People love takeaway food for several reasons. It’s perfect for people with busy schedules who want to get good without unnecessary hassle. And with the increasing number of this type of customers, it’s such a shame not to cater to them. This is why almost every restaurant these days strives to offer the most convenient takeaway service to their customers.
Today, the demand for takeouts continues to grow, forcing restaurants to routinely improve their service to attract more orders. Offering a takeaway service would be useless if it’s not efficient. From better details about the food, easy ordering, seamless payments, to delivery speed, everything must be on point. To guide you in creating a better takeaway service, here are some smart restaurateur moves for you.
1. Create a specific takeout menu
Having a different menu for takeout is advisable if you’re planning to focus on this service. Consider that certain dishes are not made for takeaway. They either create havoc to package in your kitchen, or they don’t travel well. You don’t want your customers to have spoiled and improperly packaged food.
Whether online or in your physical location, ensure that customers are readily presented with a takeout menu when they need it. You can boost your takeout menu’s order sizes by offering combo deals and late-night specials.
2. Make it more convenient
The traditional method for takeouts is offering them right at your physical restaurant. However, customers these days are always looking for more convenience. If you want to maximize your restaurant’s reach, there are two things you can do: set up an online ordering system or have kiosks at different places.
For online ordering, you can use a third-party food delivery website or your own site for placing online orders. Not everyone prefers to call restaurants to order. An online ordering system will give them more freedom and time to check the entire takeout or delivery menu without someone waiting on the other line.
As for kiosks, many restaurants and fast-food chains set these up to provide guests with more convenience for ordering. Depending on your takeout menu, you can set up food and snack kiosk carts to serve people who don’t want to travel and go inside a restaurant with a long queue. Foodservice kiosk carts are ideal for easy-to-prep meals or drinks. Plus, this helps you reach more local customers who live too far from your restaurant, boosting your takeout sales.
3. Invest in quality food packaging
Not many restaurant owners realize the importance of investing in long-lasting food bags and containers with their logo. Most restaurateurs create packaging that doesn’t have their logo and restaurant name or is made from disposable materials. One innovative way to approach this is to invest in food-safe and eco-friendly containers that your customers can reuse multiple times. This is indeed a costly investment, but its marketing and sustainability impact are long-lasting.
You’re not only helping in preserving the planet but also have your branded containers in your customers’ homes for years. In addition, all order boxes or containers must have instructions and labels to ensure customers’ health and safety. These are great tricks to stand out among your competitors, especially independent restaurants that don’t have branded packaging yet.
4. Assign a takeout expeditor
The communication and workflow in a commercial kitchen can get chaotic without an expeditor. Also known as food expeditors, they are responsible for managing different aspects of a restaurant. These include managing supply, monitoring food safety, facilitating orders, to maintaining quality control. By having a dedicated expeditor for your takeout service, you can assure that every takeaway order is safely and accurately prepared as per the customer’s request.
Your takeout expeditor can minimize order mistakes, unnecessary delays in food preparation and ensure overall kitchen efficiency. Take note that even the slightest errors in the delivery or takeout orders cost your restaurant time and money. The worst thing is, customers will get annoyed and request a refund. In general, an expeditor can also monitor the storeroom, facilitate communication between the kitchen and the front of the house, and deliver plates to dine-in customers.
Offering an amazing takeaway service in your restaurant can give you the sales and reputation to stand out in this modern business landscape. But no matter if it’s the sales for your business or you want to offer unparalleled convenience to your loyal customers, a takeaway service is a perfect opportunity to do that. Consider using the strategies here to improve your restaurant service and earn customer loyalty.
