How can restaurants increase profits from online sales?

Since the COVID-19 epidemic, ordering food online is becoming more and more popular with people. Many restaurants or cafes have taken advantage of this opportunity and have deployed online sales channels in parallel with the on-site dining business to attract more customers and increase revenue.


Online food business is a "fertile land" that many big and small names in the F&B industry pay attention to exploit. Not only in big cities, but gradually in smaller localities, this online food ordering service has also appeared.

However, there are many restaurants and cafes that are doing business online and find that despite their best efforts, their delivery orders still do not bring in the expected revenue. Let the newbie "tip" to shop owners some ways to increase profits from online sales in the article below!

1. Have your own online sales website

Many restaurants, eateries or cafes are using online ordering systems through delivery applications such as GrabFood, Baemin or ShopeeFood. However, this approach is a double-edged sword when the shops can reach a large number of users of online applications, but at the same time have to bear a very large percentage of commissions, which can be up to up to 35%.

Not only that, in order for the restaurant to appear more, it is necessary to meet the criteria of the app to be able to receive the "Favorite Restaurant" badge. Not to mention, in addition to having to bear a high discount, the shop also has to follow the promotions that the app offers, and must share customers with competitors. In addition, the restaurant will also not be able to manage customer data.

So, instead of losing a commission for the app, the restaurant uses its own website to help customers order food directly on it. Website is considered the "face" of a restaurant, usually before going to a restaurant, customers will find out information on the website. There is nothing more convenient when they can both see information about the restaurant and can order right there.

By building their own online sales website, the restaurant can also develop a shipper team at the same time, being autonomous in the entire process from when customers view the menu, order online to delivery. Initially, this construction will take a lot of time and money, but when it is stable, it will bring greater profits to restaurants than using online food ordering apps. 

2. Streamline the restaurant's online food menu

To ensure a stable online customer base and earn a lot of revenue from here, the restaurant needs to consider building an experience for online customers that is as perfect as when customers eat directly on the spot. One of the things that customers often wonder and hesitate before ordering food online is whether the food when delivered is hot or not, well packaged, delicious as eaten right away. when done or not...

Therefore, when deciding to open more online sales channels, restaurants and cafes need to pay attention to reviewing their menus to evaluate: which dishes still retain their quality even when they need to go. A long way, any dish will not be as delicious as when eating on the spot, … 

Not only that, among the items that can be delivered, the restaurant must also choose the right packaging for each different type of food: items that need to be kept hot (pizza, cheese dishes), dishes that need to be kept warm. cold and hard (yogurt, milk tea), watery dishes (pho, vermicelli, soup). The fact that the food is carefully packaged when delivered to the customer will be a "plus point" to help customers trust the service of the restaurant and is very likely to order again.

When you have classified the dishes that the restaurant serves in such detail, the restaurant can build a reasonable online sales menu, ensuring that it can both meet the needs of customers and keep the best quality. However, restaurants should try not to remove best-sellers from online menus unless the item is not available for delivery, otherwise it will significantly reduce revenue from online sales.

3. Use incentives to attract customers

Online food ordering apps are used by a lot of people because they often have discount codes for customers. They can apply two or three discount codes at the same time to bring the price of food down very low, or use the loyalty program to redeem points for incentives.

Similarly, restaurants should also apply regular promotions to stimulate customers to order more. If restaurants and eateries are selling online via hotlines, Facebook fanpages or websites, they can consider some forms of promotion such as: gifting extra items if you buy high-value orders, freeship for surrounding areas. , organize random giveaways or deep discounts on special occasions. 

Currently, in the context that more and more people prefer to order food rather than buy it on the spot, many restaurants still regularly have special promotions for online customers. For example, pizza brands often have a buy 1 get 1 free program on a certain day of the week for customers to order pizza, or launch discount vouchers on shopping apps for customers to "hunt deals", enjoy Enjoy ordering food online at extremely low prices.

4. Develop a restaurant's own app

Website is still considered an effective assistant for restaurant business activities. However, in the context of rapidly developing technology and most of us owning smartphones, a professional website is not enough, compact and convenient applications on phones will help restaurants reach customers well. than.

This application should have full restaurant information, address, menu, price, reservation and most importantly, online ordering function. When building their own app, the restaurant needs to pay attention to the design so that it is both creative, typical of the restaurant, and scientific so that customers can easily read the menu and order. 

Not only is it more convenient for online ordering, restaurant's own apps can also help with customer care and enhance a more personalized customer experience. Through the account registration information on the customer's app, the restaurant can classify customers, regularly send preferential information, e-vouchers or gifts to customers.

5. Reduce delivery time as low as possible

Another way for restaurants to increase revenue from online sales is to increase the delivery speed of the shipper team, reducing the waiting time of customers. Fast delivery can help the restaurant's dishes do not have to take too long to reach customers, online customers when enjoying the food will still feel the full quality of it like when eating on the spot. 

When receiving an online order, the restaurant can estimate the processing time, the distance traveled to give customers a timeline to receive the goods as quickly as possible. However, to do this is not easy because the restaurant will have to build its own shipper team, not depending on the third party delivery, as well as have to take full responsibility for the quality of the food when it comes to food. assigned.

Currently, it's usually pizza restaurants and a handful of other big-name restaurants that can build their own fleet of shippers. For restaurants, other small cafes still prefer to order shippers from shipping units. 

6. Conclusion

Customers today love to order online because there is no time pressure like when there is a waiter standing next to you in a restaurant, they can go through the entire menu as many times as they want before deciding to eat a dish. what. To make good use of this opportunity when selling food online, restaurants should make new improvements in service, provide the best experience for customers and motivate them to continue ordering food online. restaurant again. 

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