6 Ways Digital Ordering Systems can Improve a Restaurant’s Profitability (and How to Choose One)
Published November 28th, 2021
In the restaurant business ROI is one of the defining factors as to whether an investment is to be made or not. Digital ordering systems have long been an optional extra that supplement a restaurant's dine-in and phone order business. However, in an ever more digitized, post-pandemic world it is becoming clearer and clearer that digital ordering systems are an integral part of a restaurant’s success.
Recent digital ordering data is skewed by the pandemic but, before early 2020, digital ordering was predicted to continue growing at an average rate of 20% per year. This rise was only accelerated by the conditions of 2020, and those conditions normalized digital ordering much earlier than predicted. Now, consumers are comfortable placing digital orders and eating all forms of food in the comfort of their own homes.
Digital ordering systems provide another, now popular and normalized avenue for orders to come into a venue. But digital ordering systems have a much greater effect on a restaurant’s profitability than just increasing order volume.
6 Ways Digital Ordering Improves Restaurant Profitability
- Create More Dine-in Customers - Studies have shown that customers who have placed an online order with a restaurant are 67% more likely to visit that location and dine-in. So, having a digital ordering system doesn’t only put tickets on the rail, it also puts people in seats.
- Streamline Ordering and Reduce Labor - Digital ordering systems remove the employee middleman from the order and expedite an orders progress to the kitchen. In turn, this frees up the employee’s time for other duties and guests. This has the potential to reduce the amount of hours worked and to maybe even reduce the amount of employees required on a shift. Resulting in a saving on labor costs.
- Reduce Errors, Reduce Costs - Phone-in orders are clunky and error prone. Digital ordering systems for restaurants remove one human step from the ordering process, meaning that the order reaches the kitchen exactly as the customer wanted it to. This can reduce costly, and sometimes embarrassing, errors.
- Increase Check Averages - Customers spend more when they place digital orders and it has been found that introducing and encouraging digital ordering over phone-in orders can increase check averages by as much as 18%.
- Increase Sales - 60% of restaurant operators say that offering delivery has driven up their sales and it has been recorded that offering a POS integrated digital system for delivery and takeout increases sales volume without a negative effect on dine-in business.
- Guest Tracking - A properly integrated online ordering system allows a restaurant to track their guests’ journey from beginning to end. The insights this information can provide are invaluable when it comes to informing multiple areas of restaurant management, including: promotions, guest engagement, how to increase customer spend, and successfully increasing a menu’s profitability.
Why Is an Online Ordering System Important?
The world is seeing an increase in digitization, and customers are now more likely to find a new restaurant online than through any other medium. With restaurant discovery happening online it makes sense for a restaurant to present guests with the convenient option to order there-and-then. An online ordering system for business makes it easy and convenient for the customer to place and pay for their order, whilst also delivering the above profitability benefits to the restaurant.
The world is seeing an increase in digitization, and customers are now more likely to find a new restaurant online than through any other medium. With restaurant discovery happening online it makes sense for a restaurant to present guests with the convenient option to order there-and-then. An online ordering system for business makes it easy and convenient for the customer to place and pay for their order, whilst also delivering the above profitability benefits to the restaurant.
The world is seeing an increase in digitization, and customers are now more likely to find a new restaurant online than through any other medium. With restaurant discovery happening online it makes sense for a restaurant to present guests with the convenient option to order there-and-then. An online ordering system for business makes it easy and convenient for the customer to place and pay for their order, whilst also delivering the above profitability benefits to the restaurant.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Digital Ordering System
Digital ordering isn’t just about having a platform to present to guests and to bring more orders in through the door; it is also about how you do digital ordering. 58% of consumers will skip delivery aggregators, like Ubereats or Doordash, and order directly with a restaurant instead. So, what to consider when choosing an online ordering system for a restaurant?
- 3rd Party or Proprietary? - Whilst not having to worry about an online ordering system is good, 3rd party “plug-and-play” systems do come with drawbacks.
- POS Integrations - If a digital ordering system is integrated into a location’s POS system it means customers can be tracked from start-to-finish and the employee workload can be reduced, not just re-distributed to new tablets.
- Google Integration - Google sees over 1 billion searches for food each month and 1.5 million searches for the term “delivery near me”. Google now offers Google Food Ordering and every restaurant should seriously consider integrating with Google to offer the best possible digital experience to their guests.
- Costs - Many digital ordering system providers operate on a commission basis, meaning that when a location makes more sales they make more money. Finding a provider that operates on a flat fee basis means that a restaurant operator will always know what their costs will be each month, and can plan their venues finances accordingly.
- Delivery - Delivery is a tricky beast to manage and it is for this reason that many location’s outsource their delivery to 3rd parties, but that isn’t right for all businesses. A online delivery management system allows for intelligent delivery management, facilitating a professional and profitable delivery service.
- Dedicated App - To stand out from the crowd a restaurant shouldn’t be listed alongside its competitors, it should have its own standalone, customizable space where it can send its message to its customers in its own way.
- Branding - A digital ordering service should align with the location’s brand to make it instantly identifiable to the customer. Having a branded digital ordering system also allows a restaurant to present themselves to the customer how they want to be presented.
- Versatility - A digital ordering system should be as flexible as the physical location it represents. The manager should be able to add promotions, specials, and make changes to items simply, quickly, and, most importantly, be able to push them live immediately.
- Integrated Loyalty - Restaurant loyalty programs help to retain customers, provide the venue with richer guest profiles, create more guest referrals, and can even greatly increase profitability.
- Integrated Payments - Facilitate quicker and more streamlined delivery and takeout ordering by having guests pay when they order, not when they pick up.
Digital ordering isn’t just about having a platform to present to guests and to bring more orders in through the door; it is also about how you do digital ordering. 58% of consumers will skip delivery aggregators, like Ubereats or Doordash, and order directly with a restaurant instead. So, what to consider when choosing an online ordering system for a restaurant?
- 3rd Party or Proprietary? - Whilst not having to worry about an online ordering system is good, 3rd party “plug-and-play” systems do come with drawbacks.
- POS Integrations - If a digital ordering system is integrated into a location’s POS system it means customers can be tracked from start-to-finish and the employee workload can be reduced, not just re-distributed to new tablets.
- Google Integration - Google sees over 1 billion searches for food each month and 1.5 million searches for the term “delivery near me”. Google now offers Google Food Ordering and every restaurant should seriously consider integrating with Google to offer the best possible digital experience to their guests.
- Costs - Many digital ordering system providers operate on a commission basis, meaning that when a location makes more sales they make more money. Finding a provider that operates on a flat fee basis means that a restaurant operator will always know what their costs will be each month, and can plan their venues finances accordingly.
- Delivery - Delivery is a tricky beast to manage and it is for this reason that many location’s outsource their delivery to 3rd parties, but that isn’t right for all businesses. A online delivery management system allows for intelligent delivery management, facilitating a professional and profitable delivery service.
- Dedicated App - To stand out from the crowd a restaurant shouldn’t be listed alongside its competitors, it should have its own standalone, customizable space where it can send its message to its customers in its own way.
- Branding - A digital ordering service should align with the location’s brand to make it instantly identifiable to the customer. Having a branded digital ordering system also allows a restaurant to present themselves to the customer how they want to be presented.
- Versatility - A digital ordering system should be as flexible as the physical location it represents. The manager should be able to add promotions, specials, and make changes to items simply, quickly, and, most importantly, be able to push them live immediately.
- Integrated Loyalty - Restaurant loyalty programs help to retain customers, provide the venue with richer guest profiles, create more guest referrals, and can even greatly increase profitability.
- Integrated Payments - Facilitate quicker and more streamlined delivery and takeout ordering by having guests pay when they order, not when they pick up.
Digital ordering isn’t just about having a platform to present to guests and to bring more orders in through the door; it is also about how you do digital ordering. 58% of consumers will skip delivery aggregators, like Ubereats or Doordash, and order directly with a restaurant instead. So, what to consider when choosing an online ordering system for a restaurant?
- 3rd Party or Proprietary? - Whilst not having to worry about an online ordering system is good, 3rd party “plug-and-play” systems do come with drawbacks.
- POS Integrations - If a digital ordering system is integrated into a location’s POS system it means customers can be tracked from start-to-finish and the employee workload can be reduced, not just re-distributed to new tablets.
- Google Integration - Google sees over 1 billion searches for food each month and 1.5 million searches for the term “delivery near me”. Google now offers Google Food Ordering and every restaurant should seriously consider integrating with Google to offer the best possible digital experience to their guests.
- Costs - Many digital ordering system providers operate on a commission basis, meaning that when a location makes more sales they make more money. Finding a provider that operates on a flat fee basis means that a restaurant operator will always know what their costs will be each month, and can plan their venues finances accordingly.
- Delivery - Delivery is a tricky beast to manage and it is for this reason that many location’s outsource their delivery to 3rd parties, but that isn’t right for all businesses. A online delivery management system allows for intelligent delivery management, facilitating a professional and profitable delivery service.
- Dedicated App - To stand out from the crowd a restaurant shouldn’t be listed alongside its competitors, it should have its own standalone, customizable space where it can send its message to its customers in its own way.
- Branding - A digital ordering service should align with the location’s brand to make it instantly identifiable to the customer. Having a branded digital ordering system also allows a restaurant to present themselves to the customer how they want to be presented.
- Versatility - A digital ordering system should be as flexible as the physical location it represents. The manager should be able to add promotions, specials, and make changes to items simply, quickly, and, most importantly, be able to push them live immediately.
- Integrated Loyalty - Restaurant loyalty programs help to retain customers, provide the venue with richer guest profiles, create more guest referrals, and can even greatly increase profitability.
- Integrated Payments - Facilitate quicker and more streamlined delivery and takeout ordering by having guests pay when they order, not when they pick up.
A Final Word: ActiveMenus for the Win!
ActiveMenus’ suite of digital ordering and delivery solutions has been designed by experienced restaurant professionals to help those running restaurants increase their profitability by working smarter not harder. Here at ActiveMenus we understand that a business’s brand is an important part of who they are, and being able to represent that to the customer in the digital world is integral to that business’s online success.
Our digital ordering systems are beautifully customizable and we offer integrations into over 40 different 3rd party systems, preventing the fragmentation of the restaurant’s technology stack and increasing their data capture. Commission free ordering allows our customers to know exactly what they will be spending on our services each month, meaning that they can properly plan their location’s finances.
With ActiveMenus you can integrate into the world’s biggest search engine with Google Food Ordering, create loyalty programs, custom offers, and change menu items on the fly. ActiveMenus does all this and allows multiple brands to live comfortably together under one digital roof. Finally, our integrated or externally managed delivery resources are at your fingertips should you choose to use them. Reach out to us today to learn more about how ActiveMenus can transform your restaurant’s profitability with a state-of-the-art digital ordering system!
ActiveMenus’ suite of digital ordering and delivery solutions has been designed by experienced restaurant professionals to help those running restaurants increase their profitability by working smarter not harder. Here at ActiveMenus we understand that a business’s brand is an important part of who they are, and being able to represent that to the customer in the digital world is integral to that business’s online success.
Our digital ordering systems are beautifully customizable and we offer integrations into over 40 different 3rd party systems, preventing the fragmentation of the restaurant’s technology stack and increasing their data capture. Commission free ordering allows our customers to know exactly what they will be spending on our services each month, meaning that they can properly plan their location’s finances.
With ActiveMenus you can integrate into the world’s biggest search engine with Google Food Ordering, create loyalty programs, custom offers, and change menu items on the fly. ActiveMenus does all this and allows multiple brands to live comfortably together under one digital roof. Finally, our integrated or externally managed delivery resources are at your fingertips should you choose to use them. Reach out to us today to learn more about how ActiveMenus can transform your restaurant’s profitability with a state-of-the-art digital ordering system!
ActiveMenus’ suite of digital ordering and delivery solutions has been designed by experienced restaurant professionals to help those running restaurants increase their profitability by working smarter not harder. Here at ActiveMenus we understand that a business’s brand is an important part of who they are, and being able to represent that to the customer in the digital world is integral to that business’s online success.
Our digital ordering systems are beautifully customizable and we offer integrations into over 40 different 3rd party systems, preventing the fragmentation of the restaurant’s technology stack and increasing their data capture. Commission free ordering allows our customers to know exactly what they will be spending on our services each month, meaning that they can properly plan their location’s finances.
With ActiveMenus you can integrate into the world’s biggest search engine with Google Food Ordering, create loyalty programs, custom offers, and change menu items on the fly. ActiveMenus does all this and allows multiple brands to live comfortably together under one digital roof. Finally, our integrated or externally managed delivery resources are at your fingertips should you choose to use them. Reach out to us today to learn more about how ActiveMenus can transform your restaurant’s profitability with a state-of-the-art digital ordering system!
hello@activemenus.com
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Tampa, FL 33629
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