole.
Restaurants owners are getting smarter and instead of signing up with third-party food delivery companies like UberEats, GrubHub, etc. that charge a significant percentage as commission fees, they are taking advantage of in-house food ordering systems that give them better control on overall branding and customer experience.
Driven by fast-growing consumer demand, the only way to bring a long term competitive advantage in the online space is to "do it yourself". Switching to an in-house online ordering system not only helps restaurants retain a good percentage of revenue but also foster customer loyalty. When a customer visits your restaurant they are not presented with hundreds of choices beyond your restaurant offering. Instead, they are welcomed with customizable user experience and interface that reflects brand value throughout the ordering process. And this makes a big difference!
Restolabs with its robust and feature-rich online ordering software has helped a number of restaurants across the globe to harness the power of technology and increase their profits exponentially.
Let’s take a look at how these restaurants are taking advantage of online ordering software and what other restaurant owners could be learning from their approaches.
Oil Centre Deli
Located at the bottom of the Oil Center twin office building, The Oil Center Deli is a teeny tiny eatery that started as a snack bar for office workers craving for neighbourhood coffee, a filling burger and a hot pocket, was one of the first few food joints in Oklahoma to adopt and take advantage of in-house online ordering systems. Restolabs not only provided a seamless ordering system, but also a fast, reliable and user-friendly website and app to power different stages of their growing business. This helped the brand increase its revenue by 60% in the very first month. The eatery has seen a substantial and consistent increase in its sales order through online ordering since then.
Pizza Pirates
If you're from Benicia, CA or have been there, you'd probably have heard of this community cornerstone that serves the best pizza in town. From specialty pizzas to bacon to steaks and even sandwiches, they serve everything on the menu, all the days of the week. While the brand has been around for over 40 years, serving the people of the town with the most amazing flavors, they recently decided to take their brand online with Restolabs and saw a whopping 600% increase in their sales orders. Their website boasts a clean, user-friendly interface that enables users to place their orders with just a few clicks. Not only that the customer engagement tools and the ease of social media order have helped the brand build a base of loyal customers.
Wedgewood Pizza
Started in 1967, Wedgewood Pizza is a Mahoning Valley Staple with franchises in Boardman, Howland, Salem, and Cookeville. In a span of 50 years, the owners of this restaurant have managed to maintain consistency and quality that keeps people coming back. They were also quick at adopting new technology and marketing practices to build a strong online presence. Restolabs has been a one-stop shop for all their order management needs. After having used Restolabs for almost 2 years now, the restaurants have been able to increase their bottom line by 668%.
Jeremy's Kitchen
Serving authentic Carribean dishes, Jeremy's Kitchen is situated in the middle of Trellis Bay and is also close to the airport making it a popular hangout spot for travelers. From breakfast, specialties like pancakes, omelets, porridge, baked-bean-laden plates; to West Indian dishes such as curried goat, crab cakes, steamed mahi-mahi and rotis, this humble place is a food haven for travelers and foreign workers living in the city. But the brand needed to take its sales to the next level and this is where the technology played its part. Changing consumer behaviors drove Jeremy's Kitchen to expand digital ordering potential by investing in online food ordering software. The website and mobile ordering system have been in place for a little over a year, and it’s been huge for Jeremy's. The volume of orders grew so fast in just the first few months that digital orders now represents about 45% of total revenue.
If you are in the restaurant business, you must have heard other restaurant owners talk about the pros and cons of online ordering. You may have also asked them a plethora of questions to understand how it exactly works for them and how implementing online ordering has helped them boost their sales. Understanding a software in depth from those who are already using it gives a wider perspective to those who are still in the process of getting one for their business. The below testimonials by some of our customers will help you decide whether online ordering is worth the investment.
Cristina Ramirez, Great Wraps (www.greatwcatering.com)
If you’re not sure if online ordering is worth the cost to set up and run, read what this Great Wraps owner said:
Pros: Would like to start by saying that I'm super intense, demanding and perfectionist person, also this was my very first time setting up an online ordering system. My academic background (MBA) is nothing related to this field and was able to set this up all thanks to the robust design of this software. Customer service was beyond excellent, He had replied to more than 100 emails that I have sent and always has sorted out my queries
Did research before buying this software and could find anything cheaper or better than RestoLabs
Cons: My password has to be reset two times but I believe there is something wrong with my computer rather than due to the software itself - In overall I don't have any cons for this software. It was a blessing founding RestoLabs
Overall: Price, very user-friendly for people with no previous experience, awesome customer service
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Jim L
Will your online ordering site be easy for your customers to use? Read what this pizzeria owner said:
Pros: Intuitive and easy to use. Great customer support. Very pleased with their ability to provide affordable, customized solutions. I survey my customers frequently and I always get very positive feedback about the ease of their online or mobile ordering experience.
Cons: Can't really think of anything.
Overall: My business has some specific needs, so I looked at multiple options before choosing RESTOLABS, and I definitely made the right choice.
Restolabs provides the right mix of templated, "off-the-shelf" Online Ordering For Restaurants to help maintain the right level of value and affordability. But important to my business, they were also able to provide me with some customized solutions that allowed me the best of both worlds - without blowing my entire web budget.
They quickly earned my trust and became much more of a partner than a vendor. When they said they could do it, I knew it would be done - and on time. As my needs continue to grow and evolve, Restolabs continues to provide the custom solutions I need - all very timely and affordable.
I look forward to Restolabs continuing to help as my business needs continue to grow.
I highly recommend them.
There are many dashboards being set up right now as restaurants hop on to the bandwagon of digitalization to improve how they serve their customers. Maybe it’s a small family restaurant somewhere in Houston or a food truck in Texas, digitalization is a must-have for a food business to survive and thrive in the current market.
Consumers’ demand for convenience and the substantial rise in ease and transparency will continue to fuel online ordering, producing what is likely to be the most rewarding market disruption ever in the restaurant industry. The key to surviving and thriving this accelerating trend is to develop a responsive strategy.
Summing it all up, it’s clear that Online Ordering For Restaurants is fast becoming the “new black” for the restaurant industry. It changes a store. There may be no customers in the store, but the orders just keep coming in.
Speak to an expert
Join the ranks of restaurant businesses who have partnered with Restolabs and trusted us to empower their brand.
Feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to start? We’ve got you. Get in touch with your advisors for a free phone consultation here to take you through the process of picking out the best online food ordering system software for your business.
