There is a book called The Influentials, based on the premise that “one American in ten tells the other nine how to vote, where to eat, and what to buy.”

You know Influentials.  You have friends that are Influentials.  You have business associates that are Influentials.  You could even be an Influential.  Here are some common traits of an Influential:
•    They have a high profile in the community - local government leaders, those active in service clubs, high-profile businesspeople, etc.
•    They have lots of friends (Facebook and real friends).  They are always greeting someone, or someone is always greeting them.
•    They are everywhere - the Supermarket, PTA meetings, Little League games.  They just seem to be around.
•    People respect their opinions, often on a wide variety of issues.

Take special care of Influentials, because they can/will spread the word about your restaurant.  Here are some easy tips:
•    Always make a point to speak with them, even if it’s just to say hello.
•    Try giving them a complimentary sample of a new dish so they can talk it up.
•    Make sure your wait staff knows who these people are (and gets their order correct).

And, of course, talk up your online ordering capabilities.  A few minutes/comments can go a long way towards your bottom line.

Ask Sunny Bravin, treasurer of Baggin's Gourmet Sandwiches, about their biggest surprise since launching NetWaiter online ordering.  The answer is one that would bring a smile to the face of any restaurant owner.

"New customers," she says.  "We've really seen an increase.  We don't know where they are coming from, especially since we are just starting to market online ordering.  We suspect word of mouth might have something to do with it."

Baggin's initially saw online ordering as an efficiency tool to serve their current customers more quickly.  “We wanted to decrease customers being placed on hold," she said.  "If they have to wait, they will go someplace else."

Baggin's, which started in 1984, has eight stores in the Tucson, Arizona market.  Seven now offer NetWaiter, and by February, all eight stores will be online.

"We've had great customer feedback," said Sunny.  "Lots of people are commenting about how much they like the options online, but I think for most people it’s the convenience.  They can get in and out of the store quickly.  That's what they want."

Sunny says that Baggin's is planning a big marketing push for online ordering.  She's looking at T-shirts, messages on their store bags, a social media push through Facebook and Twitter, and maybe even radio.  "We will also be doing a big push through our employees," she said.  "Already, our standard phone answer includes a message about online ordering.”

Sunny also added that she is eager to use the NetWaiter management console to market.  “I knew that we were we were going to have some options for emailing customers,” said Sunny, “but I am really astonished at the level to which I can customize and track our offerings.  It’s a powerful tool."

According to AIS Media, as many as 89% of potential customers visit a restaurant's website as part of their decision-making process.  If your website is adorned with attractive, appetizing photos of your top-selling dishes, you greatly increase your chances of winning over customers.

NetWaiter offers clients the ability to include photos of individual menu items as well as photos for each category.  We recommend all clients use these features.

Here are some tips on how to photograph items from your menu (with some ideas from Running Restaurants):

1.    Get online.  Check out other restaurants and their use of photography.  Determine what you like and what you think would look good with your restaurant and menu.  Cheesy photography can certainly turn away good customers.

2.    With the NetWaiter Management Console, you can add photos as they become available.  Set a goal to add 10 photos a month (or whatever amount is achievable).

3.    Make sure your food is well lit, perhaps near a window with natural sunlight (but not direct sunlight).  Avoid using a flash, which is often harsh and tends to show shadows.

4.    Avoid blurry photographs.  Try supporting the camera on a tripod or other steady surface.

Several years ago, a trade magazine in the restaurant industry released a survey on the top five complaints from takeout customers. Included, were leaky containers.  It’s a big problem and one that may cost you customers.

Another undercurrent in the industry also pertains to takeout customers and takeout containers.  As pointed out in a recent article from BeyondthePlate.com, more and more takeout customers are looking for restaurants that offer environmentally friendly containers.  “These products contain renewable resources, and are also compostable, biodegradable, petroleum free and nontoxic,” said the article.

Taking it one step further, The Pho Bar in Berkeley, CA, uses reusable stainless steel containers called tiffins.  NetWaiter worked with The Pho Bar to not only facilitate online ordering, but to develop a system to keep track of their tiffins.

If the environmental efforts at your restaurant center around reusable containers, or containers made from biodegradable or renewable resource, it’s an important point to advertise, especially on your website and via social media.  Survey after survey shows that restaurants making a commitment to a greener earth get ‘points’ with customers.

It’s not too late to set your sights on the New Year.  It’s also the perfect opportunity to implement online ordering, or, if you’re already using it, evaluate and refine things for 2013.

Here are some considerations:

Developing a Takeout Strategy - Takeout customers are different than other customers.  They look for and expect different things.  Check out our July newsletter article for some information and tips to accommodate this segment.

Mobile Ordering is the New Frontier - According to Restaurant Hospitality, up to 30% of your website traffic comes from mobile devices.  That number will only climb, yet industry reports say that less than 5% of restaurants have a mobile-friendly site.  Check out NetWaiter's advice for being mobile friendly.

Don’t Violate Common Takeout Sins - Online ordering is a great tool for customer convenience and control, but that doesn’t mean your restaurant isn’t screwing up somewhere else in the process.  Do you violate any of the common problems associated with takeout?  Check out this blog post about the most common pet peeves of takeout customers.

With 25% of our business take-out, we believe NetWaiter is an essential part of our business model.  With phone orders, it's easy to make mistakes, but with NetWaiter, we know the orders are correct and always in the system.  On-time and mistake free orders make for very happy repeat customers.  The Management Console is also a great tool as it's easy to navigate and edit.  It also offers us a look at what many of our satisfied customers have ordered by showing the Most Popular Items displayed front and center.

John Himelstein

Gingergrass

After researching several options, including building our own online ordering system, we found that NetWaiter was the most economical and proven system on the market. Our online orders continue to grow and we couldn't be more pleased. The ease of functionality and ability to make changes on the fly is superior.

Casie Caldwell

Greenz, salads for Z’adventurous

NetWaiter has completely changed the way we do business.  We’ve been able to maximize our productivity and streamline our operations.  The low risk implementation and cost was exactly what our small business needed.  The Management Console is super easy and exciting; the power to update your menu offerings instantly and manipulate your site at your whim is beyond convenient - it’s genius!  We offer such a custom menu, I never could imagine that an online ordering system could not only meet our needs, but do it in such a short time.  Our representative was not only knowledgeable, but patient, and worked with us to get everything right and actually understood our needs.  Bottom line… our concept, with NetWaiter’s innovation, equals more profit.

Jasmine Ali

Lovable Foods

There are many local businesses and offices - accounting agencies, real estate companies, non-profit groups, law firms, etc. - that bring in catered meals on a regular basis.

Whether it’s a board meeting, an extended client session, or employee luncheon – it’s often desirable for them to have it catered in.

The receptionist or administrative assistant is often responsible for placing these types of orders.  Make sure these local businesses (and their office assistants) know your restaurant offers online ordering.  Once they experience the ease and convenience of ordering online, they will return again and again.

Andrea Snyder of Urban Cookhouse, with multiple locations in Alabama, says that online ordering results in larger orders, especially at the catering level.  "When these large orders come in via telephone, customers often try to negotiate, which cuts into our profit margin.  Catering orders coming in online, however, obviously bypass that process.  The customers are happy to trade saving a few dollars for the convenience NetWaiter provides them."

Make sure your local businesses know your restaurant is the best bet (and most convenient) for their catering needs!

Don't overlook your wait staff as marketers.  The best way to spread the message of your online ordering system is through your employees.  Make sure they understand how it works and how convenient it is for customers.

Don’t forget to double check orders.  Online customers are your best customers - make sure their order is accurate.  With all of the information printed, there’s no excuse for overlooking the request for extra dressing.

Don’t forget to tell phone callers they can order online.  Some restaurants go so far to include messages about their NetWaiter site for customers that are on hold.

Don’t forget to post your QR Code.  All Smartphone users should be offered the ability to scan your QR code to link them directly to your mobile ordering site.

Don’t make your customers click around to start their order.  Place your “Order Online” button on your homepage, with one click access, so it’s visible at the top of your site, without the need to scroll.

If you don't have online ordering from NetWaiter, don't go another day without it.  You’re missing out on valuable sales.  Takeout customers look for convenience.  If you’re not offering it, customers are going elsewhere.

This month, we wanted to highlight some NetWaiter tools available to restaurant owners. 

NetWaiter Social Widget – About a year ago, we unveiled the NetWaiter social widget.  If enabled, this field appears on the front page of a NetWaiter site, allowing restaurants to post announcements, updates, or promotions.  You can advertise the soup-of-the-day, a special on a popular appetizer, or some other message that lets your customers know what’s going on at your restaurant.  Customers can also use it to interact with your restaurant, leave comments, or giving a ‘thumbs-up’ to one of your posts.  Of course, as owner, you have control over what messages are displayed and can edit posts in the NetWaiter Management Console.

Hide / Show Functionality - Many restaurants have special dishes or items with limited quantities.  “Homemade Lasagna” is a good example.  If your restaurant were to run out of Lasagna, or any other dish, you can simply ‘Hide’ the item in your Management Console to temporarily make it disappear from your online menu.  When it becomes available again, simply ‘Show’ the item.  This prevents the need to delete and re-add items, and also keeps hidden items in the same position on your menu.

Variable Prep Times – NetWaiter just released a new feature that allows restaurants the ability to configure Prep Times based on the time and day of the week.  The normal "Default Prep Time" allows restaurants to indicate when an order could be made immediately available (i.e. 15 mins).  During rush periods, however, it may take longer for meals to be prepared.  This feature lets restaurants configure different Prep Times based on the day and time.  Is Friday at 6:00pm busy for your restaurant?  Solution: set your Prep Time to 25 minutes, rather than your normal 15 minutes.

Remember the supermodel Cindy Crawford? Her motto was, "The camera never blinks." She realized she had to look stunning all the time.  For restaurants, the motto is, "Yelp never blinks." Anyone can put a review of your restaurant on Yelp, and once a bad review is up there, it’s virtually impossible to remove.

How important are Yelp ratings for your restaurant?  According to a recent article in the Economic Journal and reported by Mashable.com, a Yelp rating increase of just a half-star can translate to a rise in peak-hour traffic by as much as 19%.


But here’s the inside story - according to Mashable, Yelp rates restaurants between 1 and 5 stars, and they round to the nearest half-star.  "A restaurant with a rating of 3.24 will show 3 stars.  A restaurant with five or more reviews and a slightly higher average of 3.26 rating will display 3.5 stars."  What a difference .02 can make!

Here are some tips for dealing with Yelp reviews:
•    Ask customers who are in your restaurant several times a week to review your restaurant on Yelp.  A few sentences will do it.  Each rating will show you who posted the review.  Perhaps you can reward them with an appetizer or free drink the next time they’re in.
•    People always remember the last thing you did for them.  If a customer complains because the food took too long to prepare, or their order was wrong, what they will remember more than the foul-up is your sincere apology and how you bent over backwards to make things better.  This should help prevent bad reviews.
•    It's all about providing consistently good service.  Day in and day out, give your customers the best.  That's what gets the best ratings and that's what brings customers back.

While the economy may be showing signs of vibrancy, consumers remain cautious. A recent article in PMQ Pizza Magazine, however, reports that loyalty programs can be an effective weapon for restaurants in these times.

“Acquiring new customers is incredibly expensive," said Logan LaHive, founder and CEO of a loyalty program developer in Chicago. "Because you get 80% of your revenue from 20% of your customers, rewarding loyalty is the best tactic."

If you use or are thinking about implementing a loyalty program, here’s some useful information:

•    A recent study revealed that 33% of consumers view loyalty programs as very important during tough economic times.
•    The same study reveals that consumers spend 17% more on visits that include a loyalty program.
•    Loyalty programs are not viewed as giving away products or providing heavy discounts, which may cheapen your restaurant in the eyes of customers.
•    When a customer enrolls in a program, you officially establish a relationship, as opposed to someone using a coupon that you may never see again.
•    Refrain from asking customers for all of their information at once. Start with a name and email address. Later, you can ask for their mailing address, phone number, and more.
•    A loyalty program that works in unison with a recognized charity is often viewed favorably by customers.