How to Optimize Your Client's Restaurant Site for Takeout Orders with ChowNow
In an age where convenience reigns supreme, restaurants must adapt to meet the evolving demands of their customers. One such adaptation involves optimizing their online presence, particularly through their website, to streamline the takeout ordering process.
We'll explore the significance of websites for local restaurants, delve into the importance of an optimized online ordering system, and guide you through the ChowNow integration* with Squarespace to enhance the functionality of your client's restaurant website.
Why it matters
The digital landscape has transformed the way consumers interact with businesses, and restaurants are no exception. In fact, 77% of diners check a restaurant’s website before visiting. A well-crafted website serves as a digital storefront, offering patrons a glimpse into the establishment's offerings, ambiance, and most importantly, its menu. It acts as a virtual gateway, enticing potential customers and facilitating access to essential information such as operating hours, location, and contact details.
Not only is it paramount for restaurants to have a working website, but they should also feature online ordering capabilities directly from their website. An optimized online ordering system can significantly enhance the customer experience by providing a seamless and hassle-free way to place takeout orders, plus it helps restaurants save costs by cutting out commission fees. When restaurants use third-party ordering services, they incur upwards of 30% on commission fees on every order, which can be extremely detrimental to the restaurant’s bottom line. When restaurants offer online ordering directly through their websites, they don’t have to pay any commissions, and they get to keep all of their customers’ ordering data, which they can use for marketing and retargeting campaigns.
By streamlining the ordering process, restaurants can cater to the growing demand for convenience while also maximizing efficiency and revenue.
Building a successful restaurant website
Outside of typical website best practices like mobile responsiveness and intuitive navigation, successful restaurant websites possess a few extra characteristics:
1. Compelling content
Engaging and informative content can help tell the story of the restaurant, its cuisine, and its unique offerings. This may include descriptions of signature dishes, chef profiles, customer testimonials, and blog posts showcasing culinary expertise and industry insights. And don’t forget to add the menu offerings to the website—many diners look at a restaurant’s menu before going out to eat.
2. Social proof
Customer reviews and testimonials add credibility and trustworthiness to the restaurant's brand. Integrating social proof elements, as well as user-generated content from social media, can reassure potential customers and encourage them to dine with confidence.
3. Contact information and location details
Making it possible for customers to quickly find and contact the restaurant is crucial. Include prominent contact information, such as phone number, email address, and physical address with a map, to ensure customers can reach out for inquiries, reservations, or directions.
4. Online reservation functionality
Another imperative feature of a restaurant website is a place for prospective customers to set up reservations. It streamlines the process for customers to create, update, and manage their reservations without taking time away from restaurant staff. Add Tock’s reservation system to your client’s Squarespace website.
5. Online ordering functionality
An integrated online ordering system simplifies the process for customers to place takeout or delivery orders directly through the website. This feature not only enhances convenience but also increases sales and improves operational efficiency for the restaurant. Plus, consumers now expect restaurant websites to offer online ordering capabilities. It’s no longer a nice-to-have—it’s now a must-have.
Not all online ordering systems are created equally, though.
Third-party online ordering vs first-party online ordering
Third-party online ordering systems can be helpful in bringing in new business, but can ultimately hurt restaurants because they charge 15% to 30% commission fees on every single order. Additionally, these third-party ordering systems don’t share diner data with restaurants, so restaurants aren't able to analyze the data or use it for future marketing. Third-party ordering systems are great for generating new business, but restaurants should ultimately try to convert those diners to direct ordering channels once they become a customer. One such example is adding a sticker or stapling a note to the third-party takeout bag about how to order directly through the restaurant.
First-party online ordering systems integrated directly into the restaurant’s website and can be provided by companies like ChowNow. When restaurants use a first-party ordering system, they don’t have to pay high commission fees, and they keep all of their diner data. This means restaurants have full access and control over reporting, analytics, and future marketing opportunities, and they can build their loyal customer base.
Setting up online ordering
A streamlined and user-friendly takeout ordering process offers numerous benefits for both customers and restaurant owners alike. For customers, it means convenience, efficiency, and a pleasant ordering experience. For restaurant owners, it translates to increased sales, improved customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency. In addition, restaurant owners save on third-party commission fees since they don’t have to rely on third-party companies to offer online ordering.
Squarespace has partnered with ChowNow, the leading commission-free online ordering platform for local, independent restaurants, so you can add a takeout ordering feature to your client’s websites.
How ChowNow works
ChowNow powers online ordering, delivery, marketing automation, branded mobile apps, and other back-end operations for over 20,000 restaurants. By using ChowNow, restaurants can add online ordering to their website, plus they get access to all of ChowNow’s takeout capabilities.
1. Online ordering
ChowNow’s zero-commission ordering is available on restaurant’s Squarespace websites, a branded mobile app, or the ChowNow app to offer diners a seamless checkout experience while saving restaurants money.
2. Expanded reach
The Order Better Network turns high-traffic sites into extra ordering channels for restaurants by syncing their menus with Google, Yelp, Apple Maps, and more. Diners can start pickup and delivery orders straight from a search result, and restaurants can boost their sales by 35% on average by using this feature.
3. Branded mobile apps
ChowNow offers a custom-branded mobile app just for your restaurant client that highlights their logo and menu. The app gives diners a convenient option to order and receive updates and push notifications.
4. Flexible delivery
ChowNow’s flexible, flat-rate delivery taps into one of the biggest driver pools available to help restaurants serve diners up to 8 miles away. The smart dispatch system and Flex Delivery feature (only available in the US at this time) selects the best driver for each order, while 24/7 support helps customers track every step of the journey .
5. Automated email marketing
ChowNow’s automated email marketing sends beautifully designed and branded emails to diners on restaurants’ behalf to drive repeat orders and strengthen their relationship with their guests. With ChowNow’s automated marketing, restaurants can set up a welcome series to greet new diners and encourage them to visit again soon; send monthly promotions to thank customers for their support; and recapture the attention of diners who haven’t ordered in a while.
How to set up ChowNow on a Squarespace website
Adding ChowNow’s online ordering function to a Squarespace website is straightforward. Follow these steps:
Sign up your client for ChowNow Pro
Get the Company ID from ChowNow’s admin dashboard
Connect the ChowNow account to the restaurant website by going to Connected Accounts panel > Connect Account > ChowNow > enter Company ID from the previous step > Connect to ChowNow
Check out the help article for more information, or contact ChowNow’s support team for guidance.
Optimizing the online ordering experience
For a restaurant to make the most out of their online ordering channel on their website, it’s essential to have these three components:
1. Menu photos
People eat with their eyes first. Your client’s photos should be clear, well-lit, and specific to the restaurant. For instance, stock photos can be misleading to customers and should be avoided.
2. Consistent pricing
Restaurants should strive to have the same prices across their website and dine-in menus. Price consistency prevents customers from feeling like they have been slighted, whether they are dining in or ordering through the website.
3. Customization and upsell opportunities
Online consumers expect the chance to customize your client’s dishes as they would typically get in person, so online menus should offer a convenient way to achieve customization options. Customizations or add-ons are also great opportunities to increase the average revenue per order.
Managing orders efficiently with ChowNow
Efficient order management is critical to the success of any restaurant's online ordering system. ChowNow's order management system and point-of-sale (POS) integration capabilities streamline order processing, automate notifications, and ensure smooth coordination between the restaurant and its customers. Through ChowNow, restaurants can automatically sync orders through POS systems and share menu data across the systems.
With ChowNow’s POS integrations, restaurants can:
Continue using existing operational workflow and handle more orders quickly and efficiently while managing from a single source of truth
Eliminate the extra step of manually entering orders into POS
Save time on end-of-day reporting, as all orders are auto-forwarded to the POS
Testing, iterating, and analyzing data
Continuous testing and optimization are essential for maximizing the effectiveness of an online ordering system. By gathering user feedback and analyzing data through ChowNow, you and your restaurant clients can identify areas for improvement and refine the online ordering offerings to better meet customer needs.
One key way ChowNow is different from third-party ordering or delivery sites is that ChowNow permits restaurants to own their own customer data. This means that anytime an order is placed, that data is fully accessible to the restaurant, and owners can extract important insights to enhance their business.
Because ChowNow provides restaurant owners with full access to the data, your clients will know where sales are coming from. As a designer, you can then make recommendations on moving the order button location, updating page layout, or testing promo codes, and more.
Setting up restaurant clients for success
Squarespace's integration with ChowNow offers a powerful solution for optimizing your client's restaurant website for takeout orders. With ChowNow's robust features and capabilities, restaurant owners can enhance the customer experience, increase efficiency, and drive revenue growth in an increasingly competitive market.
Circle members can earn commissions for new annual website subscriptions and $500 for adding ChowNow to client sites. Learn more about the exclusive member perk.
*At this time, only restaurants with US locations can access the ChowNow integration.
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