Online Ordering System for a Restaurant: 5 Killer Ways for Restaurant Marketing

The top online ordering structure for restaurants is allowing restaurants to grow up their sales without any loss of profits and expansion of their business change along with flexibility. Many factors come to our mind considering the restaurant’s online ordering system; will you use a third-party delivery service or in-house delivery for delivering the food? Are you willing to accept online orders for delivery or pick up?

There are outstanding online ordering systems available in so many types and many integrate with or have an in-built point of sale system.

However, if you want to directly link your customers in online ordering, you must have your restaurant website. It allows the consumer to assess food items of their own choice and also calculate the bill and enables you to accept the different modes of payment.

Meanwhile, third-party delivery services are a great choice for a restaurant’s online ordering system as it increases sales. But sometimes the customer wants a direct connection with the restaurant instead of a third party as it is very crucial. 75% of the consumers will prefer direct ordering from a restaurant’s website.

Below are some online ordering statistics presented after a survey which prove how beneficial it can be for restaurants. 

• 9 out of 10 food delivery services say that this online ordering process makes their life easier. 32% say they use online ordering services only twice a week.
• About 43% of the total food is ordered online.
• In big cities, online ordering went very high during the pandemic.

Work process of online orders:

Online food ordering allows you to accept food orders through a website or an application. But how does it works?

• Firstly, you create a menu and then upload it on your website or app
• Then the customers place their orders on your mobile app for restaurants or websites.
• After that, you receive instant notification of the current order
• As soon as you approve the notification, the consumer gets informed of the estimated delivery time
• Lastly, you update the actual time status of the order placed by the consumer.
• Finally, your customer gets their ordered food and they rate your services on your website or mobile app

Why free online ordering system is essential for your restaurant business?

• Consolidate multi-channel sales: Integrate with dissimilar platforms to manage all your online orders on a single platform. Always set a reorder notification to get updated about your orders to avoid any uncertain situation.
• Track orders: Track the movement of a food package and keep your clients updated on particular locations. Create a long-term relationship with the customers with this order managing method.
• Simplify the delivery process: Create orders and their slips and actual information regarding delivery services. You can manage all of this from a single order managing method.
• Online payment method: Integrate and set up your payment account to get payments online. Choose a secure, easy and convenient mode of accepting payments from your clients.
• Manage orders professionally: With back order, generate the acquisition order directly from the sales order to transport the food straight to the customer without any hindrance.
• Create insights online: Identify the most profitable item of yours or monitor the sales and purchasing drift to make well-versed decisions and stay at the forefront of your competitors.

Let’s have a look at 5 killer ways for marketing your restaurant business:

1. Upload attractive photos of your food items

The best way to promote your business online is by uploading good-quality photos. Visual content is very much in demand these days and looking at the scrumptious food picture can make your mouth watery. So it is important to use good pictures on social media platforms.

You can hire a professional photographer and if your budget is not much then you can use your Smartphone to click pictures just keeping a few things in mind like light and background.

2. Business societal

These days, many business owners are hosting business socials to promote their restaurant business. However, it is crucial to select the right partner that can be a great resource to promote your restaurant and target your audience. Host socials where the food should be the showstopper. Organize a photo booth with your display in the backdrop and promote them on different Media.

Partner with a charitable organization and work on various levels to market your restaurant for good returns.

3. Sampling

It can be a great marketing idea to let your consumers taste the food as it grabs the attention of your audience and allows you to highlight your best food items. Pick the best 3-4 items that can be delivered to their doorstep easily and get a solid representative of your business. You can also promote this even on social media sites.

4. Food coupons

Discount coupons are like a bonus for consumers. Coupons offer discount values of about 20 to 30%. You can introduce offers like- buy 1 get 1 free coupon on dessert, free ice cream after the meal, free Wi-Fi, and valet parking. Provide a restaurant loyalty program where the customers can earn points after every meal and can use these points during their next visit.

5. Have a functional and easy online menu

Customers always browse online before ordering from your restaurant. Don’t make it a task for them to find the menu. Upload a high-quality, easy-to-understand menu that is accurate. Publish your menu online along with the specifications like location, hours, contact number, and much more.

You must make your menu look attractive and easy to read for the consumers for good marketing of your business. This is the most effective marketing strategy that can boost your restaurant business. The customers should have access to the online menu otherwise they will simply switch over from there.

Some other restaurant marketing strategies that can give a boom to your business are:

Endorse user-generated content on all the social media sites

It is a great way to get in touch personally with the users. You can plan a photo contest by asking them to share a picture of their favorite meal or food item from your restaurant and tag them on social media sites to get trending on sites. Plan a competition like the best picture will get a free dinner on this particular date or a free appetizer.

Promoting user-generated content by hosting such events will be appreciated by many users and this will make them your regular consumers.

Email Marketing

E-mail is a great way to communicate and promote your restaurant business. Through email, you can reach out to a maximum number of people, especially on occasions like weekends, holidays, birthdays, and festivals. You can simply plug in the email address of your customers for their birthdays and anniversaries.

You can also have an email including a recovery code that will allow you to track the percentage of the emails that are bringing in guests and analyze a return on investment.

Host food events

Organizing tasting events can promote your restaurant business in a great way. It allows you to control the profile, reputation, and reliability of all of the participants and can also help you to share the cost of holding the event. Hosting such events also allows your business the opportunities like to recruit additional resources and manpower to endorse the event and gives the added edge with acquiring local restaurants as well.

Final Thoughts:

The restaurant industry has been accustomed to believing that applying conventional marketing efforts can be applied to boost sales because this is what everyone is doing. But, the fact is the restaurant industry is very competitive and this will continue to do so in the coming years.

In a time of tough competition, the most efficient strategy is to discriminate your restaurant from the others and create excitement in every way that reinforces your positioning approach. Restaurant promotions are very essential if they are created in a particular way. It is important to execute these marketing strategies in a way that is absolutely in coalition with the image of your restaurant no matter how exclusive it is.

The smart marketing process is best achieved through non-conventional techniques that are accomplished inside your restaurant business and amongst your existing customer support.

There are numerous online marketing benefits if compared to offline marketing. You can save a lot with online marketing. Renting a billboard might cost you a fortune while advertising on different social media sites is more affordable and has a wider target audience. Also, you can’t target a specific type of audience with offline marketing. But with online restaurant marketing, you can target a particular niche for your restaurant business.

Restaurant promotion opportunities are important if seen through the right lens. Use the techniques to spark your thinking of analogous underutilized structures in your process and obtain the rewards as other successful restaurants all around the country.