mobile-ordering-restaurant
Anthony Dexmier

Anthony likes helping people reach their true potential. Being the victim of his own fears and insecurities in his own business, he has decided to help others create more opportunities.

Mobile ordering isn’t just for big chain restaurants. Even small restaurant owners can prosper with it. Too many of them still tend to think they can stay old school. Unfortunately, that’s what deprives their business of an extremely valuable asset. Big chain restaurants have adopted mobile ordering for several reasons. It makes their life much simpler, and their bank account much healthier. And above all, it makes their customers happier, here is why.

Busy, busy, busy…

mobile-ordering-restaurant

When restaurants are busy, they’re actually losing customers. It’s good to have a full house, but not if your staff is overwhelmed. People who want food delivered or are ready to order takeaway menus can’t be served if your waiters are running around tables all the time.

There is nothing worse than calling a restaurant to place an order and being told to hold the line. And yet how many times does that happen? If you have nobody to answer the phone, you are losing money, even if it looks like there is no shortage of work.

Mobile ordering will help you free up some time for your staff so that they can take care of customers better. After all, if a software can handle orders, there is no point paying anybody to do it. Live Pepper offers affordable online and mobile ordering for restaurants. Herbies Pizza, Zing-Zing, Firezza and many other restaurants have already adopted an online ordering system to simplify the lives of their clients and employees.

Fewer mistakes

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Humans make mistakes. Your waiters are not perfect and when they don’t place the right order, your restaurant is responsible. When people place their own order, however, it ends up being their own mistake so you don’t necessarily have to fix anything.

On top of that, it’s much easier to place on a mobile phone, at your own pace, than when you’re being rushed. The process of ordering ends up being more enjoyable for the customer, whether it’s a sit-in or a takeaway customer.

Mobile ordering improves your brand

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Still resorting to old fashioned ways of taking orders doesn’t put you in the best light. If you don’t include a takeaway or delivery service, you are simply limiting your potential. When you start implementing new technologies, you look like a brand that knows how to do business. Customers have more respect for that.

Since mobile ordering is still more popular in big chain restaurants than small businesses, people will notice you are making an effort to make their life easier. Recent studies by chain restaurants that have included online ordering have found that customers tend to spend more money when ordering from a screen.

Mobile ordering helps you improve customer loyalty

Great businesses knows that the secret to success is not to constantly increase their client base. Important though it is, selling more to existing clients is much cheaper and more efficient. How many customers have you seen only once, even if they were happy about their experience? What if you could find a way to make them come back sooner?

It so happens that the biggest strength of mobile ordering is that it helps you capture your customers’ details. This way you can come up with limited time offers that will push them on the edge. This is also why restaurants that have included mobile ordering are more profitable. When they create a mobile customer, they end up creating a lasting relationship which has more value for their business than a one-night stand.

Wrap-up

Mobile ordering is a win-win for both customers and restaurants. There are several ways to use it. Customers can pre-order their menu online and still sit in to enjoy it. You can use mobile ordering for customers nearby who want to pick up their meals. And finally, you can use mobile ordering for deliveries. In all of these cases, you make the experience more enjoyable for your clients while freeing up some time for your staff. Mobile ordering will probably become a must for any serious restaurant in the coming years. And as always in such a scenario, early adopters end up winning the race.

Additional resources

http://blog.euromonitor.com/2017/01/mobile-ordering-reinventing-drive-experience.html
http://thedigitalrestaurant.com/mobile-ordering-experience/
https://getpreo.com/mobile-ordering-the-future-of-hospitality
http://www.livepepper.com/blog/is-your-site-mobile-friendly
https://www.fastcompany.com/3030124/the-hidden-psychology-of-ordering-food-online