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Increasing your restaurants onlineorder volume doesnt have to feel like an impossible task. In this guide, well walk through seven practical ways to boost your restaurants onlineorder volume. The fewer clicks it takes to place an order, the better. Next, take a look at your menu. Lets get started.
2024 was a year of experimentation with AI, with restaurants testing it on customer-facing interactions, like AI drive-thru ordering, with varying degrees of success. The 700+-store chain had a challenge with the amount of time it took to schedule an interview for a new applicant once the candidate had submitted their application online.
Steady OnlineOrdering Brings Food Waste, Donations to the Forefront of Priorities Ordering food online increases restaurant sales, but it also can potentially increase wasted food if proactive measures aren’t taken – for both the business and consumers at home. Now, the process is fully digitized.
When youre updating your onlinemenu or onlineordering system, its tempting to just copy over the dish names from your restaurant menu and call it a day. Well-written menu descriptions dont just tell guests whats in a dish; they entice customers, set the tone for your brand, and can increase sales.
While there was a brief dip in consumer awareness of menu price increases in late 2024, the spring of 2025 has seen a moderate rise, affecting dining habits and consumer perceptions of value. “With rising prices tied to eggs and imported goods, restaurants will need to think creatively about their menus,” Fink said.
By combining proactive planning, strategic menu adjustments, operational efficiency, and strong vendor relationships, businesses can effectively manage these challenges while prioritizing customer satisfaction and food safety. Menu Engineering Feature Stable Ingredients : Highlight dishes with ingredients less susceptible to price swings.
From smarter ordering systems to food that travels better, here’s what pizzeria owners can expect in the year ahead. On the customer side, AI is beginning to play a more significant role in onlineordering. This not only frees up labor but also reduces order errors.
The tool from the East Coast vegan chain — a digital take on a split-flap mechanical display that appears on its website and in the chain’s ordering app — estimates the amounts of water, land, CO2, and oil saved by eating vegan burgers. The “ PLNT Impact Tracker ” on PLNT Burger’s website wants you to think about what you’re eating.
Smart owners will seize on this opportunity and use reviews as a powerful tool to fill their dining rooms and onlineordering queues. First, overwhelmed by ads and overly polished social media content, customers now see reviews as a reliable and authentic source of truth. Reviews are a direct line to your customers.
Menu pricing isnt just about covering costsits about finding that sweet spot where profitability, customer perception, and operational reality meet. Understanding the Key Factors in Menu Pricing Before you develop your menu pricing strategies, its important to ground your decisions in the numbers.
And no, increasing restaurant sales doesn’t mean turning your restaurant staff into pushy upsellers trying to squeeze a few extra dollars out of every order. Create Limited-Time Offers That Drive Action Limited-time offers (LTOs) give potential customers a reason to order now, not later.
An onlineordering system is table stakes for every restaurant these days. But if you're still on the fence about implementing online food ordering software at your establishment, take a look at some of the latest stats from the National Restaurant's Association's 2025 State of the Restaurant Industry Report.
Customers expect seamless onlineordering, loyalty programs, and delivery options, and franchise systems need to invest in tech to stay competitive. Customers expect seamless onlineordering, loyalty programs, and delivery options, and franchise systems need to invest in tech to stay competitive.
Every onlineorder, email sign up, and reward program interaction generates valuable insightsbut if that data just sits there, youre missing a major opportunity. Think about it: What if you could automatically send a special offer to a customer who hasnt ordered in a while? Restaurants collect a ton of customer data.
Two-thirds of Gen Z and Millennials admit to spending more time online than they’d like, driving a desire for balance between online and in-person connections. Now is the time for restaurant brands to ask: Are we merging human insight with technology to craft meaningful customer journeys?
77% of diners look at a restaurants website before going out to eat or ordering takeout or delivery. If you dont have a website, that means over three-quarters of the people near your restaurantyour potential customerswill never come in or place an order because they have no way to find you when theyre looking for a place to eat.
Today, customers rely on Google searches, online reviews, and social media to decide where to eat. People want convenience, transparency, and a connection to the brands they support, and that starts with how you market your restaurant online. A strong online presence means more visibility, more orders, and, ultimately, more revenue.
Foot traffic or heat mapping, menu item engagement, or consumer demographics by time of day. Restaurants are already experimenting with using AI to handle drive through orders to allow human employees to focus on customer interactions in the restaurant.
Understanding your target market is the foundation of making smart decisions for your menu, pricing, and overall guest experience. Without a well-defined target market, restaurants risk wasting resources on strategies that dont connect and menu offerings that dont selltrying to appeal to everyone, but standing out to no one.
Customers on average will order more menu items, resulting in a larger bill for the restaurant and a larger tip for the employee. One major area of improvement we noticed when it came to management: menu costing research. Luckily for restaurant managers, several tech solutions exist to cure this headache.
With a few key optimizations, your restaurant can rank higher on Google, get noticed by people searching for places to eat, and ultimately drive more foot traffic and onlineorders. Restaurants that rank higher in local search results get more foot traffic, onlineorders, and reservations.
The ingrained customer behavior over the past year, delivery, mobile orders, curbside pick-up, will likely continue. By improving customer loyalty and increasing revenue through the smart use of technology from the public-facing part of the business all the way to the back-of-house prep, sourcing, and staffing.
As a restaurant owner, your menu photos are a powerful marketing tool to attract new customers, increase ticket sizes, and retain guests. They’re ripe for use on social media, within marketing emails, and on your onlineorderingmenu. Pay attention to position and perspective in each menu photo. Be realistic.
Wonho Frank Lee Ryan Bailey of Kato in LA says more square footage has actually helped operations A version of this post originally appeared on May 14, 2025, in Eater and Punchs newsletter Pre Shift , a biweekly newsletter for the industry pro that sources first-person accounts from the bar and restaurant world.
The restaurant needs cohesion, from signage to menu design to uniforms. Social media, online reviews, and delivery platforms make digital branding just as important as physical branding. We created a simple menu focused on a brand experience that merged nostalgia with modern efficiency. Having a digital presence is critical.
These features include tableside mobile ordering, NFC contactless payments, and direct onlineordering. They also have the choice of using the MarketConnect app to order and pick up from a designated shelf onsite, avoiding interactions and maintaining necessary social distancing.
When someone searches for your restaurant online, what do they see? Whether you like it or not, your restaurants online reputation is shaping first impressions long before a guest walks through your doors or even places an order. What is Online Reputation Management and Why Does it Matter?
The goal was to not only to trace current dining expectations and desires fueled by both current economic uncertainties and also the inundation of sources for restaurant recommendations and reviews but also how younger diners might be shaping the industry in the future. The majority of diners do agree on one thing: checking prices.
Every restaurant faces operational challengeseven with a great menu and a talented team, bottlenecks can slow service, frustrate customers, and cut into profits. A single missteplike a delayed order or a system glitchcan throw off an entire shift. Staff scramble, customers grow impatient, and suddenly, a busy night turns into chaos.
If your site is clunky, hard to navigate, or missing basic features like a prominent onlineordering button, your potential customer will bounce because diners have little to no tolerance for friction or confusion when theyre looking for food. 77% of diners visit a restaurants website before they dine in or order takeout or delivery.
Have you ever walked into a restaurant, excited for a great meal, but the server can’t answer your questions about the menu? Without the right training, even the best menu or ambiance can fall short due to poor service, leading to dissatisfied customers and lost revenue.
Knowing the true cost per serving means you’re not guessing where to set menu prices. Add Packaging Costs (if applicable) If your dish is available for delivery or takeout, include the cost of any additional items that are included in the order and will be taken, such as containers, bags, utensils, or stickers. The remaining 71.7%
Restaurants will also explore delivery options beyond costly third-party partnerships, and hike delivery menu prices to make the channel more lucrative as off-premise demand holds steady. Simplified Menus. Menu variety plays a substantial role in every dining experience. Health-Conscious Food Will Dominate Menus.
Online food ordering and delivery has experienced a staggering growth rate of over 20% in the past five years , which means restaurants are taking orders across multiple platforms to stay competitive. What is onlineorder aggregation? That’s where order aggregation can help.
Menu engineering: while the name might suggest you need to go to college at MIT to be good at it, is actually a common and essential task that all restaurateurs should regularly undertake. Menu engineering can be simplified as the steps taken to increase the profitability of a restaurant menu. Menu Pricing and 2.
From managing an off-premise presence with onlineordering platforms to navigating the labor shortage and keeping costs down, it’s clear from the emerging trends we are seeing that technology is at the heart of helping FSRs not only survive but make gains during these extremely challenging times.”
Restaurant operations management is the art and science of keeping a restaurant running smoothly, creating order in a naturally chaotic environment. Successful restaurant operators use data-driven ordering, reliable supplier relationships, and waste-reduction strategies to keep inventory lean without sacrificing quality.
Luckily, those tools already exist, enabling restaurant owners to save money, expedite contactless set-up and payments, and even fulfill customer orders directly (no outside delivery app necessary) on platforms that stay in-line with the restaurant’s brand image. Special deals : Restaurants learn so much from a customer’s order.
89% of people do dining research on their phones, so if you’re not making the most of your online presence, you're missing out on a huge opportunity. The good news is there are plenty of ways to engage in local marketing, both online and offline. Local restaurant marketing can help you reach your target audience more effectively.
For ingrained, they source organic ingredients and superfoods to incorporate functionality into tasty treats. In just over a year on ChowNow, ingrained has served over 20,000 orders to thousands of diners. Choosing The Right OnlineOrdering Partner For Growth. Making The Most Of Every Order. Andrew says, “?We
Some operators are willing to have you work today, get paid tomorrow in order to get people in place to handle their minimum requirements. Order at the table through apps and kiosk ordering for fast casual/fast food is being embraced to reduce the need for wait staff. He got creative on how to source employees.
Then it’s a matter of leveraging their strengths, including unique menu offerings, fresh and high-quality ingredients, community engagement, and a full dining experience. Restaurants should be able to provide this information to anyone placing orders or reading a menu.
Reevaluating the prices of your drinks and knowing the types of drinks you sell can help you earn more for each bottle, as well as implementing portion control and even redesigning your menu. Calculate the cost of each drink on your menu, including the cost of the alcohol, garnishes, mixers, and anything else that goes into the drink.
phone number, website URL, type of payments accepted, menu items, and photos of the establishment. Restaurants can also their GMB page to engage with customers, highlighting special offers and discounts, publicizing events and promoting new menu offerings. Reviews are a significant reason why diners choose a certain restaurant.
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