In a recent survey, restaurant owners were asked what was driving their digital investment plans. The top answer by a distance, picked out by 61% of respondents, was ‘improving digital customer engagement.’
At first glance, this sounds pretty vague. What exactly is ‘digital customer engagement’? But reading more closely, it becomes clear what the report’s authors are talking about. By ‘digital customer engagement’, they mean digital touchpoints that customers can use to interact with the business. In the restaurant industry, the prime example of this is digital ordering.
Digital ordering has taken off in recent years in an explosion of delivery aggregator apps, digital menus and alternative payment methods. Now it has emerged as the top tech investment priority for restaurateurs, it seems a good moment to take pause and ask – what exactly does digital ordering offer the restaurant industry? And what are the practicalities of adoption, especially in terms of integrating with your existing POS?
What Is Digital Ordering?
The simplest definition of digital ordering is any kind of restaurant or food service order that involves the internet. But don’t let that simplicity fool you – as an umbrella term, digital ordering has come to cover an impressively wide range of options. These include:
- web‑based ordering (via a website and browser)
- mobile ordering via an app
- self‑order kiosks
- scan-and-pay using QR codes
- digital menus via tablets or interactive screens
Web and mobile app ordering options can be ‘first party’, i.e. operated by the restaurant itself. Or as is increasingly common with the proliferation of aggregators like Just Eat and Uber Eats, they can be run by third parties, too.
This also underlines a complex truth about digital ordering. Restaurant owners are not dealing with just one of these channels. They are under pressure to roll out several, if not all of them, in order to meet diners’ demands for choice, flexibility and convenience, in and out of the restaurant.
Benefits of Digital Ordering for Restaurant Owners
The big benefit of embracing digital ordering was summed up in the last paragraph. Adding more options for ordering and paying enhances the customer experience and increases satisfaction. And diners appreciate it. 77% of customers say they like the speed and ease of online ordering, while 79% say they are satisfied with the speed of digital payment processes. This is why restaurateurs are prioritising investment in digital engagement.
This translates into direct business benefits. Satisfied customers are more likely to return and more likely to spend more, cutting customer acquisition costs and boosting average order value (AOV). Digital ordering systems can further help boost AOVs by making targeted cross- and up-sell recommendations – something that has been very apparent in the success of self-ordering kiosks in the QSR sector.
The convenience and speed of digital ordering also brings significant efficiency gains. Diners ordering from their table, or even pre-ordering on an app before they arrive, cuts the time it takes for a member of staff to walk to the table, take the order, and take it to the kitchen. That means reduced time-per-serving, so you can serve more customers per session – which again means higher revenues.
Integrating Digital Ordering into Your Existing POS
Whether you’re looking to introduce kiosks or on-table tablets, scan-and-go or join a delivery aggregator, all digital ordering tools have to co-exist with your existing digital systems. The best way to do this is to focus on integration with your existing POS. Your POS is already set up for running crucial functions like logging sales and updating inventory. It therefore provides a natural hub for adding further options, and means all systems and data are streamlined in one place.
This means making sure that any ordering systems you consider are compatible with your current POS on both a software and hardware level. Many such services are available these days as plug-and-play SaaS solutions. But you may still need technical assistance to ensure correct integration, especially if you’re looking at connecting multiple tools at once.
The best advice is to speak to your POS partner about your plans to introduce digital ordering options, and get their view on the best options for your current system. At Oxhoo, we’re always happy to share our expertise this way, so please get in touch to get the conversation started.