Hotshots Sports Bar & Grill didn’t have online ordering at the outset of the pandemic. DoorDash Storefront changed that.
Prior to the pandemic, Hotshots Sports Bar & Grill, a 14-unit brand based in the St. Louis area, did not heavily rely on off-premises sales. The brand was using DoorDash and other third-party delivery apps to bolster its revenue, but it was something of an afterthought compared to the in-person dining experience that Hotshots had always excelled at providing.
“Prior to 2020, anything we got from delivery apps and call-in orders was auxiliary, the cherry on top if you will,” says Justin Boyd, director of marketing and digital assets for Hotshots Sports Bar and Grill. “But when the pandemic hit, it became clear that we had to have an in-house solution for people who wanted to pick up their order.”
Hotshots wasn’t alone—many brands were trying to find a cost-effective way to add an online ordering option that would be user friendly for diners and employees alike. The solution turned up for Hotshots in the form of DoorDash Storefront, a new product designed to help brands of any size add a seamless online ordering platform to their own website with custom branding. The best part? There are no monthly fees, commissions, or contract with Storefront. In fact, the only thing restaurants pay are credit card processing fees, while customers are saved from the delivery and service charges they’d experience with a delivery order.
Maybe it would’ve been a challenging platform to roll out if DoorDash provided only the software to make it happen, but Boyd reports that DoorDash helped at just about every step along the way. The company helped Hotshots with things like packaging for takeout and creating coupons to let customers know about the new online ordering system.
The rollout of Storefront has ushered in a new era of profitability for the sports bar brand.
“As we have evolved since the pandemic, I think we’re finding that you have to remove barriers between you and the customer,” Boyd says. “You cannot build walls and expect your customers to come find you. You have to provide seamless mobile ordering. If you don’t implement something like Storefront, that customer is going to go somewhere else.”
One of the things that Boyd and his team like most about Storefront is the fact that nothing had to be added into stores to get it up and running. The orders populate on the same tablets and kitchen display systems that a DoorDash delivery order would come through. For that reason alone—and the fact that all of this is commission-free for Hotshots—Boyd recommends the service to other brands looking for ways to bolster their off-premises game.
“DoorDash has made it really easy for brands like us to have online ordering,” Boyd says. “Especially if you’re a smaller brand or an independent restaurant, it’s a layup to add this into the mix if you’re already using the DoorDash platform. I mean, it’s a no-brainer.”
For more on adding DoorDash Storefront, visit the company’s website.
