How to Keep Your Restaurant Successful by Outsourcing Off-Premise Orders

With the rise of food delivery apps like Grubhub and UberEats, restaurants are forced to offer their service outside of their physical location in order to stay competitive. However, the big disadvantage to using Off-Premise Mobile Apps like UberEats and Grubhub are that the customer belongs to them – the restaurant does not get the contact information of the customer. This means there is no opportunity for the restaurant to include that customer in a loyalty program or build a profitable long term relationship with them. Another big disadvantage to these mobile apps are how they charge 30 - 40% of the check amount, which deters both the restaurants and customers from using these apps completely. They are too costly for the restaurant to use, and too expensive for the customer to order from. There is a new model that restaurants are using to retain customer information, serve off-premise orders, and keep costs low: Outsourcing their off-premise orders to a Restaurant Call Center, such as OrderSolutions.

Why use off-premise ordering?

Off-premise ordering is a major success for restaurants in a wide range of industries, and it can be for your restaurant too. Off-premise ordering helps restaurants acquire new customers they may not have had otherwise. It’s an easy way to increase revenue for any brick-and-mortar or online restaurant.

Restaurants that offer this service are able to sell more products to the same number of customers who visit their location. This is because many people want to order food ahead of time when they’re at home or when they’re on the go. It helps drive traffic, increase sales, and generate more revenue in the long run.

For many restaurants, off-premise orders are a large portion of their revenue (sometimes over 30%). Staffing issues have made it difficult for restaurants to fulfill most of the off-premise orders, as employees have to constantly juggle in-store task with answering phone calls/orders.

A restaurant call center will provide the necessary staffing to capture all of those missed phone orders and send them to your restaurant to be fulfilled. The restaurant also receives the customer and order information from the call center, allowing the restaurant to take strategic actions that will increase their profitability even further (seeing repeat customers, popular menu items, popular upsells, etc.)

OrderSolutions is the #1 Restaurant Call Center in the United States and has a particular focus on increasing the average check size through upselling relevant menu items. See more information here.

How to set up your restaurant for off-premise ordering

Off-premise ordering means that customers can order food for pickup or delivery at a later date. Restaurants offer off-premise ordering for a variety of reasons:

1) Increased revenues: Offering off-premise ordering allows restaurants to increase their revenue by widening their market and bringing in more customers.

2) Easier access to customers: Off-premise ordering is an important way to reach new customers who may not have time to visit your location during lunch hours, or who live too far away from your restaurant.

3) Reduced staffing requirements: With off-premise ordering, you don’t need as many employees on the floor because you don’t need to process transactions in person. You can also save money on kitchen staff by using existing equipment for off-premise orders.

4) More satisfied customers: Offering off-premise ordering improves customer satisfaction by providing them with more options and allowing them to get exactly what they want. Customers appreciate the convenience of smooth, off-premise operations.

What are the best practices for using an off-premise ordering service?

There are qualifications for both the restaurant and the off-premise ordering service to be working together. The off-premise ordering service must be proven in their typical results, and the restaurant must show that it has a large amount of phone orders that come in every month with a worthy average ticket size. Otherwise, it is not worth it for either party. Restaurant call centers use live agents to take orders, and if there are not enough orders coming in for your restaurant, then it is not cost effective for either party (restaurant is paying for a service that cannot perform).

OrderSolutions offers a free Pilot Test to demonstrate results and will also tell you if you qualify for their program in less than 24 hours. You can set up a demo with them here.

Conclusion

Outsourcing your off-premise orders is a great way to focus on your restaurant and keep your customers happy. Avoid off-premise mobile apps, as they charge too much and withhold customer information from the restaurant. Use a restaurant call center to retain control and keep costs low.