How to implement online ordering at your hotel restaurant

It’s thought that 60% of US consumers order takeout at least once per week. And, when they do, 34% of them will spend at least $50 on a single order.Food delivery is big business and, at the time of writing, the COVID-19 lockdown is forcing many restaurant operators to join what is clearly far more than a passing bandwagon.But what about hotel restaurants? Can they join the food delivery revolution?It could be a smart decision for your business, either during the lockdown period or beyond.If you’re tempted, we’ve got four tips for implementing online ordering at your hotel restaurant that should give you plenty of inspiration.

1. Get the right POS system

You simply can’t implement an online food ordering system without the right POS.Yours will need:

• online ordering;
• delivery options;
• customer information; and
• operational control.

Speak to your vendor. If it turns out your system can’t meet the demands of the modern food delivery market, it might be time to investigate an alternative platform.

2. A ship-shape kitchen line

It’s easy to overlook this vital step in setting up a food delivery service.Your kitchen is undoubtedly well primed to deal with in-house orders, but can it cope with the addition of online orders for delivery?The team will first need to buy into the idea, therefore it’s important to lead from the top and explain exactly why the hotel has decided to do this. Then, it’s time to look at the kitchen line itself.It’ll take time to get your line ready to process, prepare and ship out online orders, but it’ll be worth it in the long run.

3. Partner with the right delivery provider (or do it yourself)

We’re not going to provide a comparison between UberEATS, Postmates and GrubHub Just Eat and Deliveroo there are plenty of guides already out there, but the fact remains that you may benefit from signing up with one of these companies.It’s a quick win to get things underway, but you will pay for the privilege in the form of commission.Alternatively, if you think you can fulfil local food orders yourself, go for it. Just bear in mind that you’ll need to make decisions about vehicles and personnel.

4. Think about branded packaging

If you decide to go down the route of administering your own deliveries, branded packaging is a great marketing tool.Think about it; if someone decides to order takeout from your restaurant, what’s likely to be the first piece of packaging they see in their kitchen the next morning as they tidy up?When sourcing suppliers for packaging, think sustainability, too. Diners are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious and the more you can do to protect the environment during your food delivery prep, the better.

Wrapping up

The online delivery revolution shows no signs of slowing.It’s likely that we’ll emerge out of the COVID-19 situation in a very different hospitality market, and it’s the operators which take advantage of the most sustainable, profitable current trends that are likely to thrive.___roommaster Software is a leading technology provider for the hospitality industry. For over 25 years, roommaster has combined hotelier experience with innovative technology to deliver an all-in-one solution that empowers hotels to attract guests, drive customer loyalty, and increase profits. Our flagship property management software, roommaster PMS, helps manage over 5,500 properties across 100 countries. roommaster develops scalable solutions ranging from a Hotel PMS, Cloud PMS, Channel Manager, Hotel CRM and helps properties enable guests to Book Direct. We believe that everyone deserves a great guest experience, whether they’re staying at a small B&B, a thousand-room resort, or anywhere in between.Call us today at 1.813.288.4900. We will be happy to walk you through roommaster’s solutions.