Consumer expectations for convenience and off-premises dining are demanding your attention.
For today’s consumer, delivery is now a part of life that’s no longer relegated only to pizza joints and Chinese food. Off-premises dining covers the breadth of industry segments from casual sit-downs to fine dining and everything between. Customers want food brought to their door, and they want it to be equal quality to what they would eat in the restaurant’s dining room. But when it comes to delivery, what’s in it for full-service restaurants?
“A lot of industries have been moving toward customer convenience and the food industry has always been at the forefront of that,” says Nikki Neuburger, senior marketing director at Uber Eats. “Now, with the mass adoption of mobile apps, every consumer has on-demand platforms at their fingertips and their expectation for convenience continues to rise.”
According to Neuburger, restaurant-specific food delivery sales will increase 77 percent by 2020—it represents the fastest-growing ordering method among American consumers and will become an increasingly critical service for full-service restaurants to provide.
“Restaurants are no longer just gaining popularity solely through word-of-mouth,” Neuburger says. “As customers are selecting more for convenience, joining a delivery platform allows operators to reach customers who might not have discovered them otherwise.”
For many operators, meeting the demand for delivery while still ensuring consistency and quality has proven a challenge, and it is therefore critical for them to implement services and partner with providers who understand those needs.
“Partnering with delivery platforms can enable brands to gain access and forge relationships with a new, broader customer base,” Neuburger says.
Uber Eats, for example, allows restaurants to set up their own marketing offers within the delivery app and targeted to a specific audience in their geographic area. This provides operators with the opportunity to market to more guests, target new customers, and drive traffic to specific units. Wokcano, an Asian-fusion restaurant in Long Beach, CA saw a 37 percent increase in new customer traffic each week it ran an offer, according to store manager Michael Kwan.
“We set it up for $5 off every order for $20 or more,” Kwan says. “After the first week, I knew immediately that in-app marketing would help increase our community-level exposure in a cost-effective way.”
In addition to helping restaurants reach new customers and drive incremental sales, according to Neuburger, partnering with a third-party delivery platform such as Uber Eats can provide restaurants with key insights and customer data. For example, restaurant managers can track all of their sales and identify purchasing trends by month or daypart. This kind of information can help operators to schedule better, which can ultimately result in increased productivity and profitability for the restaurant.
By implementing third-party delivery, operators can ensure they are meeting customer demands, and also market to new customers who may discover a restaurant for the first time by searching for delivery options in their area.
For more information on how to improve efficiency with a third-party delivery platform, visit the Uber Eats website.
