Setting Up Your Restaurant to Sell Online
The ability to sell your products online gives you the potential to reach a wider audience and grow your revenues and customer base. In many ways, it is easy to get up and running with an online ordering presence, but it’s also not quite as simple as taking your menu and making it available online.
If you are new to online ordering or would like some pointers, we have consulted a variety of restaurateurs with experience of selling online and off-premises consumption for some pointers to avoid initial problems as you expand into a digital space.
What Products Should I Sell Online?
When it comes to providing food products to be consumed away from your premises, there are considerations relating to safety, quality and customer satisfaction. Before offering a product for Online Ordering, here are some questions to ask yourself.
- Do I have the appropriate packaging to deliver this product in a safe, secure and satisfactory manner?
- Can this product endure the strains of being transported?
- Am I confident this product will reach my customer in a condition that represents my business well?
- Is this product suitable to be safely reheated if necessary?
- Do I need to provide specific instructions around reheating?
- Are there legal restrictions around the sale of this product?
Based on your answers to the above questions, you should have a good sense of which products are suited to consumption off-premises and which ones ideally need to be served in your venue. Next, it’s worth considering how your employees understand what needs to happen when accepting and preparing online orders.
Staff Training
On the surface, it can seem that preparing food for delivery or pick-up is straight-forward, but in reality, processes need to be established and clearly communicated to your team in order to avoid overwhelming your kitchen and underwhelming your customers. When it comes to your operations for online ordering, here are some things to consider.
- Do my staff understand when to turn off the ability to accept online orders (i.e. busy periods, holidays, reduced staff)?
- Has my staff been adequately trained on how to prepare these products in a way that is suitable for transportation?
- Does my delivery staff have adequate training for the fulfilment of orders?
- Does my delivery staff know how to deal with errors or complaints quickly and effectively?
Making the Most of Online Ordering
While having the capacity to accept online orders is a new frontier for many small businesses, the basic techniques of promoting upsell and increasing revenue per customers are also applicable in the environment. talech’s Online Ordering feature gives businesses a high degree of customization and flexibility to showcase their products on their terms.
- Make it easy for customers which clearly defined, common-sense categories
- Use high quality pictures of your products where possible
- Bundle groups of products to give customers quick and appealing multi-course options
- Layout your variations to make it easy for customers to make the adjustments they want
- Position complimentary products close to each other
- Use product descriptions to provide key information about each product, but avoid using large blocks of text
Getting Your Descriptions Write
Describing multiple similar products in a way that is accurate, enticing and also avoids excessive repetition can be difficult, here are a few suggestions.
Fresh
Succulent
Mouth-watering
Tasty
Delectable
Classic
Appetizing
Tempting
Heavenly
Locally sourced
Flavoursome
Delicious
Yummy
Satisfying
Tender
Savoury
Nutritious
Tantalizing
