Amid staffing shortages, retention challenges and changing regulations, restaurant technology tools have become not just important, but critical, to running a successful, independent restaurant. These days, contactless ordering is more than just a tool in your toolkit — it’s essential to navigating the ever-evolving restaurant landscape. 

Customers are impatient — and want food fast

Conducted by Untold Insights in September 2021, the Oracle Food and Beverage study notes today’s consumers expect personal, lightning-fast service and personalization, which technology fuels on the back end. They have also become increasingly impatient about the speed of service, whether it’s indoor dining, counter ordering, drive-thru ordering or curbside pick-up. 

Of those surveyed, 64% didn’t want to wait more than five minutes to order at the counter or drive-thru window and 71% of in-house diners were upset if they had to wait more than 10 minutes. Meanwhile, 55% became frustrated after five minutes of waiting for food in a drive-thru, and 54% were miffed when they had to wait more than 10 minutes for food when dining in a restaurant.

Beyond answering customers’ desire for less face-to-face interaction, contactless ordering has the power to expedite operations and eliminate the lag customers experience when ordering food. On top of your kitchen knowing what to expect and when, throttling helps pace the number of actual orders that come in so your back-of-house can manage the workflow and doesn’t get overwhelmed.

Online ordering empowers customers — and restaurateurs 

From the consumer side, online ordering puts customers in control, letting them schedule ahead, easily ordering curbside pickup at a time that suits them. Add that to the fact that they enjoy a simplified, more efficient way to order, tip and pay.

By choosing an online ordering system that’s integrated with your POS system, restaurateurs eliminate the need to re-enter a customer’s order, create a guest check and route the order to the kitchen. The POS does everything automatically, in real-time, on their behalf.

A great POS system can also adjust prep times — and order availability — times based on the amount of orders coming in; pre-set peak hours for online ordering based on the number of orders coming from the dining room; or allow extra time for orders with special requests or longer preparation times.

Now, couple contactless online ordering with digital menus and the ability to pay from their own phone. Then, you’re not just helping your servers do more with less effort, you’re giving diners the expediency they expect, using the technology that makes it possible behind the scenes.

Are you ready to feature contactless ordering in your restaurant? Let’s talk. And be sure to check out our blog for tips and tricks to run your restaurant more efficiently for less.

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