I think we can all agree that online ordering is close to becoming a ubiquitous part of restaurant operations. While the movers and shakers are talking about how to use AI and all sorts of fancy technology to optimize the experience and spookily predict which wine you’ll likely order with dinner, few people are working on setting the foundation.

That ends today.

Make Good Lemonade’s biggest responsibility is helping YOU make sure your off-premise works as well as your on-premise. And we don’t want to gate-keep those best practices.

Here we go!

1. Make Online Ordering VERY Visible. When someone visits your homepage, the call to action should be LOUD. Use a bold color, clean font, and clear verbiage. “Order Now!”, “Order Here”, “Order To Go” are all great.

   When someone is ordering online with your establishment they are looking for a quick and easy experience.

   1. Some websites with good calls to action (at the time of publishing):

      1. https://www.bigchicken.com/

      2. https://www.chilis.com/

      3. https://www.culvers.com/

      Why are they good? When you scan the top of the website you can immediately see the button you’re looking for right away.

2. Count Your Clicks. How many clicks does it take to get from “Order Now” to the actual menu? The more questions you ask (pickup? delivery? catering? what’s your zip code? what’s your address?), the more likely people are to say “Eh, forget it” and go order pizza. We’ll call those “Pizza Points”. The point where you’ll just go order a pizza. Best case scenario is that you get them to a menu and ask anything else at checkout. Asking for a zip code is fine if you have multiple locations.

   Catering and To Go should be separate calls to action on your homepage, and, unless you’re redirecting to a 3rd Party Marketplace, you can ask if they want delivery at the end of the order.

   Use the same logic with your checkout experience.

3. Reduce Decision-making. Imagine it’s the end of the workday. You want to pickup food on the way home because it was a long day. You’re tired, your brain hurts, and you just want to get home as soon as possible. Now, imagine that THE ONLY task you have is to order food. And you’re 50% ready to just go get a hot and ready pizza. Build the menu from that view point.

   Offer combo/package and family meals. Require as few options as possible.

   1. Customize Options

      1. Removals for allergens.

      2. Additions for $ upcharges.

      Every customized item that comes through your kitchen slows your kitchen down. If you’re going to allow for additions, make it worth your while by charging for all additions. It makes people more decerning about what they’ll add and also helps recoup your food cost.

   2. Side Options

      Don’t offer more than a dozen side options and be very cautious about offering customization. Your sides shouldn’t be more than a couple of dollars in cost. Allowing customization on those sides is going to cost you more in labor than it might be worth.

   3. Beverages

      Fountain drinks are cheap. It’s worth the profit to offer them for online ordering. WITH CAVEATS.

      1. DO NOT offer unsealed beverages with delivery orders. There is no good way to “seal” them. The melting ice makes the cups sweat so stickers can slide right off. Also, the beverages will be watered down by the time they’re delivered. It’s in your best interest to offer canned or bottled beverages on 3rd parties and for delivery. Make sure you price accordingly to make up those costs.

      2. Drinks are the most forgotten item for off-premise orders. Make sure you’ve got a process set up for team members fulfilling these orders in the store so that beverages are not forgotten.

   4. Upsell items!

      Be mindful of how overwhelming any other options can be when choosing a menu item. If you have, for example, extra sides or sauces elsewhere on the menu, reconsider adding them on items. If you really want to add something more to item modifiers, consider dessert or appetizers. The profit on them is higher than sides or sauces.

4. Make Checkout Easy.

   The order is almost complete! This is another huge Pizza Point. I’d love to pretend that people aren’t driving and ordering food at the same time. Let’s pretend that they’re ordering while at stop-lights. They get to the end of the order and it asks them to fill out their credit card info. Meh. Nevermind. I’ll go order pizza because my info is saved.

   Consider offering Apple Pay or Google Pay or even Bitcoin (haha, kidding. Kinda.). If they can click on Apple Pay or Google Pay, they’ll be more likely to complete that order. Because they’re busy or their wallet is alllllllll the way across their house. That one has happened in our house before. A lot.

5. Make On Prem Easy. Assume that every one coming to your restaurant is visiting for the first time. Help someone through the process for their pickup order.

   1. Parking Lot/Outside Signage. Acknowledge those pickup guests - especially if they need to come in a separate door.

   2. Inside Signage. Consider that a pickup customer is coming into the restaurant during a busy time. Do they need to talk to your host, but your host is busy? Simply hang a sign that says “Pickup Order ↓”. It feels a little redundant, but if your team is busy, it helps the customer feel less awkward. It can also help during slow times too. Make signage removable or changable. If you don’t always have a host during slow times, allow them to add “See Bartender” and remove the arrow. That way they won’t feel awkward. You’d also be surprised at how few restaurants have signage for pickup orders. If your guests feel considered, they may consider picking up orders more frequently.

      Another consideration is that this is “free” publicity for your dine-in guests. Those signs let them know that it’s a service that you offer. If they see you executing well, they’ll be more excited to try it in the future when they don’t want to eat in a restaurant.

Those are our 5 most kick-ass tips for making your customers’ online ordering experience awesome! We hope that you find this helpful. If you need more extensive help with your online menu, feel free to schedule a FREE Consultation here. What did we miss? What should we cover in our next installment?