A Step-by-Step Guide to Taking Your Restaurant Business Online (From Promoting to Ordering to Delivery)

How to Move Your Restaurant Online

The first step to success is understanding how to move your restaurant online with minimal disruption. Although this is vital in every industry, it’s even more important for your restaurant as a traditionally face-to-face industry. 

1. Create a comprehensive plan

The first step to bringing your restaurant online is to create a detailed plan and stick to it. It doesn’t need to be set in stone. Instead, it should be a guide. It should remind you what you want your business to be and how you plan to get it there. 

Your plan should include

• Your audience base and product range

• Your sales goals and projections

• Your geographical reach

• A timeline for moving your business online

• Any support that you will need

You may wish to create your own plan or use a template. Templates are invaluable for new business owners, particularly planning templates and a contract maker template. 

2. Move your restaurant menu online

Make sure that your menu is online before opening for orders. This gives your audience a chance to study your menu and for you to grow awareness of your brand. 

To expose your customers to your online menu effectively, take the time to ensure that your products are described and priced correctly across different order and delivery platforms. Make sure that all allergens are listed and that all links function correctly. 

You may even consider introducing new items to your menu, as online orders provide more time for preparation than in-store transactions. 

3. Build your restaurant’s online delivery service

The explosion of the food delivery industry means that your online food business has a lot of delivery options. Many businesses use a combination of food delivery services, including DoorDash and Uber Eats, as well as their own delivery service. Some use just one or the other. 

It may be best, to begin with, one platform and optimize your order management before incorporating multiple services into food delivery. 

Whichever way you choose, be sure to publicize your new delivery service. 

How to Promote Your Restaurant Online

Promoting your business is crucial to engaging new customers and making the most of your new online operations. 

1. Announce your transition on your social media account and website

Your social channels are the easiest way to get the word out to existing customers. After all, this is typically where most of your existing customers will likely see your announcement and check out your new online service.

You could even run a social media and website promotion on new orders. 

2. Determine your target market

Your new audience will likely consist of existing and new customers who reach you through online ordering. 

To target your advertising and communications, you must establish who this market will be. This includes geographical locations, age and interest demographics, and food-specific tastes. 

You can also use this opportunity to decide whether you can expand into different areas, like events and catering. If you wish to grow, it might help to develop a new business plan and proposal, like a PandaDoc catering service proposal or other templates. 

3. Work with influencer foodies

A great way to get the word out about your online restaurant business is to work with those who have sway over your customer base. Food influencers in your sector make excellent collaborators, as they have concentrated audiences with established interests in food.

Make sure to budget and plan for any influencer campaigns to maximize return on investment (ROI). For example, you’ll want to work with the most relevant influencers for your type of restaurant, not just the influencer with the largest audience. 

4. Utilize all online ordering and delivery platforms

Diversity is key. Maximize your brand’s and your menu’s reach by utilizing all available ordering and delivery platforms. You may want to start with one or two and build from there if you’re not sure of your capacity yet, but be sure to broaden your horizons as far as possible. 

Make sure that you understand the terms of use for each platform. There may be legal and financial considerations when signing up for each new platform, so it might be helpful for you to engage eSignature software and a cloud-based storage system. 

5. Be transparent about food preparation, sanitation, and delivery procedures

A significant difference between on-site and online ordering is that customers cannot assess sanitation and order progress themselves. It would be best if you were upfront about preparing food for online customers, including sanitation procedures. Being transparent will encourage trust in your brand and boost sales. 

It would be best if you also were transparent about delivery. Delays and errors happen, so customers need to know what to do if it happens to them. It’s usually not a problem if customers feel you are open and honest with them from the beginning. 

How to Start Your Restaurant Delivery Service

Once you’ve publicized and planned your delivery service, you can get it started! How you do this is up to you, but there are a few key factors to consider and put in place before you start accepting orders. 

1. Find out how big your food delivery area is

As a significant part of your delivery business plan, your delivery area should be clearly defined before you begin accepting orders. This will tell you how large your customer base is and roughly how many orders you might expect. 

This is important because it will tell you whether your business is viable and whether you might find yourself inundated with more orders than you can manage. 

To make it simple and easy to alter, try using a mapping tool and include this area in your business plan.

2. Analyze how much of your current menu is not cut out for delivery

Some foods just don’t work well for delivery. There may be various reasons why certain parts of your menu aren’t suited for delivery. What’s key is to identify these before you begin to take orders to avoid disappointed customers. 

If a large section of your menu isn’t cut out for delivery, you may need to rethink your approach to delivery and online ordering. You could:

• Change your preparation processes

• Change packaging

• Develop similar menu items that are better suited for delivery

Avoid changing your menu too much, as this may take you outside your niche and turn away existing customers.

3. Create packaging in line with your brand

Food delivery means packaging. Packaging is an excellent opportunity to promote awareness of your brand, but it needs to be done right. Your packaging needs to be sustainable to produce and work well with your product.

Be sure to test out your packaging in transit and in the kitchen to ensure that your products arrive to your customers at the standard they expect.

4. Establish new kitchen workflows for deliveries

A delivery-focused kitchen employs different processes than a mainly on-site one. To ensure that all orders are complete, high quality, and on time, you’ll need to assess your kitchen processes and update them to manage delivery orders. 

For example, you’ll need to identify peak delivery times and prepare food as soon as possible beforehand. Also, keep a careful eye on how many orders you accept and the expected delivery time to avoid a backlog of food coming out of the kitchen. 

Your equipment may also need an update. Large orders that take a while to complete may mean some items cool while others are prepared, lowering customer satisfaction. Your kitchen might need equipment that can keep all orders warm and at quality before delivery. 

5. Ensure a no-contact delivery

No-contact delivery was once rare but is now an expected part of food delivery. To keep your customers happy and safe, brief your delivery providers on providing a no-contact delivery. 

Ensure that your customers know what to expect and what to do to receive their orders. 

Closing Thoughts

Taking your restaurant business online can be excellent for revenue and customers, especially in a post-pandemic world. Customers value safety and convenience like never before, which means that online food delivery is now a thriving but competitive market. 

To stand out from your competitors and grow your business online, you’ll need to plan carefully, maximize the delivery options that are available to you, and establish your niche. 

Be sure to investigate online delivery solutions and menu management to level up your restaurant business in 2023.