5 Things you should know about Mobile ordering for Restaurants

1. Mobile ordering can create a huge difference to your business:

Over the last few years there have been great leaps in the e-commerce industry. As people have become more -and more comfortable using their mobile devices for daily tasks, mobile ordering has become a necessity for growing businesses. Customers have come to expect a digital presence from their favorite businesses and there are many advantages for both the customers and business owners. It creates a new medium to interact with customers. Mobile ordering platforms give companies the opportunity to capture business from customers that might have balked at long lines or wait times leading to increased revenue and an improved customer experience. Moreover, with the Pandemic affecting health and safety regulations, contactless ordering has become a must for many business owners. Mobile ordering platforms also support future orders which again helps to capture additional revenue and improve efficiency in the daily operations. These platforms can also be very useful in stadium and amusement/national park settings. At these types of locations the focus is often on the entertainment and not on the dining experience. Customers don’t want to miss out on the action and mobile ordering helps achieve this. Customers can place future orders, select delivery, or pick up their food when it is convenient for them. Mobile ordering helps give businesses the opportunity to drive increased orders and check averages while offering a convenient, user friendly experience to their customers.

2. How to set up mobile ordering?

All businesses from corporate kitchens and stadiums to fast food restaurants can benefit from mobile ordering. The setup can be very simple and completely digital or it can incorporate POS terminals, Kiosks, and backend kitchen devices in more complex operations. XPR offers a WebApp to manage online orders that displays all past, future, and pending orders as well as offering the functionality to edit checks and contact customers. This application can be accessed from any device with an internet connection and can be used to manage all online orders. With some larger operations, clients want to integrate their mobile ordering with their point of sale systems. This might include point of sale terminal, kitchen printers, and kitchen display systems. It is always advantageous for these systems to work seamlessly together rather than managing two autonomous systems. It helps improve efficiency with the daily operations and reporting. Menus are built out and arranged to align with the clients’ needs and they are completely customizable with modifiers, upsells, time-based menus, discounts, tip options, and more. Each revenue center can incorporate their own marketing artwork to help match their branding as well. Additionally XPR’s online ordering platform integrates with many payment options and loyalty/promotional programs to help emulate their daily operations.

3. The 3 biggest benefits of using mobile ordering

Increased revenue, increased customer interaction, and increased efficiency are the three biggest advantages to using mobile ordering. As mentioned above, mobile ordering is a new medium that helps to capture new customers and this directly correlates into increased revenue. People who otherwise would not have ordered, have been given the opportunity to do so. Increased customer interaction helps to drive this increased revenue. Not only are clients capturing orders from new customers, but they are capturing orders from existing customers who might have balked at long waits. Moreover, clients can send customers push notifications alerting them to “last call” or closing time so they don’t miss out on their last order. With this increase in revenue and customer interaction it’s important for the staff to keep up with the increased order volume. As customers become familiar with the mobile ordering platform, more orders will arrive digitally and this will reduce the need for cashiers. These employees can be utilized in the back of the house to help increase throughput and maximize efficiency. All of these advantages help grow the business while improving the customer experience.

4. How to make your customers stay?

In the Food & Beverage industry, repeat customers are integral to a successful business venture and mobile ordering can help bring them back time and time again. Clients can set up their mobile ordering platform so that each customer can create a profile. This profile will keep their order history, location details and payment information on file to improve the ease of use and reduce the time it takes to place orders. Mobile ordering also gives customers the ability to skip long lines or place future orders so that they can avoid long waits they may have otherwise balked at. The XPR platform also integrates with loyalty and promotional programs so that discounts and preferential pricing can be utilized to match marketing initiates. At stadiums, resorts, and restaurants with table/section numbers, QR codes can be placed and customers can access the mobile ordering platform by simply scanning the code. Some revenue centers such as pool areas and patios might not have dedicated servers that might miss out on covers in these areas. With mobile ordering they can simply scan a QR code, place their order, and the food will be delivered directly to them. Push notifications can also be sent to customers informing them of closing time to ensure they don’t miss out on their last order. Mobile ordering helps to capture new customers that might have been missed and brings back existing customers.

5. The future of mobile ordering.

The last year has brought the future of mobile ordering to the present. A year ago, many customers were hesitant or simply unaware of many mobile ordering platforms. This new phenomenon that hit the F&B industry took huge steps forward during the Pandemic as many owners needed a way to facilitate contactless ordering. Chipotle has just recently moved to exclusively accept online orders even as we begin to roll back restaurant restrictions and crawl out of the Pandemic. Many other restaurant owners have also seen the need for a customized user experience that helps to drive increased revenue without paying hefty commission fees to third party platforms. It’s also important for them to have a fully integrated system rather than tasking the employees with managing their in-house point of sale system with an online ordering platform. With XPR’s WebApps and QR codes, owners are able to give their customers a platform that emulates their operational needs while optimizing the user experience.