Online Ordering After COVID-19
Restaurants around the country opened this summer after more than a year of pandemic-related complications. To adapt, many opened contactless dining options. Delivery was by far the most popular option, as it was a convenient way for guests and restaurants to safely continue doing business together. Yet despite service floors reopening to sit-down customers, online ordering continues to flourish. Why is that?
The obvious benefits of food delivery caused many people to predict that its prevalence would remain as the danger waned. Throughout 2020, people became very comfortable using their phones to get their favorite meals delivered, ready and fresh, to their doors. Meanwhile it’s still an effective sales channel as long as you have the right tools for a cost-effective system. Starting takeout channels can involve a lot of time and money depending on what you have to work with.
Photo courtesy of eatOS
Online Ordering Systems Grow
Takeout also enjoyed, and continue to experience, favor in the restaurant community. New services launch all the time. Why? It’s a faster way for restaurants to get online and start making money, so plenty are clamoring for an online ordering system that fits their needs.
It’s not all third party platforms like Uber Eats, either. Consider eatOS Point of Sale, for example. We created orderOS to take mobile orders from your customers on a branded app made just for you. That comes with:
no third party commission fees.
seamless integration into your existing POS system.
cloud connectivity for instantaneous communication with the back of house.
menu syncing to automatically send updates to the whole store at once.
a focus on customer loyalty by providing features like notifications when their order is ready, delivery tracking and more.
Given that these are beneficial capabilities with or without the pandemic, people aren’t giving up on online ordering yet.
Will This Trend Continue?
At least in some places, COVID-19 is getting worse, not better. Mask mandates are going back into effect in places like California. Meanwhile, the Delta variant is a growing threat to health and safety. Cases are rising in a lot of places with a plethora of unvaccinated residents. Not only is COVID-19 not over, but it could be coming back again.
Thus the online ordering industry won’t grow as quickly anymore, but it is still growing. Habits developed during the pandemic are now integral aspects of a positive guest experience. Some have even seeped into dine-in service. For example, eatOS has QR Code ordering that lets customers scan the code at the table to bring up a mobile menu. Then they can order and pay from their phones. Clearly, though online ordering may not be as ubiquitous as it was during the height of the pandemic since people are excited to go out again, it will remain a very popular option—particularly for younger generations.
Photo by Beth Macdonald on Unsplash
