The Top 5 Questions to Ask When Considering Online Ordering and Delivery for Your Restaurant

You can’t avoid it. Your competitors are doing it. Your customers expect it.

Online ordering and delivery have been consistently named as the biggest potential for growth a restaurant has today.

Recently, a Cowen analyst predicted delivery will grow to $76 billion by 2022, up from $43 billion in 2017. Online ordering has been shown to increase order accuracy by 53% and restaurants have reported sales increases from 10-30% when offering delivery. Those impressive numbers can’t be ignored, but as a restaurant owner or manager you might still be thinking about where to start with offering online ordering and delivery.

If so, here are the top 5 questions to ask before committing to one of the popular delivery services available such as Grubhub, DoorDash or UberEATS:

1. How many delivery services will you use?

Grubhub, DoorDash and UberEATS are just a few of the numerous delivery options available to you. Will one service perform better than others or will you select a couple of services to use? Which services are popular in your area? It may be worth downloading the apps you’re looking at and seeing which ones have the best service and availability. Or you have the option of hiring your own driver, but you’ll miss out on getting in front of customers already using an app like Postmates.

2. Do you have space for extra kiosks on your counter? 

Multiple delivery services can come with the installation of a tablet or kiosk dedicated to each one. The footprint can be extensive so you’ll need to consider counter space. Also, when dealing with in-house customers and the phone ringing, your staff will need to be able to catch all kiosk order alerts for delivery. Keep reading to find out how to avoid this clutter altogether.

3. Will you need extra dedicated staff to handle all the orders?

Many restaurants using delivery have needed to dedicate an employee to enter incoming orders from a delivery kiosk into the POS system, especially during busy hours where an order could easily be missed. Another thing to consider is whether your kitchen can handle more orders during the rush or if you will use delivery to make more sales just when the kitchen is slow.

Using Omnivore to integrate your delivery orders directly into your POS system is one way to decrease labor costs associated with delivery, while eliminating a point of failure that could make all the difference between a positive customer review and a negative one.

4. How will delivery impact your POS system?

The point of sale (POS) system is the heart of your restaurant, tracking your sales and sending orders to your kitchen. Will your POS be affected if you connect one, two or more delivery solutions to your system? Delivery aggregator companies using Omnivore, like Chowly, can connect your POS with numerous online ordering platforms with one POS integration. Also, installing Omnivore’s universal API directly enables you easily accommodate multiple delivery options and eliminate the kiosk counter chaos. (And it’s free to restaurateurs.)

5. Once the food is delivered, will the ROI on online ordering & delivery be worth it?

As you get started with delivery, you’ll need to closely watch the impact it is making on your overall business.The extra labor and commission costs could make delivery more hassle than it’s worth. Keep an eye on your ROI by comparing the cost of an in-house driver vs. the costs associated with each third-party option you consider. Are there ways you can use delivery to maximize resources you already have? Would it make more sense for your restaurant to offer online ordering for takeout only? Are the costs of a third-party delivery service worth it if you figure in the marketing benefits you get by appearing on their app?

Asking the right questions helps reduce the risk of offering new technology your restaurant needs. We hope these questions set you up to offer online ordering and/or delivery in a way that boosts your business.

Is there anything we missed? Leave a comment below.