How to invest in Takeout and Delivery Ordering system for your restaurant?
Consumer’s appetite for food takeout and delivery is on the rise nowadays. People instead of eating in the restaurant itself prefers to order a takeout or delivery order to sit and eat in the comfort of their home. That’s why it becomes important for restaurants owners to provide takeout and delivery option to their customers. Simply, it is a process of ordering food for delivery or takeout food from a local restaurant through mobile and digital channels.
With the advancement in technology, there have emerged a lot of sources/ways through which restaurants can receive food orders and customers order meals in no time. Basically, it provides the restaurants with the solutions to let their customers skim the menu, pick the options and pay for their delivery and take out orders. So, what are the different ways to provide takeout and delivery to your customers.

1. Phone
Whether there are several new food ordering systems available today, but the call-in ordering model is still an important part of the restaurant industry. More than 51% of customers still prefer to order takeout or delivery through phone calls rather than using mobile food apps and websites. It is more comfortable and convenient way to order food quickly without any confusion. It is a very simple process, just make a call, place your order, confirm the total price and finalize it.

But managing the food ordering process is not an easy task from the restaurant side, as it will increase the staffing need which will further lead to increase in cost. So, to avoid the staffing problems and make the services cost-effective, the restaurants need to adopt the voice assistance or AI-based technology. AI based voice assistance will help the restaurants to keep the track of all phone orders providing the customers with daily specials and which food is available on a specific day. Customers will experience efficient and fast ordering experience.
2. In-person
The in-person ordering process is the original way to buy/order something. It means you may personally go to your favorite restaurant and then order something. If you’re on the way to your home from the office and prefer to grab something quickly and want to eat in the comfort of your home. Or sometimes due to having a crowd in the restaurant (all the tables are occupied), it is better to do takeout that will save your time.

Even, if you’re at your home, lying on a bed/feeling sick/home lots of work, and feeling hungry, you’ll definitely search for ‘takeaway restaurants near me’ in a way to order food over the phone rather than visiting there. They search for food places to order from in a way to get food quickly on their door. Restaurants need to make sure to have staff available in their front desk to handle these in-person customers for takeout.
3. Restaurant Website
Having an online presence is a key point in the success of any business. Almost every business needs to have an attraction yet informative website in order to generate a good customer relationship and specifically to raise brand awareness.. Similarly, a good restaurant website includes everything that their customers are looking for, such as a menu, contact detail, customers testimonials, special meal of the day, prices, and staff information (in some cases). It is also a great way to make a connection between the customers and a restaurant. Through this, a person can browse the menu, choose a meal from a list, place an order, and then pay for it. Some of them can order their food with the help of contact details given on their website. So, all restaurant owners need to make sure that their ordering phone number is visible all time to a customer visiting their website.

But where there are pros, there are cons also. Building your own website can be costlier to start with and take your focus away from your restaurant business. Moreover, updating and maintaining websites can be burdensome for restaurant owners.
4. 3rd Party Apps
Using third-party ordering apps also become very popular nowadays. Several restaurants are contracting with third-party food apps providers in a way to raise brand awareness and reach new customers. But, the 3rd party delivery can be quite expensive for restaurant owners with high commission fee (sometimes up to 30 percent). Even though restaurants are expanding total food order, they can be expanding on thin profits and cutting their bottom line, rather than growing their business.
Conclusion
Customers love the restaurants who provides them with an easy way to do a takeout or delivery. Having an efficient ordering process leads to customers experiencing fast and reliable services, getting their order on time. Same on the other side, restaurants are able to retain their customers along with building strong relationships.
