Customers resort to online searches, especially through their smartphones, to find restaurant information more and more these days.  Bad online information, however, can hurt you.  A recent industry study revealed that 68% of people are not likely to visit a restaurant, café, or bar after encountering incorrect online information about the business.

Here are a few tips about managing your restaurant’s online presence:

Know Where You Are Listed - The numerous online outlets—Yelp, Foursquare and others—enable customers to identify, rate, and comment on the restaurants they patronize.  Be sure to regularly search for your restaurant online.  If you find a place where you are not listed, check into what it takes to get listed.  More importantly, if you see incorrect information, have it fixed ASAP.

Know What Counts - The aforementioned study also said that 60% of consumers say the menu is the most important factor in selecting a restaurant online.  For all of your online listings, you can link customers to your custom NetWaiter menu.  It will be available to consumers online and via mobile.  Photos are good, too – a few pictures of your restaurant (inside and out) are helpful selling tools.

Keep Online Information Updated - Remember, nobody likes a restaurant with bad or outdated online information.  Check and update your information regularly.  And most importantly:

Make sure your restaurant’s online ordering capabilities via NetWaiter are prominent - The quicker you can get customers to your online ordering site and placing their order, the better your bottom line will be. 

Mobile ordering at restaurants is here and growing rapidly.

If you had any doubts, take into consideration a recent report that Starbucks has processed more than 26 million mobile transactions so far this year.  Impressive, especially considering that 2011 was the first year they offered such a service.

Since launching, Starbucks has heavily promoted the ability for customers to pay for their coffee with their Smartphones – all the while – helping to train customers to use their mobile device when interacting with other restaurants.  We should all thank Starbucks for this.

Thank you, Starbucks, for making everyone more aware of how convenient a Smartphone can be for customers and its ability to help process payments (or takeout orders at other restaurants).

According to a July 2011 Pew Report, 1 out of every 3 mobile phones is a Smartphone and 25% of those users consider their Smartphone their primary link to the internet.

When NetWaiter launched its own mobile ordering platform, nearly two years ago, we automatically made it part of every restaurant’s ordering system.  Within a week, there was a substantial traffic increase, and it continues to grow rapidly.

NetWaiter’s technology is able to determine when a customer accesses a restaurant’s NetWaiter site with their mobile device.  The system automatically recognizes the device and displays the appropriate mobile site.  Navigation is made simple, ordering is simple, and payment is simple.

NetWaiter also makes unique QR Codes available for each restaurant, allowing takeout customers to scan the code with their Smartphone and immediately access the restaurant’s mobile site.  All the work is done by NetWaiter – if your restaurant has a NetWaiter site, you’re automatically provided a mobile site and QR Code, customized for your restaurant.

For more information about NetWaiter’s custom mobile sites and QR Codes, please contact NetWaiter.