Your restaurant should want as many customers as possible to order online.  Here are 5 simple reasons why:

•    You capture valuable information.  You can see ordering frequency and ordering habits.  You also get customer contact information such as email addresses and phone numbers.
•    Online orders are larger than phone orders by as much as 45%, although the average is around 20% larger.
•    Reduction in errors.  How many times have you given a credit to a customer because their order was wrong?  Also, you free up employees from all that time on the phone.
•    Customers order more frequently.  Once they experience the ease and convenience of online ordering, they keep coming back.  NetWaiter online ordering takes good customers and makes them better.
•    Customers are happier. Online ordering is quick, it’s convenient, and customers love being able to order from anyplace, at any time, and know their order will always be right.

5 simple reasons why your customers prefer to order online:

•    It’s convenient.  How many people have memorized your telephone number, let alone know your current menu?  With NetWaiter, your customers can view your up-to-date menu and not worry about speaking to anyone.
•    It’s quick.  With just a few clicks on their mobile device or laptop, their order is complete.
•    Their order is accurate.  Order accuracy gives customers the peace of mind that items won’t be missing from their order.
•    They can order from anywhere—as they’re leaving the office or on the soccer field in the final minutes of their kid’s game.  They also won’t feel rushed by an employee on the phone.
•    The ability to use discounts and promotions is much easier online and they can pay in advance.

A recent article from Nation's Restaurant News provided some conflicting data about the health of the economy and the fate of upcoming Holiday restaurant sales. 

Here at NetWaiter, we looked into our crystal ball and the answer we got was – “If the upcoming Holiday Season is going to be good for your restaurant, it's because you worked hard and started planning early enough.”

Here are a few tips to help you work smarter:

•    Start Promoting Early - The Holiday Season can be busy for many people and offering them convenience during such a hectic time is really beneficial.  Consider posting signage to remind people your restaurant offers online ordering through their mobile device.  "Pick up dinner on the way home from the mall."  Also, work with your wait staff to spread the word.  These tips help keep business coming in well after the Holidays.

•    Print Advertising - Do you have a regular ad in a local paper or magazine?  Make sure your custom online ordering site is part of the message.
•    A Little Motivation - What about a Free Appetizer or Dessert for online orders during the Holidays?  Try offering something special that you don't offer any other time of the year.
•    Special Promotions - Launch an Email campaign letting customers know they can rely on your convenient takeout system during the Holidays.  Creating an online category for Special Holiday Promotions can also work great. 

In a blog post earlier this month, we talked about how NetWaiter’s online ordering system can help you cater to increased demand for customization - requests for extra meat, double avocado, or other add-ons.

To help accommodate these requests, in addition to upselling the order, it’s important to include any paid option as a selection customers can click to add.  But what happens if a customer enters a separate request in the Special Instructions field that should incur an additional charge?

These special instructions, which restaurants are happy to fulfill, can cause a difficulty when an order is pre-paid. Do you honor the request for extra turkey, even though you haven’t been paid for it, or do you hold off and not include it?

To address this, NetWaiter has developed a Secondary Transaction Feature to allow a restaurant to run a separate charge on a customer’s card, after the initial transaction, to pay for that special request.

This is also a handy feature to add a tip.  A customer may not have thought about a tip when placing their online order, but the Secondary Transaction Feature allows delivery drivers to add a tip to an order, after the initial payment, if the customer tells them to.

Another new addition to NetWaiter is the Hidden Item list.  NetWaiter has always allowed restaurants to “hide” items on their menu, most often because the kitchen has run out of a key ingredient or the item was a limited special that may come back in the future.

This new feature shows “All Hidden Items” in one section of the Management Console for easy management.  Managers can see all items on their menu that are hidden, in one place, and then unhide those that they want to be available again.