The world of dining out has changed drastically, but if your restaurant changes with the times, you can boost your profits. One of the ways that you can take advantage of new technologies and make more revenue is by making your menus digital.
With a digital menu and ordering platform, customers will be able to conveniently place their orders in minutes. To boost your profits with digital menus, here are a few tips.
- Tailor Your Menu Items to the Digital Sphere
If you are only using your digital menu for the convenience of customers ordering dine-ins at your restaurant, then you don’t have to worry about this step. However, if you are hoping to branch out to serving delivery and takeout, you need to think about what items on your menu are better suited for travel than others.
Do all of your dishes reheat well, or do some dishes need to be fresh? Your tableside steak may be your restaurant’s showstopper dish, but after 30 minutes in a delivery vehicle, the experience won’t be the same.
Streamlining your menu will ensure that no matter what your customers order, they will be happy with the quality of their food.
- Don’t Overlook Food Photography
Enticing photographs on your digital menu can persuade customers to choose your restaurant over a competitor, or even convince them to order more than they planned. Some studies have shown that food photographs on menus can lead to a 30% increase in sales.
Taking gorgeous photographs of your menu items only requires a little extra work and no fancy equipment. You can use your smartphone camera and edit the photos minimally with free software. To take the best photos, use natural light if possible, wipe down any splatters, and add garnishes for a special flourish. Alternatively, you could also hire a professional photographer to help you out with this task.
- Upsell When Possible
A restaurant online ordering system is the perfect opportunity to upsell without having to aggressively push additional items on in-person diners. Most systems give you the option to tailor your suggestions to specific menu items. For example, you can suggest customers upgrade the size of their dish or offer a special discount on drinks or appetisers with a main menu item.
The placement of your upsell suggestions is also important. Be sure they are somewhere in the logical flow of the ordering system, such as right after a customer selects an item or before checkout.
- Make Your Ordering System Convenient
Even if your menu is fantastic and your food photography is spectacular, customers will not use your restaurant online ordering system if they think it is difficult to navigate. By taking steps to improve the user experience, you will increase your orders.
Make sure that your ordering system is works seamlessly and that customers know how to progress to each next step. To cater to more customers, you should also accept different payment methods. Lots of people still rely on traditional payment methods, but more and more are using digital wallets. The more payment methods you accept, the broader your customer base will be.
- Make Sure People Know About Your Digital Menu
If customers don’t know that you added a digital menu, then you will not be able to make a profit off of it! Make sure to feature it prominently on your website and any third-party listings your business has, such as Yelp or Google Business. Digital menus are also useful when it comes to contactless ordering and can play a key role in your restaurant online ordering system.
Social media is also a great tool to communicate that you have a new digital menu. You can also use your gorgeous food photography to promote it. You can also put up signs in your restaurant encouraging people to order online, or make use of an email newsletter.
Maximise Digital Menus To Boost Your Profits
If you are adding a digital menu to your restaurant’s offerings, be sure to configure it in a way that maximises profits. Tailoring your menu items to prioritise items that deliver well and adding enticing food photography makes your food work for you. You should also think about the usability of your ordering system by structuring it logically and adding upsells in key places.
