The rise of online ordering

The restaurant industry and consumer behaviours have drastically changed since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe. During the toughest period, online ordering, delivery and takeaway became some of the silver linings for hospitality businesses to survive the restrictions and venue limitations over the past 2 years.

 

Now with the return to normalcy across the country, the demand for online ordering has yet to stop growing – it is still mounting and now for dine-in customers, online / QR code mobile ordering can bring venue operators to the next level, helping them create magical customer experiences whilst growing their sales, data and efficiency.

 

Why choose online ordering?

There are so many benefits a suitable, properly configured online ordering system can bring to your restaurant venue. Below is by no means the exhaustive list but somehow demonstrates the key benefits once you have a restaurant online ordering system up and running.

 

• Unlock more sales: According to industry stats, adopting mobile/online ordering apps can increase customer spend by a whopping 20 – 40% for restaurants with carefully crafted cross-selling, bundle promotions at check-out of beautifully designed digital menus. Moreover, with takeaway and delivery orders, you can generate more sales and revenue besides at-table orders.

 

• Improve guest experiences: For dine-in experiences, customers can easily order and pay from their table, reducing unnecessary physical contact to suit health and hygiene requirements. For delivery and pickup orders, online ordering saves time waiting in the queue and frees you from human errors. Additionally, you can create and customise your own digital menus to increase your brand awareness and attract further sales via AI-driven upsells and cross-sales.

 

• Get to know your customers: Collect powerful consumer data along the way of running your daily restaurant operations. Supported by real-time customer feedback and reporting analytics and insights, you can get to know your customers better and to provide even better services and product offerings.

 

• Optimised for Group / Social Tabs: With online ordering systems, you can create magical experiences for corporate and group clients at your venue. While dining in at your restaurant, your customers can create a group/social tab, invite colleagues and friends over to join and start placing orders as they please.

 

• Marketing & Customer Loyalty: Through online ordering integrations you can start creating Marketing & Loyalty programs on your own, allowing your customers to earn and redeem loyalty points on every purchase and get access to personalised promos, specials and celebrations. This will obviously untap huge customer engagement potential that keeps your customers coming back.

 

Find the right solution for your venue

First of all, you need to figure out what types of online ordering services you’re seeking to diversify your business and improve customer experiences, be it at-table / in-seat ordering, pickup at counter or table services. The key is to find out the most suitable online ordering solution that works for your restaurant venue(s).

 

Below are some of the market-leading online ordering solution providers that are creating comprehensive hospitality tech services to keep your sales rolling in. Carefully designed for hospitality businesses by hospitality people, they fully understand the ins and outs of your daily operations and are ready to help you stay ahead of the curve.

 

• me&u: As a global leader in at-table ordering, me&u’s key features include AI-powered upsells, Group tabs, Easy reordering, Enhanced tips, Wait times, Featured products and more, constantly being updated with the smartest and most user-friendly capabilities. Tap on with me&u, boost your revenue and elevate customer experience with Australia’s leading mobile-ordering platform.

 

• Mr Yum: Powerful mobile menus, ordering and payments, built for leading hospitality brands. Flexible for any use case, Mr Yum is completely web-based, meaning there’s no app for your customers to download. With Mr Yum you can access industry-leading features such as Advancing Batching, Group and Social Tabs, Marketing Built-in, Reporting & Insights, 3D Secure and more, helping you create efficiencies and experiences whilst growing sales and customer data.

 

• HungryHungry: HungryHungry is in the business of helping create more profitable and sustainable businesses with its beautiful digital menus, seamless mobile ordering & online payments, giving your customers exactly what they want, when and where they want it. Serving requirements from Order@Table, Collect@Counter, to Delivery, Pickup & Drive-up, HungryHungry streamlines the ordering process and provides delicious dining experiences for your customers.

 

Dedicated to delivering next-level dining experiences, those online ordering solutions can help you create magical and frictionless experiences for your staff and bringing smiles to your customers that keep them coming back over and over again. As an integral part of your Point of Sale (POS) setup, you surely need to consider your existing or future POS systems, and whether and how you can fully connect all the dots together to maximise your operational efficiency and boost revenue and growth.

 

Integrate your POS to online ordering

Now that you have already made a decision about which online ordering solution to go with, it’s time to think about integrating your Point of Sale to expedite your operations. A POS system that’s thoughtfully designed to handle online orders will do most of the leg work for you and enable you to run an efficient, lean restaurant operation.

First, consider a robust POS system that suits your business and provides seamless integration API into your preferred restaurant online ordering system in Australia. This will ensure a smoother implementation at your venue as well as deeper scalability to level up your technology game and keep pace with the ever-changing hospitality world.

 

Marketing leading POS providers such as H&L has been at the forefront of technology in the hospitality and food and beverage industry for over 30 years, providing Point of Sale with extensive Back of House and a fully integrated suite of hospitality solutions.

 

H&L is working tirelessly to team up with like-minded businesses that are the best at what they do so that H&L can always deliver the best technology to their clients. H&L is now partnering with various industry-leading online ordering providers, such as me&u, Mr Yum, HungryHungry, OrderUp and LOKE and more, to maximise your efficiency, boost your revenue and sales, and help you deliver to your customers every time.

 

As hospitality people at heart, H&L understands the critical requirements for each food and beverage operation, with their staff in every state or territory of Australia providing expert advice as you grow and as technology changes. Contact one of H&L’s hospitality experts at 1800 778 340, or email [email protected] to talk about online ordering integration and discuss your venue’s needs.