Looking at how takeaways & restaurants software supports the optimization of a restaurant’s operations, it is not surprising if restaurateurs are more interested in incorporating one of their restaurants. Though employing one for your restaurant is completely under your authority, you can’t change the fact that if you want to streamline your takeaway process, it is a must that you should have this software.
The UK has a loving relationship with takeaways. UK households have an average spend of five British pounds per person per week on takeaway meals alone. And with the continuous rise of online delivery concepts, you’ll be needing all the help that you can gather to properly support your takeaway and online ordering services.
Today, allow us to talk you through what are the basic foundations of the software that’s taken the entire Food and Restaurant Industry by storm. Read along to know the process, features, cost, challenges, and benefits of employing this type of software for your business.
Process of a Takeaways & Restaurants Software
You must understand the basic online ordering process to see how you can easily improve your software, should you need to do it. Worry not as it’s not as complicated as you thought it would be.
There are three main elements for this process, namely:
- Online ordering system – This is where the customers can place their orders, provide essential information, and choose their payment option.
- Menu management – This is where you can control the items that can be ordered by your customers. You have to keep this updated to prevent miscommunication of orders.
- Order retrieval – This is the system that’s responsible for tracking the delivery system. It is also where your restaurant staff can retrieve orders and check their information.
Here’s the step-by-step process that includes these three main elements.
- Registration of customers
- Manage their account (Input essential information, save their profile)
- Login in to your system (This can be a website, an app, or both)
- Checking of your menu (Keep this updated and interactive)
- Item selection (Adding to the food cart, placing special notes or requests)
- Review of the selected item
- Selection of payment option
- Order placement (Make sure that a confirmation reminder will be sent to the customers)
- Confirmation of placed order (Done by your staff)
- Ensuring that the menu items and their prices are updated in real-time
- Retrieval of new orders (For your staff reference)
- Tracking and monitoring of food deliveries
Cost of a Restaurant & Takeaway Software
This solution is considered one of the most cost-effective resolutions in the Restaurant Industry. While it may still cost, it’s not as much as you think. There are two options on how you will process its deployment to your restaurant.
- On-premise option – This is a better option for restaurant owners with five or more locations. It requires a larger upfront fee because the price is based on the software licences and terminals that will be used by the restaurant.
- Cloud-based option – This option is best for you if you prefer a subscription pricing structure, where restaurant owners are priced per-terminal, per-month, or per-annual basis.
Here are the costs that you also need to account for if you’re using restaurant software.
- Maintenance fee
- Additional features fee – Some features are not included in a basic package but you can add them with a certain fee.
- Installation fee
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Features of a Restaurant & Takeaway Software
Choosing the best software for your restaurant is not an easy job. While there are plenty of options available in the market, knowing which one fits your business best should be your priority. Here is the list of features that you should be looking for in restaurant software.
1. Real-time updates
The restaurant is a busy environment. Your software must provide you real-time updates to make up for the information that you might be missing while trying to run the whole restaurant scene. Integrate software that can automatically update your inventory, menu, reservations, and even online orders.
Sending alerts and confirmations should also be automated to keep your staff and customers updated regarding their orders.
2. Multiple and instant payment processes
Convenience is the new key player of the game. Optimize your operations by employing software that can provide multiple payment options and can process payments instantly. Pay-at-the-table is a concept that’s gaining popularity because customers are getting accustomed to instant payment processes.
3. Free marketing tools
Restaurant software has also evolved as the whole industry drives through digitization. It’s not just about processing online and takeaway orders, it can also support your restaurant holistically. Easy marketing such as social media integration, restaurant website integration, and SEO are some of the marketing features this software can offer.
4. Compatible easy
It can be easily integrated into the most popular POS systems and mobile phones for customers.
5. Management system
The new takeaway online ordering system is the type of software that can help you improve your staff and administrative management. Reports and data analysis for your sales, staff management, and marketing plan will be available within a single click.
Benefits of a Restaurant and Takeaway Software
It offers a lot on your plate, restaurant software can transform and revolutionize your entire restaurant operations towards improvement. It’s not just about the increase in sales, but every important element of your restaurant is also well taken care of.
1. Boost in sales
Your restaurant is now capable to cater a huge volume of online and takeaway orders, thanks to your newly adopted software. It also refines the restaurant operations that help you to improve the overall business health of your restaurant that leads to an increase in your average check size.
2. Increase of efficiency in operations
Better staff management and increase in their productivity through staffing features are some of the best parts of restaurant software. Imagine if you’re a restaurant offering Chinese takeaways in Wales, or if you’re located in Scotland and offering Indian takeaways, you’ll be catering to a large takeaway percentage of each territory. 25% of their takeaway percentage preferred the mentioned cuisines.
If you’ll cater to such a market, a productive and efficient operation is a must for your restaurant. It will serve as your main support to keep these numbers going to your business.
3. Better customer care
Capturing necessary data from your customers enables you to create better customer service that’s targeted and tailored according to the preference of your customers. This increases customer engagement and loyalty as it will give customers a sense of value towards their patronage to your business.
Read next: Ways to build Strong Customer Relationships for Your Startup
Challenges of having a Restaurant & Takeaway Software
Online ordering for restaurants is affiliated with its challenges and risks. Know what are the most common challenges to prepare your entire restaurant.
- Cyber-security – One of the major threats for any online transaction is the security of information of the customers, especially of their payment details. While restaurant software always ensures that their security is top-notch, hacking and fraud are still something to look out for.
- Self-service technology – This is a great step for restaurants as it minimizes human errors that can be interacted with other types of the ordering process, but it can be challenging to connect it on your takeaway software.
