Do you run a fast-food outlet or restaurant and are thinking of integrating home delivery? It's an excellent opportunity to meet your customers' new expectations and boost your sales. But before you take the plunge, there are a number of steps you need to take to ensure the success of this service. Find out how to implement home delivery in your fast food business.
Why launch a home delivery service?
Today, offering a delivery service is essential in the foodservice sector. With new consumer habits, it's crucial to adapt and expand sales channels. Here are 3 reasons to launch a home delivery service for your fast food business:
1. Keep abreast of restaurant trends
Since the health crisis, home delivery has developed strongly thanks to platforms such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo, enabling many restaurateurs to meet these new demands. Today, more and more people don't want to travel to eat or do their shopping. Delivery enables us to broaden and satisfy this new clientele.
According to Les Echos, In 2018, 1 in 2 French people had already used a meal delivery service. Four years later, this figure has risen to 60%. This just goes to show the extent to which delivery is now ingrained in consumer habits!
2. Increase sales
Integrating home delivery into your strategy is also a way of boosting your revenues. By offering this service, you multiply your sales channels and reach a wider customer base. As not all fast food outlets offer home delivery, you gain a significant competitive advantage (especially in urban areas where competition is fierce).
7 out of 10 restaurateurs believe that delivery makes a significant contribution to sales, and 67% consider it to be a profitable business. (Source: Francenum.gouv). And according to Les Echos, the average bill for meals delivered is 80% higher than for meals eaten on site. Customers are often tempted to order more or add options to their meals, which has a direct impact on your sales.
3. Building customer loyalty
Home delivery isn't just about attracting new customers, it's also about retaining existing ones. According to Skeat, a loyal customer spends 67% more on average than a new customer. And online booking is an excellent tool for building customer loyalty: "10% discount", "one product bought = one product offered", loyalty programs... All these initiatives encourage customers to come back regularly to order.
Choosing a delivery platform for my fast-food restaurant
One of the most important steps is choosing the right delivery platform for your restaurant. Delivery services such as Deliveroo, UberEats or AlloResto allow you to fully manage ordering and delivery. They are very popular and offer wide access to users. That's why 88% of restaurateurs opt for these national platforms to reach their customers. (Source: Francenum.gouv)
Uber Eats
Advantages :
- High visibility thanks to a large user base.
- Access to a diversified customer base.
- Intuitive, easy-to-use interface for order management.
Disadvantages :
- High commissions, up to 30% of each order.
- Less control over delivery management (managed by the platform).
Deliveroo
Advantages :
- High visibility and access to a large customer base.
- Simplified order management via a user-friendly interface.
- No need to manage delivery logistics.
Disadvantages :
- Commissions that reduce profit margins.
- Limited flexibility: adapt menus and offers to the platform's expectations.
👉 To find out more: Top 4 meal delivery platforms
What are the advantages of having your own online ordering system?
As a restaurateur, you can also opt to develop your own online ordering service. This option offers a number of interesting advantages:
- Total independence: You're no longer dependent on external platforms like UberEats or Deliveroo, so you retain total control over your business.
- No commissions: Unlike delivery platforms, which charge high commissions on every order, you retain your full margins.
- Direct customer relations: You interact directly with your customers, enabling you to better understand their needs and personalize their experience.
- Data control: You have access to customer data, enabling you to better target your marketing campaigns and build customer loyalty.
- Flexibility: You can adjust your offers, promotions and menus at any time, according to the needs of your business and your customers.
By using your own online ordering system, combined with a connected cash register and kitchen management system (KDS), you can centralize and simplify the entire process, from the moment the customer places the order right through to delivery.
The 3 must-have solutions
1. Order online
Online ordering allows customers to place their orders directly via your website or mobile app, greatly simplifying order-taking for your restaurant.
- You can manage your own menus, photos and promotions.
- You develop a direct relationship with your customers, without intermediaries, which improves the customer experience.
2. Cash register
A connected cash register plays a central role in managing your various sales channels. Whether the order is placed on-site, takeaway or online, everything is brought together in a single point:
- You get an overview of your sales and figures across all channels.
- You can easily manage order flows, optimize food preparation and track the progress of each order in real time.
3. Production display (KDS: Kitchen Display System)
The Kitchen Display System, or KDS, enables your kitchen team to manage orders more efficiently.
Its 3 main advantages:
- online orders stand out visually from other orders, so you never get lost in the flow,
- as the command is clearly detailed on the screen, the risk of error is virtually nil,
- all orders are prioritized, so that the right order is served at the right time, on the spot, on delivery or to take away.
To help you make this transition to digital, Innovorder offers a complete range of solutions. Thanks to these innovative tools, you can easily centralize your order management and offer your customers a seamless delivery experience, while maintaining control over your margins and organization.
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Would you like to implement online ordering in your restaurant? Contact our team of restaurant experts for tailor-made support.
