Introduction
Technology has simplified the way you reach and treat your customers regardless of which business you are in. And with mobile technology penetrating in various industries, the food and restaurant business is not far behind in utilizing it.
You will generally start the setup of your food business with business registration coupled with trademark registration in India. And then comes the thing about integrating technology in the restaurant. Given the COVID-19 scenario, it is a great way to reach more people and drive food-based engagement leveraging mobile applications. Big restaurants and dine-in chains like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Domino’s and others are already using mobile apps to benefit.
Let’s look at the 5 key advantages you get by leveraging technology if you are into setting up a food business.
#1. Onboarding Investors
Before we dwell further on customer-centric benefits, let us dig in some business-centric pros that a mobile app can yield. Being a startup means staying open to investments in the longer run. One of the significant aspects that any investors look into before investing in any business is potential brand value.
A mobile application or even an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) will get investors’ attention. With activations and subscriptions through an app, you can easily share customer data regarding retention rate and usability. Investors are already tasting success in the food app business, especially DoorDash raising $600 million last year.
An app is a tangible asset with a backend full of real-time as well as historical data. This interests investors and they can see a viable growth. Nowadays, when mobile apps back startups, the chances of getting investments are usually higher.
#2. Connecting and Engaging Customers
With more people glued to their mobile devices, chances of them discovering your food startup through a mobile app are higher than the walk-ins. A well-device app marketing plan can help pull in the first lot of customers and then it all boils down to the UX. And once you have the customer data in hand you can always plot a targeted marketing strategy and use remarketing to engage more users frequently.
Implementing personalisation gets easy once you have known their preferences and taste in food. With historical order records, offering smart recommendations and easy order placement assistance is something that every customer values which drives engagement.
Moreover, you can have an app that enables help desks and food discussion-driven forums to let customers ask questions easily. This works as a touchpoint to address customer concerns with integrated CRM to hear out their grievances.
Allowing customers to check their payment status, delivery, or membership issues in the app certainly makes a world of difference. This adds value and they start perceiving to your services as a brand rather than just an app. And this will help you leverage engagements for building brand loyalty as well.
#3. Simplifying Table Reservations
Table booking on weekends is easier said than done. Here’s where your mobile application can tap in to offer an easy table reservation mechanism. One touch table reservations are possible with the in-app ‘Book Now’ button to schedule a lunch or dinner beforehand.
A mobile app also gives the user the power to pre-order their meal with the table reservation enabling you to serve faster and reduce table occupancy time. This makes space for more users to dine-in in less time and thereby optimizing your kitchen supply chain.
They can see which and how many tables are available based on their desired booking slots on the user front. Therefore, the table reservation system is useful not only to the users but also to the franchise restaurant managers to manage their table capacity. This makes way for driving in more customers by allowing them to slot their reservation, adding to the regular walk-ins, and sometimes even compensating for its lack.
#4. On-demand Delivery
You can leverage mobile apps’ power and set up the cloud kitchen business to deliver foods via Swiggy and Zomato. This way you can target to get more delivery orders than placing an order over a call. There are always chances of miscommunications and taking charge amidst the backdrop of a noisy restaurant is a taxing task.
The food on-demand app helps patrons place an order using a mobile application and even gives them the ability to track in real-time. This is the most revolutionary step as far as integrating mobile technology in food delivery is concerned.
In-app menus with pricing and digital payment through app drive efficiency in mitigating administrative tasks associated with food delivery. Even top taxi app company like Uber is going this route with the introduction of Uber Eats.
Ensure integrating secured payment gateway for food ordering app to win customers’ trust. They can also provide feedback for each delivery that helps you to better your services in the future. Rating delivery persons is also an ideal way to optimize last-mile delivery and make room for improvements as you expand your delivery areas.
Chain-restaurants benefits more from this as they can implement on-demand food delivery across multiple states. It won’t cost you a bomb to create a great app and grow a food delivery business.
#5. Building Customer Loyalty
The best way to build customer loyalty is to remain in their subconscious for a longer time by letting them know that you exist. Such constant reminders are possible through push notifications of mobile applications. App development is a powerful way to build loyalty over time since you sit inside customers’ pockets – close and personal.
App users are easy to enroll in the loyalty programs as their data is readily available. Enabling customized offers based on their requirements means getting to win their trust which in turn builds loyalty.
Using a mobile restaurant app as a tool to drive loyalty works best when you offer rewards to customers on every visit. Be it regular discounts, point redemption system or even offer of the day for privileged customers. Giving them free desserts or offering free delivery are a few of the best ways of customer retention.
Conclusion
Having said the above advantages, your last job is to read and respond to each app’s reviews. Even if the review is negative, resolve it over the app itself as it also reflects your agility and availability to other customers. This is how you can inspire others to download an app, comforting prospective users to stay assured of resolving their concerns.
