Online ordering platforms to consider for your restaurant

The way people search for restaurants has changed. They might be at home on a laptop, out and about on their smartphone, or using a third-party delivery service. 

To compete in today’s bustling marketplace, you need to reach customers through as many channels as possible.

That’s why choosing the right ordering partner is a crucial decision for restaurateurs and ghost kitchen operators. Online ordering is growing rapidly to the point where today if your isn’t online, you are missing out on a massive revenue stream.

In a Statista poll from earlier this year, 71% of US consumers surveyed said they would order food online if confined at home during the pandemic.

But how do you choose the right partner?

Let’s look at the different types of ordering channels out there and pick out some of the most prominent players to consider.

Here are the most prominent players by category.

POS providers offering ordering services

Touchbistro

Since 2010, TouchBistro has built up a name as the iPad POS specialist, offering portable restaurant ordering and payment solutions via tablets. It has since branched out into various restaurant software solutions to provide food businesses with the latest cutting-edge tech as it becomes available.

The company now provides a full software suite, including tableside ordering fully integrated with their iPad POS system, reservations, kitchen display systems, marketing CRM systems, and loyalty programs. The team is offering three months of free use of the software for restaurants struck by the pandemic.

Square

As a significant player in the payment systems world and provider of restaurant hardware, Square is well-placed to branch out into online ordering. It now offers a range of services that link up to its POS, kitchen display, and payment systems for a seamless all-in-one ordering experience for your staff and Square’s. 

Square’s integrations give it an edge over other systems, too. It is integrated with Deliverect Restaurants and the major third-party delivery partners in the US and Canada, making syncing up all your orders online, through third parties, and in-house much easier. It also links to accounting software like Quickbooks and Plate IQ to make back-of-house admin easier.

Toast

Toast, based in Boston, Massachusetts, has become an all-around restaurant management system. As one of the leading POS providers, it has moved to offer all kinds of ordering services that integrate seamlessly with its POS hardware.

Two of its new products are Toast Delivery Services, which helps restaurants find on-demand drivers and manage delivery orders, and Toast Now, a range of online ordering services to help restaurants control ordering on multiple platforms and avoid third-party fees. 

Initially introduced to support restaurants during the pandemic, the new products now make Toast one of the leaders as an all-around provider of restaurant ordering and POS software.

Push orders from multiple partners to your Deliverect Restaurants integration

Deliverect Restaurants integrates with several ordering partners to push orders directly to your POS. You can manage them all from the Deliverect Restaurants dashboard, enabling you to gain a more comprehensive reach from more channels without the hassle of managing them individually.

Slerp

Slerp is an eCommerce solution helping UK food and beverage businesses reach more customers. Working with London’s Jose Pizarro, Joel Robuchon helps businesses quickly set up a store on their website, provides ordering software, and facilitates customer payments and delivery. 

Slerp can help you shift everything from takeout meals to meal kits to shelf-stable products. Its integration with Deliverect Restaurants means all the orders are pushed straight to your POS via your Deliverect Restaurants dashboard.

Hungrrr

Hungrrr offers white-label ordering web and mobile apps for customers in the UK. Whether online, on the go, or at table ordering, the team will create a custom app with your branding that makes viewing your menu and ordering as easy as possible for customers. 

After famously providing UK pub chain Wetherspoons with table ordering systems nationwide, Hungrrr been growing into a leader in the space.

Flipdish

Dublin-based Flipdish helps restaurants with several ordering solutions. It provides kiosks and other ordering hardware as well as tableside ordering tech. For takeaway and delivery orders, it helps restaurants add online ordering to their website and creates branded mobile apps to attract customers on the go. 

Ordering and delivery management

Vromo

Founded in Dublin in 2016 as WeBringg, Vromo expanded into the UK, Australia, and the US with an intelligent approach to in-house ordering and delivery software. The solution is now used by huge delivery-focused brands like Papa John’s, KFC, Burger King, and Pizza Hut. 

On the restaurant side, it allows you to manage orders, track and communicate with drivers, and much more from a central dashboard. It also includes an app for drivers to keep track of their pick-ups and deliveries on the move. Customers are provided a branded tracking link, which allows them to see where their order is in real time, just like they would on one of the delivery platforms.

Overall, it is a convenient solution for those looking to take delivery in-house and manage it like a pro while giving your customers the third-party delivery experience from your ordering app. 

Orkestro

London-based Orkestro, described as ‘your delivery operations manager,’ goes further and takes the entire delivery process off your hands. It matches your orders with local courier partners to get them to your customers as quickly as possible while handling order management and customer service. Orketsro tracks orders and sends branded updates to your customers, dealing with queries or complaints.

The key to the platform’s operations is its partnerships with last-mile delivery partners like Addison Lee, Stuart, and Zedify and the complex tech that finds the most suitable partner for each delivery.

Mobile order-ahead

Applova

US-based Applova provides hospitality businesses with various ordering technologies, from order-ahead to self-ordering kiosks to online ordering and digital contactless menus.

he company offers a white-label solution, which means you can easily create your own branded ordering app to improve customer loyalty and create a seamless experience across your channels. 

The business model is commission-free, giving it an edge over third-party delivery providers. Restaurants instead pay a monthly subscription.

Chownow

Coming out of LA, ChowNow has carved a niche by providing restaurants with an ordering system with built-in loyalty features. 

Online ordering systems available include branded ordering apps, online ordering, and tablet-specific ordering, but what sets ChowNow apart is the marketing services it offers which are designed to help restaurants use the data collected from their ordering apps, and use it to build loyalty, increase engagement, and grow revenue.

Tableside and QR code ordering

Presto

Presto, which was founded out of MIT in 2018 and still operates out of Silicon Valley, claims to be the number one contactless dining tech provider in the world, with hundreds of millions of active users and hundreds of thousands of its systems being used by the likes of Outback Steakhouse, Appleby’s, and Denny’s.

The company’s ordering systems include tablets and kiosks with built-in payment systems. This means your servers don’t have to run back and forth to the POS when taking payments – they can take orders and payments via a mobile tablet. 

Presto has leaned into contactless tech during the pandemic and created a 0% commission QR code ordering system to help businesses minimize contact between customers and staff. Guests scan the QR code to view the menu, order, and pay on their smartphones without downloading an app. Restaurant staff can view and manage the order via a tablet next to the POS.

MyMenu

Headquartered in Dubai but with offices in the US and UK, MyMenu offers a full suite of ordering services, from online ordering to tablets and QR code ordering in-house. 

The focus is driving upsells and increasing average order value by presenting appealing visuals to customers. The digital menus include videos and attractive photos to entice customers to order higher-value items.

The design of the menus is customizable, and the ordering tech integrates with major payment providers like Stripe and Razorpay to take payments seamlessly.

Menumodo

Menumodo specializes in menu and ordering software for hotels and restaurants. With specialized features to help large operations quickly implement contactless menus and QR code ordering systems, it offers an affordable option for quick implementation. 

It might not have its larger competitors' hardware and slick interfaces, but Menumodo focuses on helping operators get their systems functioning correctly. For example, the team will write custom code to help you add ordering widgets to your website. Whichever specific ordering features you want to include, they will help you set it up on your existing systems. 

Your ordering system is a critical piece in your tech stack.

The modern restaurant must adopt an omnichannel approach to compete in the current market. Omnichannel means you don’t just sell through multiple channels but align them to give customers a streamlined, seamless experience no matter how they find you or which channel they use.

Choosing the right ordering partner is crucial for aligning your tech stack and integrating your sales channels. Hopefully, this article will help you better understand the options available.

 To learn more about the modern omnichannel restaurant, read our latest white paper: Omnichannel for Restaurants: What is it? How Can It Benefit Your Restaurant?