{"id":32692,"date":"2020-12-21T15:34:15","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T11:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/?p=32692"},"modified":"2024-10-04T15:32:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T11:32:54","slug":"e-commerce-for-restaurants-a-recipe-for-online-ordering-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/restaurant-online-ordering-system.html","title":{"rendered":"Ecommerce for Restaurants: A Recipe For Online Ordering Success"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If&nbsp;you\u2019ve never felt the&nbsp;need for&nbsp;your restaurant to&nbsp;have a&nbsp;website before, we\u2019re betting that 2020&nbsp;changed your mind. And for&nbsp;a&nbsp;good reason! For the&nbsp;last several months, online ordering for&nbsp;restaurants has become the&nbsp;only way to&nbsp;continue operating.<\/p> <p>Even though many restaurants reopened their physical locations, an&nbsp;online ordering platform is&nbsp;still a&nbsp;hot commodity for&nbsp;restaurateurs. In&nbsp;this post, we\u2019ll dive into ways you can take your restaurant business online, how you can make the&nbsp;most of&nbsp;this new online presence, and&nbsp;tips for&nbsp;adapting to&nbsp;the&nbsp;new norms caused by&nbsp;the&nbsp;pandemic.<\/p> <p>In&nbsp;this post:<\/p> <ul> <li><a href=\"#1\">What Is&nbsp;an&nbsp;Online Ordering System?<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#2\">Ways to&nbsp;Set Up&nbsp;Online Ordering for&nbsp;Your Restaurant<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#3\">Prepare to&nbsp;Take Your Restaurant Online<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#4\">How to&nbsp;Set Up&nbsp;Online Ordering for&nbsp;Your Restaurant<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#5\">How to&nbsp;Promote Your Restaurant Online<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#6\"><nobr>COVID-19<\/nobr>&nbsp;Impact on&nbsp;Restaurant Industry<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#7\">How to&nbsp;Adapt to&nbsp;<nobr>Long-Term<\/nobr> Effects of&nbsp;<nobr>COVID-19<\/nobr><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <p><div class=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form\">  <form name=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form--2047727566\" id=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form--2047727566\" action=\"#\" method=\"post\">   <div class=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form__title\">How to&nbsp;sell online<\/div>   <div class=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form__descr\">Tips from <nobr>e-commerce<\/nobr> experts for&nbsp;small business owners and&nbsp;aspiring entrepreneurs.<\/div>   <div class=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form__block\">    <div class=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form__element\">     <input type=\"text\" value=\"\" name=\"email\" class=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form__email\" placeholder=\"Your email\" required=\"true\" data-formid=\"2047727566\" \/>     <div class=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form__btn-block btn-block\">      <button type=\"submit\" name=\"subscribe\" class=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form__btn btn gtm-track btn-black btn-large\" data-name=\"blogSubscribeButtonClick\" data-place=\"formInBlogPost\">Subscribe<\/button>     <\/div>    <\/div>    <div class=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form__error-label\">Please enter a&nbsp;valid email address<\/div>    <div class=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form__gdpr\">     <input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"gdpr\" class=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form__gdpr-checkbox\" id=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form-gdpr-checkbox--2047727566\" \/>     <label class=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form__gdpr-label\" for=\"ecwid-blog-subscribe-form-gdpr-checkbox--2047727566\">I&nbsp;consent to&nbsp;receive Ecwid Newsletter. I&nbsp;can unsubscribe anytime.<\/label>    <\/div>   <\/div>  <\/form> <\/div><\/p> <h2 id=\"1\">What Is&nbsp;an&nbsp;Online Ordering System?<\/h2> <p>An&nbsp;online ordering system for&nbsp;restaurants allows customers to&nbsp;place their orders online using a&nbsp;website or&nbsp;an&nbsp;app. Customers can choose their food, payment method (credit card, Apple Pay, cash, etc.), and&nbsp;delivery and&nbsp;takeout options virtually.<\/p> <p>So, how do&nbsp;online ordering systems work? After a&nbsp;customer places an&nbsp;order online for&nbsp;a&nbsp;restaurant, the&nbsp;staff gets a&nbsp;notification and&nbsp;starts to&nbsp;prepare the&nbsp;order. Then the&nbsp;food is&nbsp;delivered to&nbsp;a&nbsp;customer according to&nbsp;their stated preferences.<\/p> <p>As&nbsp;you can see, using an&nbsp;online ordering system is&nbsp;pretty straightforward and&nbsp;is&nbsp;convenient both for&nbsp;restaurant owners and&nbsp;their customers.<\/p> <p>So&nbsp;now you know the&nbsp;answer to&nbsp;the&nbsp;burning &#147;What is&nbsp;an&nbsp;online food ordering system?&#148; question. But what about choosing and&nbsp;implementing the&nbsp;right online ordering system for&nbsp;your business? Let\u2019s dive into the&nbsp;different options on&nbsp;the&nbsp;table (no pun intended!).<\/p> <h2 id=\"2\">Ways to&nbsp;Set Up&nbsp;Online Ordering for&nbsp;Your Restaurant<\/h2> <p>If&nbsp;you\u2019re wondering &#147;How do&nbsp;I&nbsp;set up&nbsp;online ordering for&nbsp;a&nbsp;restaurant?&#148; you\u2019ve come to&nbsp;the&nbsp;right place. There are a&nbsp;whole bunch of&nbsp;ways to&nbsp;implement a&nbsp;restaurant online order system and&nbsp;each has unique benefits and&nbsp;drawbacks.<\/p> <h3>Use an&nbsp;<nobr>e-commerce<\/nobr> website<\/h3> <p>This one is&nbsp;pretty <nobr>self-explanatory:<\/nobr> you can set up&nbsp;a&nbsp;site, or&nbsp;use an&nbsp;existing one to&nbsp;let your customers order food online.<\/p> <p><strong>If&nbsp;you already have a&nbsp;website<\/strong>, you can use <nobr>e-commerce<\/nobr> plugins or&nbsp;widgets to&nbsp;add an&nbsp;online store to&nbsp;your site. Ecwid <nobr>E-commerce<\/nobr> can be&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/support.ecwid.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115004678945-Ecwid-for-any-website\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">added to&nbsp;any&nbsp;website<\/a>, be&nbsp;it&nbsp;WordPress, Wix, Weebly, Joomla, or&nbsp;any&nbsp;other site.<\/p> <p>All you have to&nbsp;do&nbsp;is&nbsp;install the&nbsp;Ecwid plugin (an app) to&nbsp;your website, log in&nbsp;to&nbsp;your Ecwid account, set up&nbsp;your store, save, and&nbsp;publish the&nbsp;changes. You can also add your new store to&nbsp;other <nobr>custom-built<\/nobr> sites by&nbsp;pasting the&nbsp;store code onto your website page.<\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32708\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32708\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/restaurant-online-order-system-1608294255-1024x528.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"528\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32708\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>The Cookie Dough Cafe added an&nbsp;online store to&nbsp;their website with Ecwid <nobr>E-commerce<\/nobr><\/p><\/div><\/p> <p><strong>If&nbsp;you don\u2019t have a&nbsp;site<\/strong>, you might be&nbsp;wondering: &#147;How do&nbsp;I&nbsp;create a&nbsp;restaurant website?&#148; No&nbsp;worries! You can create one for&nbsp;free even, if&nbsp;you don\u2019t have any&nbsp;of&nbsp;those fancy technical skills.<\/p> <p>When you <a href=\"https:\/\/my.ecwid.com\/cp\/#register\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">sign up<\/a> for&nbsp;Ecwid, you get an&nbsp;Instant Site. It\u2019s a&nbsp;free website with a&nbsp;<nobr>built-in<\/nobr> online store. You\u2019ll be&nbsp;ready to&nbsp;accept online orders in&nbsp;about an&nbsp;hour: just add your menu, fill in&nbsp;business contact information, and&nbsp;enable payment and&nbsp;delivery options.<\/p> <p>If&nbsp;you use a&nbsp;<nobr>point-of-sale<\/nobr> system in&nbsp;your restaurant (like Square, Clover, or&nbsp;Vend), you can <a href=\"https:\/\/support.ecwid.com\/hc\/en-us\/sections\/360001702540\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">sync it&nbsp;with your Ecwid store<\/a>. This way your menu and&nbsp;order data will be&nbsp;automatically imported from your POS to&nbsp;your online store. You don\u2019t need to&nbsp;add your menu or&nbsp;update stock changes manually, and&nbsp;your order data will be&nbsp;synced between your online store and&nbsp;your physical restaurant. Plus, you\u2019ll be&nbsp;able to&nbsp;manage orders from one dashboard!<\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32705\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32705\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/online-ordering-system-for-restaurants-1608294248-1024x594.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"594\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32705\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>Nature Factory sells food on&nbsp;Ecwid\u2019s Instant Site<\/p><\/div><\/p> <h3>Set up&nbsp;online ordering via <nobr>third-party<\/nobr> services<\/h3> <p>To&nbsp;set up&nbsp;online ordering for&nbsp;your restaurant via <nobr>third-party<\/nobr> services, you can partner with platforms like GrubHub, Postmates, or&nbsp;UberEats. They act as&nbsp;a&nbsp;&#147;marketplace&#148; of&nbsp;restaurants where customers can pick from lots of&nbsp;different foodstuffs.<\/p> <p>Getting started with restaurant order apps usually looks like this: you fill out a&nbsp;signup form with the&nbsp;app you\u2019d like to&nbsp;list on. There will likely be&nbsp;an&nbsp;approval process on&nbsp;the&nbsp;service\u2019s end, and&nbsp;after that, you\u2019ll be&nbsp;able to&nbsp;add your restaurant to&nbsp;the&nbsp;platform and&nbsp;upload your menu.<\/p> <p>The rest is&nbsp;pretty straightforward if&nbsp;you\u2019ve ever ordered from one of&nbsp;these platforms yourself. Customers make their orders, the&nbsp;restaurant gets a&nbsp;notification and&nbsp;prepares the&nbsp;food, and&nbsp;the&nbsp;service makes sure the&nbsp;orders are delivered.<\/p> <h3>Which one should you choose?<\/h3> <p>Many restaurateurs want to&nbsp;know: &#147;What is&nbsp;the&nbsp;best online food ordering system?&#148;. As&nbsp;usual, there\u2019s no&nbsp;universal right answer, but there are things to&nbsp;consider before making a&nbsp;decision.<\/p> <p>Restaurants often rely on&nbsp;<nobr>third-party<\/nobr> services because they provide exposure to&nbsp;a&nbsp;larger audience of&nbsp;potential new customers. People often search for&nbsp;restaurants on&nbsp;platforms like UberEats by&nbsp;cuisine, dish, location, and&nbsp;so&nbsp;on. Your restaurant might appear if&nbsp;the&nbsp;search criteria are met. That means you get your business in&nbsp;front of&nbsp;customers who might not have ordered from you before.<\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32710\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32710\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/restaurant-order-apps-1608294259-1024x414.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"414\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32710\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>Customers can choose from different cuisines on&nbsp;UberEats<\/p><\/div><\/p> <p>However, to&nbsp;get started on&nbsp;the&nbsp;platform, you need to&nbsp;pay a&nbsp;fee. Then the&nbsp;service will take a&nbsp;percentage of&nbsp;each order as&nbsp;a&nbsp;processing fee. Some platforms charge as&nbsp;much as&nbsp;30% per order! Imagine how many more orders you\u2019ll need to&nbsp;stay profitable under those conditions.<\/p> <p>Though these platforms provide exposure to&nbsp;a&nbsp;larger audience, they do&nbsp;nothing for&nbsp;increasing your brand awareness. This can be&nbsp;problematic as&nbsp;it&nbsp;lowers the&nbsp;chances of&nbsp;repeat orders. You also can\u2019t track customer information or&nbsp;ordering habits for&nbsp;future marketing. No&nbsp;wonder <a href=\"https:\/\/hospitalitytech.com\/70-consumers-prefer-order-direct-restaurants-not-third-party-services\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">43% of&nbsp;restaurant professionals<\/a> believe <nobr>third-party<\/nobr> apps interfere with the&nbsp;direct relationship between a&nbsp;restaurant and&nbsp;its customers.<\/p> <p>Using your own website has a&nbsp;number of&nbsp;advantages. So, what are the&nbsp;benefits of&nbsp;online food ordering set up&nbsp;with an&nbsp;<nobr>e-commerce<\/nobr> site?<\/p> <ul> <li><strong>Lower costs<\/strong>: when setting up&nbsp;your own website, you\u2019ll have some upfront costs, but most of&nbsp;these are small in&nbsp;comparison to&nbsp;<nobr>third-party<\/nobr> fees. And if&nbsp;you sign up&nbsp;with Ecwid <nobr>E-commerce,<\/nobr> you can set up&nbsp;a&nbsp;website for&nbsp;free. Plus, it&nbsp;doesn\u2019t charge transaction fees at&nbsp;all!<\/li> <li><strong>Full control<\/strong>: you can change and&nbsp;update your menu and&nbsp;website as&nbsp;you like. <nobr>Third-party<\/nobr> platforms limit the&nbsp;way you display your menu or&nbsp;offer delivery, not to&nbsp;mention your lack of&nbsp;control over the&nbsp;platform\u2019s look and&nbsp;feel. With a&nbsp;website, you have full control over any&nbsp;promotions and&nbsp;offers.<\/li> <li><strong>Opportunity to&nbsp;grow<\/strong>: you can add new payment options, improve product pages, and&nbsp;implement additional ways to&nbsp;increase sales on&nbsp;your site like collecting tips or&nbsp;selling gift cards.<\/li> <li><strong>More repeat customers<\/strong>: you keep your customers\u2019 data to&nbsp;yourself, which means you can market <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/how-to-create-a-loyalty-program.html\">your loyalty program<\/a> or&nbsp;special offers to&nbsp;customers after they place orders. Plus, having access to&nbsp;customer preference data means you can engage in&nbsp;more targeted and&nbsp;effective marketing.<\/li> <li><strong>Increased brand awareness<\/strong>: when customers order from your website, they are more likely to&nbsp;remember your business than when they order from a&nbsp;<nobr>third-party<\/nobr> platform.<\/li> <\/ul> <p>Statistics show that customers prefer to&nbsp;order directly from restaurants. According to&nbsp;this <a href=\"https:\/\/hospitalitytech.com\/70-consumers-prefer-order-direct-restaurants-not-third-party-services\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">survey<\/a>, 70% of&nbsp;UK&nbsp;consumers would rather order direct to&nbsp;ensure that their money goes straight to&nbsp;the&nbsp;restaurant, not a&nbsp;third party.<\/p> <p>If&nbsp;you\u2019re looking for&nbsp;a&nbsp;<nobr>cost-effective<\/nobr> solution that provides more opportunities for&nbsp;growth and&nbsp;promotion, you should definitely consider setting up&nbsp;an&nbsp;<nobr>e-commerce<\/nobr> website for&nbsp;online ordering.<\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32706\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32706\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/order-online-for-restaurants-1608294250-1024x700.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"700\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32706\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>Customers can order food directly on&nbsp;Poke Wave\u2019s website<\/p><\/div><\/p> <h2 id=\"3\">Prepare to&nbsp;Take Your Restaurant Online<\/h2> <p>Now that you\u2019ve decided how you want to&nbsp;enable online ordering for&nbsp;your customers, let\u2019s take a&nbsp;few seconds to&nbsp;prepare your business for&nbsp;an&nbsp;online presence. Below are some big ticket points you should take into consideration.<\/p> <h3>Adjust your menu<\/h3> <p>If&nbsp;your restaurant has only operated as&nbsp;a&nbsp;physical location, you might want to&nbsp;adapt the&nbsp;menu for&nbsp;online ordering.<\/p> <p>Expensive dishes that take a&nbsp;lot of&nbsp;time to&nbsp;prepare might not be&nbsp;the&nbsp;best choice when you need to&nbsp;deliver food as&nbsp;fast as&nbsp;possible to&nbsp;hungry customers. However, affordable lunch options at&nbsp;a&nbsp;set price, meal kits, dishes that can be&nbsp;delivered in&nbsp;an&nbsp;hour or&nbsp;less are incredibly popular among online orderers and&nbsp;delivery lovers.<\/p> <p>Keep in&nbsp;mind that the&nbsp;focus has shifted from dining out to&nbsp;cooking at&nbsp;home in&nbsp;the&nbsp;last couple of&nbsp;months. Think about how you can adapt your menu to&nbsp;this trend. For example, if&nbsp;you sell baked goods, you can also offer <nobr>ready-to-bake<\/nobr> meal kits. Or, add <nobr>family-sized<\/nobr> dinner options for&nbsp;customers who are tired of&nbsp;cooking every night.<\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32709\" style=\"width: 957px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32709\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/restaurant-online-orders-1608294257.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"947\" height=\"768\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32709\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>Ioesco Restaurant also sells frozen foods customers can cook at&nbsp;home<\/p><\/div><\/p> <h3>Think through your packaging<\/h3> <p>Whether you\u2019re going to&nbsp;offer <nobr>in-store<\/nobr> pickup or&nbsp;delivery, your food needs to&nbsp;be&nbsp;packed and&nbsp;transported in&nbsp;a&nbsp;certain way. You may need to&nbsp;invest in&nbsp;food containers, paper bags, thermal bags or&nbsp;heated containers, and\/or disposable cutlery.<\/p> <p>Aside from keeping food fresh and&nbsp;hot, packaging can serve other purposes. For example, consider branded packaging if&nbsp;you\u2019d like to&nbsp;strengthen your brand image. Or, if&nbsp;your target audience is&nbsp;<nobr>eco-conscious<\/nobr> consumers, recyclable or&nbsp;compostable packaging will definitely win them over.<\/p> <h3>Research the&nbsp;legal side of&nbsp;the&nbsp;question<\/h3> <p>Before you enable online ordering, take time to&nbsp;learn all about the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/rules-for-selling-food-online.html\">rules and&nbsp;regulations that oversee selling food online<\/a> in&nbsp;your region. The laws may seem daunting and&nbsp;<nobr>time-consuming,<\/nobr> but they all serve an&nbsp;important purpose&nbsp;&mdash; to&nbsp;keep your customers safe and&nbsp;healthy.<\/p> <p>Every country and&nbsp;region has different food laws and&nbsp;licensing requirements. Some industries may be&nbsp;subject to&nbsp;additional rules, for&nbsp;example, alcohol and&nbsp;dairy.<\/p> <p>A&nbsp;good rule of&nbsp;thumb is&nbsp;to&nbsp;consult with a&nbsp;lawyer and&nbsp;your local government to&nbsp;ensure you get the&nbsp;right information about requirements specific to&nbsp;your business and&nbsp;region. You\u2019ll probably need to&nbsp;confirm that:<\/p> <ul> <li>your business is&nbsp;licensed<\/li> <li>your kitchen meets zoning and&nbsp;food safety requirements<\/li> <li>you\u2019re a&nbsp;certified food handler<\/li> <\/ul> <p>If&nbsp;you sell food products, they need to&nbsp;have labels with complete disclosure of&nbsp;ingredients, net quantity, the&nbsp;weight of&nbsp;total ingredients, name, and&nbsp;location of&nbsp;the&nbsp;maker of&nbsp;the&nbsp;packaged goods. Specific allergens should also be&nbsp;highlighted on&nbsp;your packaging.<\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32713\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32713\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/restaurants-ecommerce-food-1608294265.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32713\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/p> <p>An&nbsp;example of&nbsp;label on&nbsp;the&nbsp;Taylor Family Farm product<\/p><\/div><\/p> <h3>Take care of&nbsp;transportation<\/h3> <p>To&nbsp;ensure <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/customer-satisfaction.html\">customer satisfaction<\/a>, you\u2019ll need to&nbsp;make sure the&nbsp;food is&nbsp;delivered on&nbsp;time, at&nbsp;the&nbsp;right temperature, and&nbsp;in&nbsp;good shape. To&nbsp;do&nbsp;that, you can either handle your own deliveries or&nbsp;outsource them to&nbsp;a&nbsp;delivery service.<\/p> <p>The main benefit of&nbsp;outsourcing is&nbsp;that you don\u2019t have to&nbsp;hire and&nbsp;train couriers or&nbsp;take care of&nbsp;delivery vehicles. If&nbsp;you\u2019re just starting out, this might be&nbsp;an&nbsp;option to&nbsp;consider.<\/p> <p>If&nbsp;you prefer to&nbsp;handle your own deliveries, keep the&nbsp;following in&nbsp;mind:<\/p> <ul> <li>The cheapest option is&nbsp;to&nbsp;have your drivers use their own cars. Just make sure the&nbsp;vehicle is&nbsp;maintained correctly for&nbsp;food transportation.<\/li> <li>If&nbsp;you have company cars, consider having them branded to&nbsp;improve brand awareness out on&nbsp;the&nbsp;streets of&nbsp;your community.<\/li> <li>If&nbsp;you\u2019re looking for&nbsp;an&nbsp;<nobr>eco-friendly<\/nobr> delivery option, bikes are the&nbsp;way to&nbsp;go. Of&nbsp;course, this only works if&nbsp;local delivery zones and&nbsp;climatic conditions allow using a&nbsp;bike.<\/li> <\/ul> <p>No&nbsp;matter which option you choose, it\u2019s better to&nbsp;start with a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/local-delivery.html\">setting up&nbsp;smaller delivery area<\/a> and&nbsp;fewer delivery operating hours. It\u2019ll help to&nbsp;find the&nbsp;optimal delivery radius and&nbsp;hours. Over time, you\u2019ll be&nbsp;able to&nbsp;commit to&nbsp;longer delivery hours and&nbsp;a&nbsp;larger delivery area.<\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32712\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32712\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/restaurants-ecommerce-delivery-area-1608294264.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"504\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32712\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>In&nbsp;Ecwid, you can set up&nbsp;delivery zones with a&nbsp;simple map drawing tool<\/p><\/div><\/p> <p>With Ecwid <nobr>E-commerce,<\/nobr> customers can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/delivery-time-picker-at-checkout.html\">choose their preferred delivery time<\/a> at&nbsp;checkout. This makes the&nbsp;process of&nbsp;managing and&nbsp;delivering orders much easier for&nbsp;you.<\/p> <h3>Think through your pickup options<\/h3> <p>Apart from ordering delivery, customers have gotten used to&nbsp;ordering online and&nbsp;picking the&nbsp;order up&nbsp;themselves at&nbsp;your restaurant. That sounds like a&nbsp;simple alternative, compared to&nbsp;organizing delivery. However, as&nbsp;always, there are some complicating factors to&nbsp;keep in&nbsp;mind:<\/p> <p>To&nbsp;address recent health concerns and&nbsp;social distancing rules, <nobr>in-store<\/nobr> pickup can be&nbsp;modified into a&nbsp;curbside pickup. Here\u2019s how it&nbsp;works:<\/p> <ol> <li>Customers place orders online.<\/li> <li>You prepare and&nbsp;package the&nbsp;orders.<\/li> <li>Customers drive to&nbsp;your restaurant and&nbsp;call you.<\/li> <li>You put the&nbsp;orders into customers\u2019 car trunks or&nbsp;set outside for&nbsp;pickup.<\/li> <\/ol> <p>If&nbsp;you choose this pickup option, you can do&nbsp;the&nbsp;following to&nbsp;ensure smooth sailing:<\/p> <ul> <li>Add clear curbside pickup instructions for&nbsp;customers to&nbsp;your site&nbsp;&mdash; when it\u2019s available and&nbsp;how it&nbsp;works.<\/li> <li>Explain the&nbsp;rules for&nbsp;curbside pickup to&nbsp;your employees and&nbsp;provide training if&nbsp;necessary.<\/li> <li>Set a&nbsp;pickup spot outside your restaurant. Make it&nbsp;obvious where people should park to&nbsp;wait for&nbsp;their food.<\/li> <\/ul> <p>If&nbsp;you choose regular <nobr>in-store<\/nobr> pickup, make sure it\u2019s organized in&nbsp;compliance with your local social distancing rules. Don\u2019t forget to&nbsp;add instructions for&nbsp;customers to&nbsp;your website: when the&nbsp;<nobr>in-store<\/nobr> pickup is&nbsp;available, tell them how many people are allowed inside the&nbsp;restaurant at&nbsp;a&nbsp;time, and&nbsp;remind them to&nbsp;wear a&nbsp;mask.<\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32703\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32703\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/online-ordering-for-restaurants-1608294243-1024x511.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"511\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32703\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>Ruggie\u2019s makes curbside pickup rules clear on&nbsp;their website<\/p><\/div><\/p> <h3>Take the&nbsp;time to&nbsp;train your staff<\/h3> <p>You\u2019re probably excited to&nbsp;get more orders after you enable online ordering for&nbsp;your restaurant. Just keep in&nbsp;mind that it&nbsp;might change your workflow a&nbsp;bit. For example, you might get more <nobr>late-night<\/nobr> orders. Or, you might get more online orders on&nbsp;Friday, Saturday, and&nbsp;Sunday&nbsp;&mdash; those are the&nbsp;days when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/industries\/technology-media-and-telecommunications\/our-insights\/the-changing-market-for-food-delivery#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">74% of&nbsp;online orders are placed<\/a>.<\/p> <p>For the&nbsp;majority of&nbsp;hungry <nobr>food-buying<\/nobr> customers, speed is&nbsp;a&nbsp;key factor. People often don\u2019t want to&nbsp;wait more than an&nbsp;hour for&nbsp;their food to&nbsp;arrive. That means that you might need to&nbsp;devote some time to&nbsp;additional staff training.<\/p> <p>Make sure to&nbsp;explain the&nbsp;following:<\/p> <ul> <li>The process of&nbsp;managing restaurant online orders<\/li> <li>The preparing and&nbsp;packaging of&nbsp;food for&nbsp;pickup and&nbsp;delivery<\/li> <li>The pickup and&nbsp;delivery process.<\/li> <\/ul> <h2 id=\"4\">How to&nbsp;Set Up&nbsp;Online Ordering System for&nbsp;Restaurants<\/h2> <p>Given all the&nbsp;information we\u2019ve already walked through, you might be&nbsp;thinking: &#147;How do&nbsp;I&nbsp;create an&nbsp;online ordering system?&#148; The good news is&nbsp;that with Ecwid <nobr>E-commerce,<\/nobr> you can do&nbsp;that in&nbsp;less time than it&nbsp;takes to&nbsp;serve a&nbsp;couple of&nbsp;people <nobr>in-house.<\/nobr><\/p> <p>To&nbsp;support restaurants affected by&nbsp;<nobr>COVID-19,<\/nobr> we\u2019re giving away online ordering for&nbsp;free. After your sign up&nbsp;with Ecwid <nobr>E-commerce,<\/nobr> you\u2019ll get access to&nbsp;an&nbsp;online store and&nbsp;be&nbsp;able to&nbsp;take orders online, accept contactless payments, and&nbsp;offer a&nbsp;curbside pickup and&nbsp;delivery to&nbsp;your customers.<\/p> <p>You\u2019ll also be&nbsp;able to&nbsp;use premium tools available free exclusively to&nbsp;restaurant owners, such as&nbsp;<nobr>point-of-sale<\/nobr> integration and&nbsp;gift cards. You will be&nbsp;able to&nbsp;use our online ordering offer for&nbsp;free until March 31, 2021.<\/p> <p>Learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/solutions\/restaurants\">setting up&nbsp;online ordering for&nbsp;free<\/a> for&nbsp;your restaurant.<\/p> <p>If&nbsp;you\u2019re ready to&nbsp;set up&nbsp;online ordering with Ecwid <nobr>E-commerce,<\/nobr> use these detailed <a href=\"https:\/\/support.ecwid.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/360021754399\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">instructions from our Help Center<\/a>. They\u2019ll guide you through each step of&nbsp;the&nbsp;setup process, so&nbsp;you won\u2019t get lost even, if&nbsp;you\u2019ve never used an&nbsp;<nobr>e-commerce<\/nobr> platform before.<\/p> <h3>Ways to&nbsp;earn more with <nobr>e-commerce<\/nobr> for&nbsp;restaurants<\/h3> <p>Sure, you may have turned to&nbsp;online ordering out of&nbsp;necessity as&nbsp;opposed to&nbsp;genuine interest in&nbsp;taking your business digital. But an&nbsp;<nobr>e-commerce<\/nobr> website can actually do&nbsp;more than help you accept orders online. Let\u2019s explore some other ways you can use an&nbsp;online store to&nbsp;grow your restaurant\u2019s capabilities.<\/p> <p><strong>Sell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/sell-gift-cards.html\">gift cards<\/a>.<\/strong> A&nbsp;great way for&nbsp;customers to&nbsp;support their favorite restaurant (or come up&nbsp;with a&nbsp;<nobr>last-minute<\/nobr> gift). For you, gift cards are another way to&nbsp;generate sales. Add gift cards capabilities to&nbsp;your online store, and&nbsp;when a&nbsp;customer buys one, they\u2019ll get an&nbsp;email with a&nbsp;unique code to&nbsp;redeem it.<\/p> <p><strong>Accept <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/accept-tips-at-checkout-in-online-store.html\">tips and&nbsp;donations<\/a>.<\/strong> It&nbsp;helps ease the&nbsp;burden of&nbsp;recurring bills and&nbsp;expenses, especially when customer traffic is&nbsp;lower than usual. With Ecwid <nobr>E-commerce,<\/nobr> you can accept tips or&nbsp;donations as&nbsp;a&nbsp;percentage or&nbsp;as&nbsp;a&nbsp;fixed amount:<\/p> <p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/restaurants-ecommerce-platform-1608294266-1024x515.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"515\" \/><\/p> <p><strong>Sell merch.<\/strong> If&nbsp;you have a&nbsp;brand logo, you can turn almost anything into merch: stickers, mugs, posters, tote bags, you name it. Merchandise helps increase brand awareness and&nbsp;engage with your customers, especially when it&nbsp;reflects your niche. Plus, loyal customers love it!<\/p> <p><strong>Sell online cooking classes or&nbsp;tickets to&nbsp;<nobr>in-person<\/nobr> events.<\/strong> Looking for&nbsp;new sources of&nbsp;income? Besides sharing food with customers, start sharing your expertise: offer online cooking classes, or&nbsp;organize events to&nbsp;be&nbsp;held in&nbsp;your restaurant (when it&nbsp;can be&nbsp;done safely, of&nbsp;course!). For example, wine tasting events, master classes, or&nbsp;dinner parties.<\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32707\" style=\"width: 988px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32707\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/restaurant-ecommerce-platform-1608294253.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"978\" height=\"594\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32707\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>Royal Bakery sells PDF tutorials on&nbsp;their website<\/p><\/div><\/p> <h2 id=\"5\">How to&nbsp;Promote Your Restaurant Online<\/h2> <p>After you\u2019ve set up&nbsp;an&nbsp;<nobr>e-commerce<\/nobr> website for&nbsp;your restaurant and&nbsp;figured out your perfect online ordering process, it\u2019s time to&nbsp;think about online promotion as&nbsp;well. Let\u2019s explore some of&nbsp;the&nbsp;primary ways to&nbsp;do&nbsp;that.<\/p> <h3>Get listed on&nbsp;local business directories<\/h3> <p>An&nbsp;online business directory is&nbsp;a&nbsp;list of&nbsp;businesses within a&nbsp;particular location or&nbsp;category. Lots of&nbsp;people use these directories to&nbsp;find new companies or&nbsp;try out new restaurants, so&nbsp;it&nbsp;makes sense to&nbsp;get your restaurant listed there.<\/p> <p>There are many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/local-business-listing.html\"><nobr>location-<\/nobr> and&nbsp;<nobr>industry-specific<\/nobr> business directories<\/a>, but make sure you list your restaurant at&nbsp;the&nbsp;most popular ones like Google My&nbsp;Business, Yelp, Apple Maps, TripAdvisor, Yellow Pages. Then you can work your way into more niche websites.<\/p> <p>Here\u2019s what you need to&nbsp;include in&nbsp;your listing:<\/p> <ul> <li>A&nbsp;restaurant description, including your cuisine, type of&nbsp;a&nbsp;restaurant, address, contact information<\/li> <li>A&nbsp;link to&nbsp;your website<\/li> <li>(High quality) pictures<\/li> <\/ul> <p><nobr>Double-check<\/nobr> that business listings link back directly to&nbsp;your online ordering page. For example, Google My&nbsp;Business may add links from <nobr>third-party<\/nobr> ordering services, such as&nbsp;ChowNow or&nbsp;Postmates. If&nbsp;you use (or have used) such platforms, these links may automatically be&nbsp;added to&nbsp;your listing.<\/p> <p>As&nbsp;<nobr>third-party<\/nobr> platforms collect fees for&nbsp;their services, it\u2019s better to&nbsp;link directly to&nbsp;your website from your listing. Learn how you can do&nbsp;that on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/easy-way-to-earn-more-on-google-my-business.html\">Google My&nbsp;Business<\/a>.<\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32702\" style=\"width: 975px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32702\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/google-my-business-1608294240.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"965\" height=\"836\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32702\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>The buttons in&nbsp;a&nbsp;Google My&nbsp;Business listing can link to&nbsp;a&nbsp;restaurant\u2019s website or&nbsp;a&nbsp;<nobr>third-party<\/nobr> platform<\/p><\/div><\/p> <h3>Liven up&nbsp;your social media pages<\/h3> <p>Sharing content on&nbsp;social media doesn\u2019t necessarily increase sales directly, but it&nbsp;definitely boosts brand awareness and&nbsp;can help you connect with your customers.<\/p> <p>Let your customers know about your new menu items, happy hours, special offers, or&nbsp;changes in&nbsp;operating hours or&nbsp;pickup and&nbsp;delivery. Address their concerns by&nbsp;explaining how you ensure safety of&nbsp;your employees and&nbsp;customers.<\/p> <p>Apart from sharing news, add some fun and&nbsp;educational content to&nbsp;your pages. For example: recipes, tips for&nbsp;cooking at&nbsp;home, pictures, and&nbsp;quotes of&nbsp;your staff are all easy and&nbsp;popular ways to&nbsp;get potential customers to&nbsp;feel at&nbsp;home in&nbsp;your social space.<\/p> <p>Reposting customer\u2019s photos of&nbsp;your restaurant is&nbsp;important too. To&nbsp;avoid missing out on&nbsp;that precious <nobr>user-generated<\/nobr> content, ask your customers to&nbsp;tag your restaurant in&nbsp;their photos, or&nbsp;use a&nbsp;branded hashtag.<\/p> <h3>Send out email newsletters<\/h3> <p>Email is&nbsp;the&nbsp;cheapest way to&nbsp;promote your restaurant online, so&nbsp;start collecting customer emails the&nbsp;moment you set up&nbsp;your website.<\/p> <p>The easiest way to&nbsp;collect customer emails is&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/support.ecwid.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/360003704479\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">add a&nbsp;newsletter signup form at&nbsp;checkout<\/a>.<\/p> <p>You can also use an&nbsp;email capture popup via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/email-marketing-with-mailchimp-and-ecwid-ecommerce.html\">Mailchimp<\/a> to&nbsp;collect emails of&nbsp;store visitors. Even if&nbsp;they don\u2019t order anything, interested parties still might subscribe to&nbsp;your newsletter.<\/p> <p>After you get your email list, you can start sending out newsletters. You can use them to&nbsp;promote offers, announce new or&nbsp;seasonal menu options, or&nbsp;give advice on&nbsp;cooking at&nbsp;home.<\/p> <p>You can also send out newsletters about a&nbsp;particular topic. For example, Seifert &&nbsp;Jones Wine Merchants have a&nbsp;&#147;Wine of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Week&#148; newsletter where they highlight different wine every week and&nbsp;offer special menu pairings with it:<\/p> <p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/restaurants-ecommerce-1608294268.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"799\" \/><\/p> <h3>Invest in&nbsp;paid advertising<\/h3> <p>Targeted ads can help you drive local visitors to&nbsp;your restaurant. For example, detailed targeting options on&nbsp;Facebook allow you to&nbsp;pinpoint the&nbsp;audience based on&nbsp;zip code or&nbsp;town name. Here\u2019s how to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/business\/learn\/lessons\/promote-your-business-locally\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">promote local businesses with Facebook ads<\/a>.<\/p> <p>You can also specify demographic or&nbsp;interests options to&nbsp;showcase your ad&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;most appropriate audience. Say, if&nbsp;your restaurant is&nbsp;<nobr>pet-friendly,<\/nobr> you can choose to&nbsp;show your ads to&nbsp;people interested in&nbsp;pet topics.<\/p> <h2 id=\"6\"><nobr>COVID-19<\/nobr>&nbsp;Impact on&nbsp;Restaurant Industry<\/h2> <p>It\u2019s impossible to&nbsp;talk about the&nbsp;restaurant industry in&nbsp;2020&nbsp;without mentioning the&nbsp;impact of&nbsp;the&nbsp;<nobr>COVID-19<\/nobr>&nbsp;pandemic. Of&nbsp;course, it\u2019s hard to&nbsp;find an&nbsp;industry the&nbsp;pandemic hasn\u2019t affected. But restaurant owners were among the&nbsp;first ones to&nbsp;take a&nbsp;hit in&nbsp;being forced to&nbsp;shut down, and&nbsp;are likely to&nbsp;suffer the&nbsp;<nobr>long-term<\/nobr> effects of&nbsp;the&nbsp;pandemic more than any&nbsp;other entrepreneurs.<\/p> <p>In&nbsp;the&nbsp;US&nbsp;alone, restaurant sale losses topped <a href=\"https:\/\/restaurant.org\/education-and-resources\/resource-library\/restaurant-sales-rose-in-august,-but-operators-remained-concerned\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">$185&nbsp;billion<\/a> between March and&nbsp;August 2020. Looking ahead, the&nbsp;majority of&nbsp;restaurant owners aren\u2019t very hopeful for&nbsp;the&nbsp;future of&nbsp;their sales, judging by&nbsp;the&nbsp;survey of&nbsp;3,500&nbsp;restaurant operators:<\/p> <ul> <li>71% of&nbsp;<nobr>full-service<\/nobr> operators don\u2019t expect their sales to&nbsp;return to&nbsp;<nobr>pre-pandemic<\/nobr> levels within the&nbsp;next six months.<\/li> <li>43% percent of&nbsp;<nobr>full-service<\/nobr> operators say it&nbsp;is&nbsp;unlikely their restaurant will still be&nbsp;in&nbsp;business six months from now if&nbsp;business conditions continue at&nbsp;current levels.<\/li> <li>1\/3&nbsp;<nobr>limited-service<\/nobr> operators say they likely won\u2019t survive another six months if&nbsp;business conditions don\u2019t improve.<\/li> <\/ul> <p>Across the&nbsp;world, restaurant\u2019s daily traffic has dropped precipitously compared to&nbsp;the&nbsp;same period in&nbsp;2019. The <nobr>year-over-year<\/nobr> decline of&nbsp;seated diners in&nbsp;restaurants worldwide was a&nbsp;staggering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/1103928\/coronavirus-restaurant-visitation-impact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">51.3% <\/a>on&nbsp;November 28, 2020&nbsp;<nobr>\u2014<\/nobr> as&nbsp;you can see on&nbsp;the&nbsp;chart below. The data shows <nobr>year-over-year<\/nobr> seated diners at&nbsp;restaurants on&nbsp;the&nbsp;OpenTable network across all channels: online reservations, phone reservations, and&nbsp;<nobr>walk-ins.<\/nobr><\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32711\" style=\"width: 857px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32711\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/restaurants-covid-19-1608294262.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"847\" height=\"593\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32711\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/><nobr>Year-over-year<\/nobr> daily change in&nbsp;seated restaurant diners due to&nbsp;the&nbsp;<nobr>COVID-19<\/nobr>&nbsp;pandemic worldwide from February to&nbsp;November in&nbsp;2020<\/p><\/div><\/p> <h2 id=\"7\">How to&nbsp;Adapt to&nbsp;<nobr>Long-Term<\/nobr> Effects of&nbsp;<nobr>COVID-19<\/nobr><\/h2> <p>Right now, staying in&nbsp;business isn\u2019t just about taking your restaurant online. It\u2019s about adapting to&nbsp;the&nbsp;<nobr>long-term<\/nobr> effects of&nbsp;the&nbsp;pandemic. Not only will conditions for&nbsp;businesses continue to&nbsp;change, but customer\u2019s habits will transform too.<\/p> <h3>People will be&nbsp;ordering online more<\/h3> <p>It\u2019s a&nbsp;safe bet that <nobr>on-premise<\/nobr> dining will lose some love to&nbsp;online ordering, long term. Of&nbsp;course, people won\u2019t stop dining out, but they will rely much more on&nbsp;online ordering, be&nbsp;it&nbsp;for&nbsp;delivery or&nbsp;takeout. For example, ordering food online or&nbsp;picking it&nbsp;up&nbsp;at&nbsp;the&nbsp;restaurant to&nbsp;enjoy at&nbsp;home with the&nbsp;family might become a&nbsp;mainstay alternative to&nbsp;taking the&nbsp;family out for&nbsp;dinner.<\/p> <p><strong>How you can adjust:<\/strong> Make an&nbsp;online ordering system an&nbsp;essential part of&nbsp;your business, and&nbsp;don\u2019t give it&nbsp;up&nbsp;once the&nbsp;pandemic is&nbsp;over.<\/p> <h3>Contactless technology will be&nbsp;the&nbsp;new norm<\/h3> <p>Minimizing interactions between customers and&nbsp;staff has become a&nbsp;goal in&nbsp;recent months. You might\u2019ve enabled contactless payments in&nbsp;your restaurant, or&nbsp;even installed <nobr>plexi-glass<\/nobr> partitions. This trend will stay put, making restaurants strive for&nbsp;contactless dining experience from beginning to&nbsp;end.<\/p> <p><strong>How you can adjust:<\/strong> Add more online payment options to&nbsp;your website to&nbsp;avoid accepting cash upon delivery. Make paying online faster and&nbsp;easier by&nbsp;enabling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/checkout-with-apple-pay.html\">Apple Pay<\/a> and&nbsp;Google Pay, and&nbsp;don\u2019t forget to&nbsp;implement these payment methods in&nbsp;your physical location too.<\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32701\" style=\"width: 730px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32701\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Apple-Pay-1-1608294233.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"720\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32701\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>With Ecwid <nobr>E-commerce,<\/nobr> customers can pay with a&nbsp;click using Apple Pay<\/p><\/div><\/p> <p>Replace regular menus in&nbsp;your store with digital ones. For example, customers can scan a&nbsp;QR&nbsp;code at&nbsp;the&nbsp;table to&nbsp;see the&nbsp;menu without interacting with a&nbsp;waiter.<\/p> <h3>Menus will change<\/h3> <p>The pandemic\u2019s impact will be&nbsp;felt long after it&nbsp;is&nbsp;over, and&nbsp;might affect individual menus as&nbsp;well. Affordable options like family meals are already in&nbsp;high demand among customers. Shareables might be&nbsp;less popular though dues to&nbsp;customers\u2019 increased concerns about health and&nbsp;hygiene.<\/p> <p>It\u2019s also likely that meal kits for&nbsp;cooking at&nbsp;home will rise in&nbsp;popularity as&nbsp;a&nbsp;fresh alternative to&nbsp;takeout.<\/p> <p>Menus might also become smaller, because it&nbsp;makes it&nbsp;easier for&nbsp;customers to&nbsp;decide on&nbsp;their order. Plus, this allows restaurateurs to&nbsp;cut expenses and&nbsp;avoid food waste using the&nbsp;same ingredients for&nbsp;several dishes.<\/p> <p><strong>How you can adjust:<\/strong> Start rethinking your menu to&nbsp;keep the&nbsp;<nobr>much-in-demand<\/nobr> dishes and&nbsp;minimize expensive and\/or less popular ones. Consider adding family dinners, meal packages, or&nbsp;kits for&nbsp;cooking at&nbsp;home.<\/p> <h3>Seating will change too<\/h3> <p>Social distancing isn\u2019t a&nbsp;new concept anymore, and&nbsp;it&nbsp;might change customer\u2019s preferred ways to&nbsp;dine going forward. Sitting close to&nbsp;others doesn\u2019t feel comfortable to&nbsp;many people, especially indoors. Plus, the&nbsp;health and&nbsp;safety regulations prescribe to&nbsp;maintain the&nbsp;minimum safety distance between tables. It\u2019s no&nbsp;surprise that communal tables might become a&nbsp;thing of&nbsp;the&nbsp;past for&nbsp;some restaurants.<\/p> <p><div id=\"attachment_32704\" style=\"width: 558px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32704\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"border\" src=\"https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/online-ordering-platforms-1608294246.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"548\" height=\"686\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-32704\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>Maison Saigon encourages social distancing by&nbsp;placing one chair at&nbsp;each table. They also added stuffed pandas to&nbsp;each table to&nbsp;keep their customers company<\/p><\/div><\/p> <p><strong>How you can adjust:<\/strong> You already reorganized your seating. Now let your customers know it\u2019s safe to&nbsp;dine or&nbsp;pick up&nbsp;food at&nbsp;your restaurant. Share new seating plans on&nbsp;your website and&nbsp;social media. Have a&nbsp;live cooking counter? Don\u2019t be&nbsp;shy to&nbsp;boast about it: customers feel safer seeing their food cooked before their eyes.<\/p> <h3>Big restaurant chains will recover faster<\/h3> <p>The majority of&nbsp;large restaurant chains can afford to&nbsp;stay in&nbsp;business longer, even during this time of&nbsp;crisis. Fast food chains are also getting more attention from customers rather than <nobr>full-service<\/nobr> restaurants because <nobr>on-premise<\/nobr> dining is&nbsp;either unavailable or&nbsp;limited. That makes it&nbsp;easier for&nbsp;big chains to&nbsp;recover after the&nbsp;crisis, as&nbsp;compared to&nbsp;mom and&nbsp;pop restaurants.<\/p> <p><strong>How you can adjust:<\/strong> Give your customers a&nbsp;chance to&nbsp;support your business. Sell gift cards and&nbsp;allow making donations and&nbsp;leaving tips at&nbsp;your online store.<\/p> <h2>Start Using Restaurant <nobr>E-commerce<\/nobr> Platform<\/h2> <p>This year proved that an&nbsp;<nobr>e-commerce<\/nobr> website could be&nbsp;a&nbsp;major safety net for&nbsp;independently run businesses&nbsp;&mdash; especially restaurants. A&nbsp;site with an&nbsp;online store allows restaurateurs to&nbsp;accept online orders, organize convenient pickup and&nbsp;delivery, sell gift cards and&nbsp;merch, collect tips and&nbsp;donations, and&nbsp;even promote their restaurant to&nbsp;a&nbsp;whole new base of&nbsp;customers. All of&nbsp;this is&nbsp;extremely helpful, given the&nbsp;growing demand for&nbsp;ordering food online.<\/p> <p>Now, it\u2019s your turn: do&nbsp;you have a&nbsp;website for&nbsp;your restaurant? How do&nbsp;you use it? Share your experience and&nbsp;advice with fellow restaurant owners in&nbsp;the&nbsp;comments!<\/p> <p><div class='banner-block'><div class='banner-block-img'><img src='https:\/\/don16obqbay2c.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/offline-to-online-1584622671-1628273471.png' \/><\/div>     <div class='banner-block-text '>       Looking for&nbsp;a&nbsp;better way to&nbsp;handle online ordering? Stop sharing your profits with online ordering platforms<br\/><a class=\"btn btn-blue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/solutions\/restaurants\">Learn more<\/a>     <\/div>     <\/div><\/p> <p>\u00a0<\/p> <ul> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/restaurant-online-ordering-system.html\" target=\"_blank\">Ecommerce for&nbsp;Restaurants: A&nbsp;Recipe For Online Ordering Success<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/online-food-and-restaurant-businesses-powered-by-ecwid.html\" target=\"_blank\">Examples of&nbsp;Online Food and&nbsp;Restaurant Businesses Powered by&nbsp;Ecwid<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/restaurant-software.html\" target=\"_blank\"><nobr>Must-Have<\/nobr> Restaurant Software to&nbsp;Sell Food Online<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/inventory-management-software-for-restaurants.html\" target=\"_blank\">Inventory Management Software for&nbsp;Restaurants: Most Used Solutions<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/blog\/best-pos-systems-for-restaurants.html\" target=\"_blank\">What Are the&nbsp;Best Restaurant POS Systems?<\/a><\/li> <\/ul> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An&nbsp;<nobr>e-commerce<\/nobr> site helps restaurateurs accept orders online, organize pickup and&nbsp;delivery, sell gift cards, collect tips, and&nbsp;promote their business. Can it&nbsp;work for&nbsp;your restaurant? Check out our guide on&nbsp;<nobr>e-commerce<\/nobr> for&nbsp;restaurants.<\/p> ","protected":false},"author":263581,"featured_media":32716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","amp_status":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,154,922],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/263581"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32692"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83942,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32692\/revisions\/83942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecwid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}