5 Reasons Why Your Catering Service Needs an Online Platform
Because of the pandemic, many food businesses have spread their wings by offering a more extensive takeaway menu and catering. Where else, the existing catering is getting more competition from other vendors. Additionally, more people are searching for catering service since they have limited their restaurants’ visits. Not only for their small gathering or lunches at offices but also for their daily catering. This is the chance for catering to be more visible online to the customers, to make them easier to find the catering they need. Yes, many catering already has an online presence, by having a website, for example. However, customers are still finding it a hassle to find one that caters to their diet/wishes. The search method they use so far is by searching it online, word of mouth, or through Instagram.
So, why does our business needs to go online?
- More people prefer doing things online nowadays
Do you remember when you had to search for the takeaway menu list and search the phone number on that list? I’m pretty sure we all have stacks of menu’s of restaurants, and yet you still don’t wanna throw it away because you’re afraid you’re going to need it someday. Although, I’m pretty sure too that instead of looking for a needle in a haystack, we prefer to search the restaurant we’re looking for online.
A couple of years ago, online transactions were limited to when you do your shopping, but it has been growing significantly nowadays. Not only shopping, but you can also have your meal delivered, have your household task done, etc. The landscape has undergone a substantial transformation following the internet’s advent. Consumers now profit from the perks of online transactions. This is why your catering service needs to go online. Yes, word of mouth is a powerful tool, but you need an online presence to allow your business to grow significantly.
2. Spread your presence in different channels to reach more customers
Most businesses use website and Instagram to sell their products or services. However, it can cost a fortune to build and maintain a website, mainly for small businesses. Another option is to use an online platform as a marketplace. Not only you increase the chance of your catering service being found by customers, but it also allows you to reach more customers.
3. Easier to manage your operation
We want to get as many orders as we want, but we can’t lie about it, sometimes it is very tiring and time-consuming. We do everything manually. We write down each order, customers information, how they want to have their orders, what time it needs to be delivered, etc. This will take more than half of your productive time to sort it out. But by joining an online platform as a marketplace, this problem can be eased. These platforms usually enable vendors from managing customers orders, documenting transactions, to tracing backorders.
4. Payment is made securely
One of the common problems of a manual transaction is that the vendor risks of getting missed payment. However, this problem can be minimized by using an online marketplace. They will ensure that the vendors will receive the payment and ensure that customers will receive the food they ordered.
5. You can focus on what’s important
It often happens when you don’t have enough time to focus on your products because your time is invested in other operational things, such as receiving orders, managing stock, etc. But by joining an online platform, some of your problems can be handled so that you have more time to focus on what’s important.
Vendors need to adapt quickly to be able to serve customers need and to give the best customer experience. By joining an online platform, vendors can focus on things that matter more. It will increase their visibility to customers, but it will also help vendors manage their businesses. Furthermore, by joining a platform, vendors will be exposed to other vendors and create a community where collaboration between them can occur.
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