Not Offering Online Ordering? You May not Know what you’re Missing!

Posted on February 23, 2012

By: Tim Pincelli

Wow, did I learn a lesson this weekend on how critically important offering online ordering is to a small business…especially to local walk-in and delivery businesses that serve lunch. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve known for a while how important online ordering is for today’s restaurant, but my experience actually delivered the hovering light bulb over my head followed by the “ding” sound.

I wanted lunch. I was busy and I wasn’t quite sure what I was hungry for. I did a search for pizza and sub restaurants in my area from my iPhone. I chose the restaurant with online ordering and delivery as that was the fastest and easiest way to get my food. I may never go elsewhere for lunch after my experience with the restaurant I ordered from.

For the purpose of focus, I’ll leave out the commentary about the flawless execution of the restaurant in terms of accuracy and exceeding my expectations, and focus instead on my experience and the end result. My gut reaction to online ordering immediately was I’m too picky and this will be too complicated and I’ll just get frustrated and call the closest restaurant and abandon this adventure. I was so wrong.

As soon as I entered the online ordering webpage, I was greeted with a location selection and easy to understand categories, simple drop down menus to select modifiers, and an efficient payment screen to complete my order. I chose the option to create an account, but was pleased to see that it wasn’t required and I could order anonymously. These small details may seem rudimentary, but they are important aspects of an online ordering experience and are critical to online ordering success.

The restaurant benefits from my inherent loyalty now, and I spent at least $6.00 more than I would have if I had gone to the restaurant in person.  Not only that, but I gave a higher tip to the delivery driver than I would have given the server in the restaurant and I had a happy, well fed family.

MICROS has made it very easy and painless for a restaurant entrepreneur to deploy online and mobile ordering. In today’s competitive restaurant marketplace, an increased online presence is critical to success. Let MICROS show you how to get started with online ordering to begin increasing sales today!

 Find out more about what MICROS can do for you! For more information contact us at info@micros.com Phone: 866.287.4736 (US and Canada)

 

About Tim Pincelli

Thank you for taking the time to read my bio. After my years at Babson College and a few years of hustling at various positions in the restaurant business, I was introduced to the Hospitality Point-of-Sale business and I mentally thank that person who made that introduction nearly every day. I didn’t start in the restaurant POS solution business with MICROS, but I always knew I wanted to be here. And 10+ years later, I’m very excited to be contributing to this blog in any way I can! It’s always interesting to me to hear how some people stumble through answering the simple question; “so what do you do and who do you work for?” In the course of the past 10+ years my answer has dramatically shifted. I started with “you know those touchscreen cash register things that the servers use to place orders in restaurants…I sell those” and have moved to “I help deliver cloud based technology and marketing solutions from MICROS to today’s restaurant entrepreneur to help them succeed in today’s restaurant climate and get to work with some of the best operators in the business!” When I’m not at work you’ll find me hunting that elusive 50+ lb. Striped Bass somewhere on the New England shore, hunting the seemingly more elusive (at least for me) eagle on the golf course, or enthusiastically cheering on one of our two children with my wife while they play the sport of the season. For those of you that have either spoken to or met me before, you’ll already know that I choose to have a great day, every day and I encourage you to do the same…before someone chooses for you!
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4 comments on “Not Offering Online Ordering? You May not Know what you’re Missing!”

  1. Hoai on said:

    Hi Tim,

    I’m a technology solutions manager at a privately owned restaurant in Los Angeles.

    We bought the transaction services license from Micros last year, but find that not being a chain, it has been very difficult to work with a vendor that integrates well with Micros.

    Our local rep can only provide us with a few names of companies that can do the integration, and most will only work with chains, and those who are willing to work with us, the set up fees are in the thousands, making it difficult for any restaurant entrepreneur to justify moving forward with.

    Would you be able to provide a list of a few companies that can provide online ordering for small restaurants?

    Thanks!

    Hoai

    Reply ↓
    • Joe Broady on said:

      How much did you have to pay for your Transaction Service License? I’m looking into buying one for my restaurant.

      Reply ↓
  2. Tim Pincelli on said:

    Hoai,

    Thank you for your note. Great news, we have something to solve your problem. MICROS has webOrdering eS that is easy to afford, feature rich, and fully integrated on-line ordering. May I have our representative revisit this topic with you? We’re very excited about this offering and I’m confident it will meet your criteria.

    Tim

    Reply ↓
    • Hoai on said:

      Hi Tim,

      This is different from the transaction services license to have online order get integrated through the API?

      Thanks!

      Hoai

      Reply ↓

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