7 benefits of building an app for your restaurant business

Foodservice might be one of the oldest types of business out there, but it is one industry where businesses can benefit the most from technology. Of course, the heart of the business is still in the kitchen and the face-to-face interactions with customers, but there is a lot you can do to increase sales and improve the experience by building an app for your restaurant.

As restaurant businesses are being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to look at new solutions has never been more important. You need to find ways to continue serving customers and look for new ideas that can help you serve them better.

With iPhone app development, you can give your business a portal to a device most of your customers take everywhere they go. This will provide your restaurant business with valuable opportunities to connect with your customers and to offer them services that will make them want to buy from your business more frequently. With the ability to offer more ordering options, it could also be a way to help your business make it through the pandemic.

Ordering and Delivery

Any restaurant that offers delivery or pickup services will benefit from an app that offers online ordering. Ordering through an app is much easier and more convenient than doing it over the phone or on a website. It will also save your employees time because they won’t have to answer the phone to take every order.

You can even build the app with features that allow the customer to track the progress of their order. It can show status updates for when the food is being prepared or when it is out for delivery. The app could even send a notification when the order is on the way.

Online Menu

Having your menu available online is great for encouraging customers to order food or come in for a meal. It can also be useful if you are offering services like delivery and pickup through the app. The menu would obviously contain all of the items on the menu and you could include enticing pictures to whet the appetites of users.

Promote Special and New Dishes

An app can be the perfect platform for promoting specials and new dishes. If you have a new dish or a special running for a time, you can use push notifications to make sure customers are aware. This can help with raising awareness and increasing sales when you have a new item or a special.

Loyalty Rewards

Your app could be a convenient hub for a restaurant loyalty program. Depending on your restaurant and how you want to run the program, the app could build loyalty by offering reward points for ordering or by providing a discount after an app user spends to a certain limit. 

The loyalty program could also be good for attracting new customers. You could offer a voucher code for first-time users. You could provide the voucher for downloading the app and creating an account. The new customer can then use the voucher the first time they order or they can apply the voucher the first time they come in.

Deals by Location

One of the best things about an app is that it can use location services on the phone to see where the user is. If the app sees that a customer is near one of your locations, it could trigger a push notification to encourage them to stop by for a meal. It could be something as simple as a friendly hello, but you could drive significant results by using a location-based notification to remind the customer of a special or to offer a limited time discount they can use that day.

Online Reservations

An app can streamline the process of making reservations. With the app, it will be quick and easy for users to see if you have any open tables. If they want to make a reservation for later that day or later in the week, they can do it easily and without having to call. With the system being cloud-based, all of the information will be up to date and you won’t have to worry about double booking or customers not being able to tell if there are tables available.

Building an app is an investment, but it can be one of the most valuable marketing tools a restaurant can have. Not only will it drive sales and get more customers to your location, but having a presence on the phones of your customers can be one of the most effective ways to build loyalty.

Customer feedback

Customer satisfaction is essential to any restaurant. Use platforms such as Survey Maker to integrate a survey in your app for gathering key customer feedback. Make the most of your feedback to improve your customers’ restaurant experience to guarantee a growth in your business. 

Why not use a third-party delivery app instead? 

You can’t ignore the option of using a third-party delivery app instead of developing an app for your restaurant. It seems like a simple way to offer many of these services without having to go through the work of building an app. With that said, you give up a lot by using one of these services instead of building something of your own.

To start, there are the fees. Sure, building an app will cost more upfront, but the fees from some of these delivery apps can make it close to impossible to turn a profit. If the fees are paid by the restaurant business, it will eat into your already thin margins. If the cost is on the customer, it is going to make ordering much more expensive, and that might cost you in sales.

After you consider the costs, you need to think about the level of control you are giving up. In a third-party app, everything is on their terms. With an app you have built for your business, you are the one in control of the experience. You can present your menu in a way that works best for your business, you can offer deals and communicate with customers in a way that is to your advantage. You can also do things like use push notifications and run a loyalty program, both of which may not be available if you are using a third-party app.

You also have to consider whether you want a third-party service provider in control of the delivery experience. If it takes longer to get the food to the customer, that could affect the quality. This might reflect poorly on your business through no fault of your own. When you have your own app, you still control the process and you can still use your drivers.

Many businesses might choose a third-party app simply because it seems easier. With that said, you have to consider the opportunities that come with having an app that is just for your business. It might require a little effort to build, but it will be a much more useful tool for promoting your business and enhancing the customer experience.