How Do I Set Up an Online Ordering Platform for My Restaurant

Anything in this world might change. But man’s basic need for food is never going to change. Man will never stop eating. People never fail to lend their support for good food. As long as they do not have to cook for themselves. So, with a good online ordering system in place, restaurants can effectively maintain their profit margins even during such uncertain times.

If you are done with creating your own restaurant website, this blog from Restaurantify will guide you about setting up an online ordering platform on that website.

An online ordering system can benefit a restaurant in three ways. It can drive sales, profits and organic traffic by providing a platform for media exposure. People, especially millennials, love to get things done virtually. So, just like any other business, in order to stay profitable, the restaurant industry must also adapt to providing customers a platform for making online payments and processes easier.

A restaurant can attract new customers and gain more visibility by setting up an online ordering system that allows customers to make virtual payments directly to the restaurant. Enabling online ordering not just increases the convenience for the restaurant as a business, but also saves a great deal of time for customers who can avoid long wait times.

So, an online ordering system must be implemented right on the restaurant’s stunning website to enhance user experience and profitability.

When a restaurant decides to have an ordering platform, it will require a website that is user-friendly and complements the business in brand building. A few things to consider while designing a restaurant online ordering website are:

When customers have reached a point where they can recognize the brand, it means that trust has been built. At this stage, they will also make repeated purchases. A restaurant can easily increase brand awareness by including the logo and colors on the website where people can place online orders. But there is still more to be done.The content must reflect the voice and tone of the brand. Using a descriptive language will ensure that you stay unique, beat your competitors and stay in the minds of customers forever.

Adding appealing visual elements like high-quality images on apps of third party food delivery platforms can increase sales volume by 15%. Images not only trigger hunger and persuade people to order. They also create a lasting impression so that people keep ordering food frequently from you. 

People always like to stay away from online ordering websites that are slow and glitchy. Their impatience will lead them to order food from somewhere else. Unless a restaurant website is responsive, the chances of customers returning to you and your food are drastically reduced. This increases the significance of a well-functioning restaurant website.

It has been found that an average internet user spends less than 15 seconds on a page. So, a good impression must be made really fast. Visitors must always be provided with the basic and vital information like phone numbers, address, menu offerings, prices and ingredients as soon as they visit the website. By doing so, they are convinced to stay for more than 15 seconds and also encouraged to make an online order.

In 2020, in the US alone, 11% of orders generated in quick-service restaurants were placed using mobile phones. This clearly shows that customers are not always beside a computer when they are hungry and wish to order. If the platform is not mobile-friendly, the restaurant will miss a major proportion of digital sales and profits. Restaurateurs must remember that nearly half of the global web traffic is generated through mobiles alone. So, making a mobile-friendly website is absolutely essential.

An online food ordering system offers several benefits to a restaurant business. They are:

Although the restaurant industry is brimming with various food outlets, food ordering websites and mobile apps, only a handful of them are able to succeed. The reason can be attributed to the design and functioning of the entire food ordering and delivery system. An effective food ordering system will help customers connect with the business in a hassle-free manner. They will become prepared to support the restaurant in its continuous growth. The business gains immediate visibility in the highly crowded marketplace and even potential customers are converted very quickly.

When a restaurant has its own food ordering system, it is empowered to make changes whenever necessary. It need not approach any third-party platforms to get the changes done or wait for their approval. The restaurant’s menu items can be displayed efficiently and effectively along with your prices, your latest offers, etc. The restaurant will have complete control over whatever transpires on the online ordering system.

Restaurants have always understood the strain of working with third-party food delivery platforms. They ask restaurants for additional payments for every add-on, updates or changes. Restaurants need to pay a charge or commission on every sale made. In order to avoid such additional costs and save the entire revenue for oneself, an online ordering system is essential.

When a restaurant makes use of a third-party platform for business generation and food delivery, it not only shares its income, but also a major proportion of its patrons. This will definitely adversely affect the restaurant in the long run. Keeping the business in-house using an online ordering system will help retain customers and quickly beat competition. 

Digital is the new space where business takes off. People want to eat. All that they look for is a convenient, consistent and smooth way to place their orders. When that way is digitalized and made user-friendly, it is a win-win situation for both parties. When the preferences of customers are well understood, a restaurant can market more proactively and grow orders via a digitally empowered business model.

Even if a customer is enjoying your food in the comfort of his house, your menu still remains the pivot of their dining experience. So, restaurants must create an online off-premise specific menu. One need not stress too much about this. This Minimum Viable Menu (MVM) is just a simplified, smaller and condensed version of the restaurant menu. Although it is minimalistic in nature, it can still offer attractive options to customers, create customer value and showcase what is clicking in the market and otherwise.

While moving to the digital format, restaurants must prioritize their signature dishes or other popular menu items that have always driven profits. These menu items will be a guiding light for shifting to the digital mode. This is an important aspect of menu engineering, also known as keeping ‘your stars and your puzzles’. Restaurants can also arrange the menu items in a rank order, for example Top 10 or Top 15 menu items and accordingly limit the spend on inventory. 

Any website must be looked at not as a product or service, but as an investment. Let us suppose that you spend $20,000 on your restaurant website. But, if this flawless website brings you an incessant flow of customers, keeping your tables booked round the clock and also generating $8,000 every night, is it not an investment that one must mandatorily make?

Restaurant website creation prices range between $3,000 to $15,000

One can own a restaurant website by spending nothing at all. It is definitely possible. One simply needs to pay a small amount for hosting and domain. This is possible by using restaurant website builders like Restaurantify, Squarespace or other template based site creators. Something is better than nothing. So, go for at least a basic website design to get things started. Later on, seamlessly integrate the website and the restaurant.  

Now that the website is ready, make sure that it is visible and easily discoverable. So, here are the post-launch tasks that a restaurateur needs to execute:

Learn how to set up an online ordering system.

To be discoverable in local search results, get a Google My Business account ready.

Submit this URL to Google for getting ranked better in search results.

It is now easy to connect to Google Analytics.

Make content SEO friendly to improve the website’s ranking on Google.

Add the website URL to various social media profiles.

Add the website URL to other relevant online business directories like Yelp, TripAdvisor and others.