Top 10 Mistakes That Restaurants Should Avoid For Boost Online Food Delivery

Quick Summary: With online food delivery becoming a crucial part of the restaurant business, providing better online food delivery is equally integral to keeping the restaurant business thriving. If you are exploring ways to keep your business the highest grossing, this article to help you make it a reality by helping you avoid the mistake that is vulnerable to online food delivery business.
—
In recent years, the trend of online food delivery business has grown significantly. It’s a new normal due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the demand for online food ordering and delivery skyrocketed. As a result, it has now become an integral part of the restaurant industry. However, with growing online food delivery trends, it has become more critical than ever for restaurant owners to provide a seamless customer experience. For example, you must be able to deliver an uninterrupted and satisfactory food delivery experience to your customers. That’s a challenge for most restaurants in this tech-savvy world today.

But, these challenges are eradicated easily by avoiding some common and specific mistakes that most restaurant managers and owners make. Let’s take a look at the list of errors we have pointed out below;

• Delayed Delivery and Making Customers Wait
• Poor Packaging
• Inaccurate Order Fulfillment
• Limited Menu
• Ignoring Online Presence
• Overlooking Digital Marketing
• Non-Responsive Website With Ambiguous Information
• Neglecting Customer Feedback
• Poor Quality Control
• Not Having a Customized App

Avoiding these mistakes will help you better serve your consumers expecting better online delivery service. What we can do is know these mistakes and learn how you can provide outstanding delivery service.

10 Mistakes to Avoid to Boost Online Food Delivery

Your online restaurant business success depends on how efficient service you deliver to your customers. We have made a list of mistakes that usually most restaurant owners ignore, but it causes huge loss. So, let’s explore these mistakes which you can avoid. We have also suggested a solution so you can understand how those mistakes should be avoided.

Delayed Delivery and Making Customers Wait

Traditionally, consumers visit your restaurant and wait until the food is prepared. However, it happens just the opposite when it comes to online food delivery services, as they have to wait until the goods get delivered to their home or offices. As a result, the wait sometimes becomes inpatients, especially when it arrives late.

Solutions: Timely food delivery can make things in your favor and help you achieve your ambition properly. Give the expected delivery time to your customers, considering the time it takes to deliver to your customers’ doorstep from your restaurant.

Poor Packaging

Poor packaging can do nothing but bring loss to you and your customers. Spilled food can cause the return of the food and also the loss of your customers. Soggy food can be of no use.

Solutions: As a restaurant owner, you must ensure their food is packaged correctly to avoid any spillage or damage during transportation. Poor packaging can damage the food and lead to customer complaints.

Must Read Creative Food Packaging Ideas for Your Restaurant

Inaccurate Order Fulfillment

Mistakes in order fulfillment can result in unhappy customers. For example, when you deliver incomplete or incorrect orders, consumers are not going to like this.

Solution: To avoid the mistake of inaccurate order fulfillment, restaurants can implement a system that ensures the accuracy of each order before it is delivered to the customer. You can do this by creating multiple checkpoints. For example;

• Verify the order, such as having the order checked by a manager or a designated staff member.
• Invest in technology that enables accurate order tracking and management, such as online food ordering systems or order management software, delivery management software, and restaurant POS systems.

Limited Menu

Offering a limited menu can limit a restaurant’s customer base.

Solutions: Restaurants must provide an extensive menu to attract more customers. Invest time and resources in creating a menu that caters to different tastes and dietary preferences. Besides, you can also conduct market research to identify the most popular dishes in their local area and offer them on the menu.

Ignoring Online Presence

Restaurants must have a strong online presence, including an attractive website and active social media profiles. Neglecting their online presence can result in a loss of potential customers.

Solution: Create a website, and social media profiles, across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and more to stay connected with your customers.

Use Google My Business Listing for Restaurant

Overlooking Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is the key to success in this digital era. You might end up losing your potential customers for want digital marketing. But, it is an effective way to reach your customers and send direct messages, offers, and deals.

Solution: You need to create compelling digital strategies for your online restaurant. Invest in digital marketing strategies such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and social media marketing to reach a larger audience. Then, develop a comprehensive digital marketing plan that aligns with your business goals and target audience.

Non-Responsive Website With Ambiguous Information

You have a website. That’s great. But, if it is not responsive, it can ruin your achieving online restaurant business dream. Besides, if you have a website with incorrect information that your customers may seek, it is also not good for your business.

Solutions: Create a responsive website that is easy to navigate and provides clear and concise information about your restaurant, menu, and delivery services. Ensure your website is optimized for mobile devices to provide a seamless user experience.

Neglecting Customer Feedback

Are you avoiding feedback given by customers? Are you not responding to the reviews and suggestions, or complaints you receive from your customers? You are missing out on ample opportunity.

Solution: Encourage customers to provide feedback through online reviews, surveys, or social media channels. Respond to customer feedback promptly and use it to improve the quality of food and service.

Poor Quality Control

Avoiding food quality can break your customer base. Low-quality food is no more an option as they (your customers) are limitless with options. Poor quality food can lead to negative reviews and decreased customer loyalty.

Solution: Ensure that their food is high quality before being delivered to customers. Set quality control standards and conduct regular checks to ensure the food is high quality and consistent across all orders. Train staff on quality control and food safety, so you easily win customers’ trust.

How to Control Food Cost in Your Restaurant

Not Having a Customized App

You run a website and provide online ordering facilities; then, you must have an app. No doubt, the custom app is costly, and most restaurant owners avoid this concerning the cost it takes to build.

Solution: Subscribe or integrate an online ordering system. If you know how a online ordering system works, you can squeeze more out of your system. The system comes with an app; still, you need to customize it according to your restaurant and customers. A mobile app that allows customers to place orders, track delivery status, and provide feedback. The app should be user-friendly, visually appealing, and offer a seamless ordering experience.

Bonus:

Not Using Social Media Marketing

If you are not using social media marketing, you are limiting a restaurant’s ability to reach and engage with potential customers.

Solution: Establish an active social media presence. Use platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to engage with customers and promote your restaurant. Instagram marketing is a boon for restaurants, and you need to pay attention to it. Share high-quality images of your menu items and post regular updates about your restaurant and delivery services.

Tips on How to Promote Restaurant Business on TikTok

Final Thoughts

The list we have given here is just a number; you can explore and identify many other mistakes that hamper a smooth delivery system. Your online food delivery system must be perfect and practical enough to manage delivery efficiently. A SaaS-based commission-fee online food ordering system is the most affordable and efficient solution for small to large restaurant businesses to deliver customers a better delivery experience. We at Foodiv, a ready-to-use online ordering system, work continuously to provide an excellent solution to help restaurant owners and managers keep their businesses thriving with our comprehensive food delivery system. Let us know if you need consultation or a system that can eradicate mistakes and help you serve your customers with no flaws.