Ordering Food From Your Restaurant’s Website – Why Not?
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way how restaurant and hospitality businesses serve our communities. Although restaurants around the world have started reopening their doors for dining in, the limited capacity at restaurants and concerns about public health and safety are still keeping many customers at home. It’s time to consider taking online orders from your restaurant’s own website, to navigate the new normal while optimizing every resource you have to bring the best food service to your customers, no matter where they are.
Five Star Plugins have recently updated our Menu plugin with a new feature, now enabling restaurants to receive online orders from your own website. This feature will be beneficial to your restaurant for the following reasons:
1.Manage your own online ordering/ delivery service without requiring a third-party service
Despite the rising popularity of third-party food delivery applications, many restaurant owners and managers say that they are actually losing money from using these services (1). These end-to-end services can charge restaurant owners a commission fee between 10% to 30% while imposing service fees on the customer’s end, on top of delivery fees. This not only discourages customers from placing orders with restaurants but also takes away a fair share of the restaurants’ earnings on an order. Managing your own online ordering/ delivery service will allow owners and managers to use a system that works best for your restaurant, and break free from commission fees, restrictions, and other limitations when using a third-party service.
2. Ensure the consistency of your dishes and service
When it comes to food service operations, consistency should be the foundational goal for restaurants to aim for. By following specific team procedures and programs inside and outside of the kitchen, restaurant owners and managers can achieve a higher level of food quality, and higher satisfaction level from customers (2). Having your staff members handle your restaurant’s orders will help to ensure that the orders are being well taken care of at every stage of the delivery while enabling a personalized experience between restaurant and customer.
3. Make the most out of your resources, including people
During the COVID-19 pandemic, 800,000 workers working in the restaurant sector were laid off in Canada, and similar numbers were laid off around the world (3). However, a steep increase in the number of food orders for delivery was recorded as more consumers stayed at home to keep themselves safe (4). This has proven that there is an ongoing demand for food service from restaurants and signals an opportunity for restaurant owners and managers to leverage their resources and people to best serve their customers.
Staff members might be temporarily placed in different roles, however, this will minimize the financial toll on restaurant employees, as well as the economy as a whole. Furthermore, a food ordering and delivery service that is wholly operated and managed by your team will help your restaurant build a better relationship with your customers while gaining better access to feedback to further improve on the quality of your food and services.
With the Five Star Restaurant Menu Plugin, Five Star Plugins is excited to provide you with a tool to design a simple, yet responsive and customizable Menu and Ordering page built for WordPress. Apart from our innovative products, our team also pride ourselves on offering great and timely customer support to over 30,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries. Interested in learning more? Check out our menu plugin product, and our virtual product guide here.
Sources:
- Calberg, A. (May 2020). Here;s how much commission each food delivery app charges Toronto restaurants. Retrieved from https://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2020/04/food-delivery-app-commission-toronto-restaurants/
- Henny Penny. (n.d.) Achieving Consistent Food Quality. Achieved from https://www.hennypenny.com/achieving-consistent-food-quality/#:~:text=Consistency%20is%20a%20foundational%20goal,with%20every%20order%2C%20every%20day.
- Edmiston, J. (April 2020). Canadian Restaurant Sector Laid Off 800,000 in March, With Wave of Permanent Closures Expected This Month. Retrieved from https://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/canadian-restaurant-sector-laid-off-800000-in-march-with-wave-of-permanent-closures-expected-this-month
- Research and markets. (April 2020). Food Delivery Services See a Surge in Demand due to Coronavirus Outbreak as Consumers Stay at Home. Retrieved from https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/04/30/2025097/0/en/Food-Delivery-Services-See-a-Surge-in-Demand-due-to-Coronavirus-Outbreak-as-Consumers-Stay-at-Home.html
