Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Operations

How to set up online ordering for a restaurant

Will Blesch
By

With COVID-19 impacting the entire economy and over 110,000 restaurants and bars closing in the USA alone, restaurant owners have had to change the way they do things to survive. One of the pivots many owners made was to begin offering online ordering. Since people were no longer dining in, they needed a way to order quickly, without a hassle, and have their food dropped off at their front doors.

However, many restaurant owners who want to begin offering online ordering don’t know what options exist. Even when they know choices exist, they don’t know how to set up online food ordering for their business. With that in mind, we compiled some information you need to make the right choices for your business when setting up online ordering.

Related Videos
Online ordering app on cellphone

What are your options?

You have three main choices. To create a restaurant online ordering system, you can:

  • Use your own restaurant website. Choose a website builder such as Wix or WordPress to process your orders.
  • Use a third-party online ordering app, such as DoorDash or GrubHub.
  • Use a POS system like CAKE and combine it with a third-party online ordering app.

Using your own website

By using your own website, you can keep the entire online ordering process in-house. Customers can order straight from you. You control everything, all profits are yours, and there are no middle people between you and your customers. The downside is that you also have to do all the work, from organizing deliveries to handling payments.

Related

If you decide to pursue this path and you don’t already have a website, you should use WordPress or another website builder. Many recommend just sticking with WordPress because it’s one of the most widely used platforms on the market, and it’s relatively easy to use.

Whether you’re building your website or you’ve got one already that’s based on WordPress, adding in an online ordering system can be as easy as installing a WordPress plugin. A super popular one is the WooCommerce plugin, which you can customize to accept online food orders.

If you choose to use another website builder like Wix, adding an online ordering system is easy. Wix has its own Restaurant Orders app, which you can get from the Wix App Market.

Use a third party online ordering app

Now, if you don’t want to manage payments or organize deliveries, then don’t. You can always use a third-party online ordering app. First of all, using these kinds of apps introduces you to new potential customers. Secondly, those who already know and love your food will be excited to find they can order from you by using a popular app.

Getting started is incredibly easy. You simply need to choose the app with which you want to partner and then fill out a sign-up form on the app’s website. The app team will evaluate your submitted form, and when approved, customer orders will start going through the app you’ve chosen.

How it works

Customers will use the app to make orders. Those orders will be forwarded to you. This means that someone on your staff needs to monitor the app’s tablet. You’ll then take the order and manually enter it into your own POS. Once the food is prepared, an app delivery driver will show up to make the delivery to the customer.

Qcode and menu on cellphone

Use your POS system with a third party online ordering app

Some restaurant owners choose to use more than one third-party app for online ordering purposes. If you’re considering that, or you have a substantial amount of orders, then integrating your POS with third-party apps might make sense. Essentially, you would use an integration app, such as CAKE, to connect the third-party online ordering apps you’re using and your POS system.

Things work in the same way here as they do when you’re just using a third-party ordering app by itself. Customers make their orders, and those orders are forwarded on to you, and so on. The only difference is that now you don’t have to have a staff member enter anything manually into your POS. By using the integration app, everything becomes automated. The downside for the convenience of automation is the price you’ll pay, which is significantly higher than the other two options we’ve discussed.

Now that you know your options and what they entail, the only thing left is optimizing your menu for online orders and preparing your staff. Good luck!

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Cutting boards every chef needs ASAP
chef-knives

You don’t have to be a Food Network star to fill your kitchen with fabulous, high-quality products. Every professional chef needs the right tools at their disposal – and cutting boards are no exception. Cultivating a collection of cutting boards that meet high standards of beauty and function will make your time in the kitchen that much more fun. Whether you’re making a cheese or charcuterie spread, slicing limes for cocktails, mincing garlic, or fileting a fresh piece of salmon, this cutting board round-up will surely elevate your kitchen game.

From festive spreads to food prep to restaurant decor – these well-made, handsome cutting boards do it all. Ditch your been-there-done-that boards with cracks and stains and treat yourself to an upgrade with these professional-grade additions. Make a statement with the Tramanto Olive Oil Wood Cheese Boards (all the heart eyes for these beauties with their striking grain), or add ease to your nightly meal prep routine with the Non-Slip Plastic Cutting Board Set by Thirteen Chefs, which stands up to regular, repeated use. Arrange, chop, dice, and slice to your heart’s content with these sturdy, high-quality boards as part of your kitchen repertoire.

Read more
5 bar products to stock your office kitchen
serving platters office party man woman

The office kitchen is one of the most crucial spaces for office culture. It's a place where colleagues can mingle, eat, and even make a drink. With so much going on in the corporate world, sometimes you need to pop open a seltzer or whip up a quick craft cocktail. The products you find in the office bar can completely transform the vibe of an after-work happy hour.

We want you always to work hard but play harder. That is why we rounded up this list of 5 bar products you should add to your work kitchen setup. Get these products to add to the kitchen yourself, send them to a friend who might need them at work, or slip this list to your office manager to make the purchases on the company card. When the work day is over, sit down, relax and make yourself a drink. You deserve one.

Read more
5 great ways to enhance the office kitchen
the best commercial kitchen faucets faucet

An office usually has a small kitchen or breakroom. Within it there are typically an assortment of a few devices like a coffee maker, refrigerator, and microwave, and sometimes there might also be a stove top and/or an oven. Enhancing the office kitchen might not be a top priority, but doing so can potentially increase employee satisfaction and productivity. 

Employees will likely take only small coffee breaks in a less optimal breakroom, but when the kitchen is outfitted with a greater variety of useful gadgets they may stay around for lunch time. Staying at the office for lunch can allow a net benefit of increased productivity. Instead of experiencing the frustrations, time delays, and aggravations that can come from traveling to a busy restaurant, an employee can relax and enjoy a great meal in the fully outfitted office kitchen.

Read more