Online ordering options for restaurants

Trojan

Hi folks,

My Local Enterprise Office have asked me to put together a list of options for restaurants and other food providers who need to get online quickly. I'm looking at any options that can provide:

1. (minimum) mobile website with menu and phone orders, tap payment on collection
2. mobile website with online order & payment processing
3. mobile app for IOS & Android with online order & payment processing
4. mobile app for IOS & Android with online order & payment processing, and discoverability (directory listing)

I've looked at custom solutions using general platforms like WordPress & Shopify, and turnkey full solution providers like FlipDish and Bamboo.

Do you know of any other options out there that could provide a workable solution for this?

Online version of current document here.

ironclaw

If they need it now, don't suggest a Shopify or WordPress site, it will take too long to configure and the teething problems can be significant. Simple stuff like marking menu items out of stock or changing variables e.g. Rice, Fried Rice etc can be difficult to get right even with a good amount of planning. It's less about the tech but more so about how the business itself will operate with the system.

You're looking at a lead time of at least 2 weeks (A rush job at that) to get a decent site up and running, and a good one will cost money. Absolutely forget a custom app in the current climate, too costly and too much risk. Your development and approval time will be measured in months.

For the here and now, get synced up with an existing delivery service like SkipTheDishes, FlipDish etc and if they want to expand, then start retaining a developer to move to a self-hosted platform.

I say all that as a fairly experienced dev in both off the shelf and highly customised B2B solutions.

SixtaWalthers

I don't think a simple website or application wouldn't be enough to get orders online and management other things including payment, inventory tracking etc. First of all, you guys should consider some already available options like Deliveroo, Uber Eatsa and Foodhub. Here, you wouldn't have to invest a lot on your own website and applicable and yes, no doubt you can get more clients with already existing apps without promotion. These apps will allow you to add your restaurants in their listing and people can order via these apps. Probably, delivery services would be given by these apps. You can see more options here https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/in-business/top-5-best-food-delivery-apps-in-uk/.

Similarly, Asia Pacific German company FoodPanda also offers online ordering options with the cooperation of restaurants and other food hubs. I am just quoting this example https://futureworktechnologies.com/how-foodpanda-works-business-revenue-model. I don't think they work here. On the other hand, if you think you should launch your own website to get online orders then you will have to go with a web-application kind of site and usually HTML website will be an effective way. You can get an idea from here https://reservety.com/features/ that how many features you will have to add in this venture. The only website is not enough inventory, shopping, orders, delivery management and tracking is also essential. Secure payments and deposits are also substantial, which payment gateway you are going to use and too many other things. I don't think simple CMS like WordPress is going to handle all of these things for you.

Axwell

SixtaWalthers wrote: »

I don't think simple CRM like WordPress is going to handle all of these things for you.

CMS..not CRM

And WordPress with WooCommerce can handle all those things you mentioned - inventory, shopping, orders, delivery management and tracking.

SixtaWalthers

Axwell wrote: »

CMS..not CRM

And WordPress with WooCommerce can handle all those things you mentioned - inventory, shopping, orders, delivery management and tracking.

My mistake I was talking about CMS and accidently wrote CRM. WordPress can handle many things, I know but for businesses it is not the right option. I would prefer an HTML or CSS fully customized web-based systems with POS and other features.

SixtaWalthers

Axwell wrote: »

CMS..not CRM

And WordPress with WooCommerce can handle all those things you mentioned - inventory, shopping, orders, delivery management and tracking.

Thanks for the correction. I corrected. I gave advice on base of my personal experience. Companies don't go with WP for such things and usually web developers advise to go with customized options. I don't have much experience of WooCommerce with WP that's why I would comment a lot.

ironclaw

SixtaWalthers wrote: »

WordPress can handle many things, I know but for businesses it is not the right option. I would prefer an HTML or CSS fully customized web-based systems with POS and other features.

This is categorically false. There is no need for full custom dev in straight HTML or CSS anymore, even more so if you need eCommerce. At the very least you should be using a framework and WordPress is a strong candidate for a lot of reasons, cost being a top one.

WordPress runs the majority of online sites and WooCommerce has a significant market share (Over 50%) for eCommerce. The underlying language, PHP, is one of the top web languages.

A business could run their entire suite on WordPress if they wanted to, including CRM via plugins like GroundHogg.io

web developers advise to go with customized options

They do this because it's worth more to them. I can say that freely as I am a web developer. However, in the vast majority of cases, they are using a pre-cooked template or even WordPress itself to fool the client. In this day and age is someone is suggesting a straight HTML/CSS job and it's a relatively straight forward site, run. They are doing you.

Cianos

Look at Gloria Food - a very handy out of the box solution, with zero commission except for Stripe processing.

We have been providing it to clients for years at a fixed-cost monthly management fee (menu updates, tech support, website integration etc).

It's been saving our clients a fortune in fees compared to the likes of Just Eat, Flipdish etc.

Works great on mobile devices. Can be embedded into a simple one-page website, and as long as the restaurant is registered on Google My Business they'll have no issue ranking.

All of our clients don't bother with a printer even, a cheap Android tablet and wifi connection and you're up and running.