Order food online

We recently developed a system for a restaurant to order food online. These orders are then automatically printed onsite via a small thermal printer. The restaurant owner has described this as “the single best improvement” they have made to their website and business. Right from the first month they started taking more than R 50 000 in online food orders per month.

How to order food online

The challenge for food ordering online is the many different variations and addons that restaurants offer for their different dishes. For example…a dish is served with chips or rice or vegies. And if you choose vegies then we need to offer the user a choice of 6 vegies from which they can choose a maximum of 3 per serving. And it must all happen on one page which is mobile friendly. That is a serious challenge.

Fortunately we have found an elegant solution using WordPress and Woocommerce. Obviously some modification was/is required to customise the setup to each restaurant’s particular needs. But we did find a way to make it possible to accommodate even the most difficult restaurant menu. We can add any kind of variations to your main menu items (products), variations which can affect the price too. This ensures that the client gets what they want AND an accurate cost, immediately! And these orders can be placed on one (mobile friendly) page.

Another challenge is that restaurant staff are busy, they do not have time to check a device, to print new orders. What restaurants need is for these orders to print automatically. We also found an elegant solution for this. A solution which will work for a single restaurant or a restaurant chain. Quite simply we have a printer controller which checks for new orders every minute and if/when it finds a new order, it automatically prints the order to an attached thermal printer. This means that new online food orders are automatically printed on-site within a minute.

Aah, but what about deliveries you ask….I am glad you asked!

Order food online for delivery

For a restaurant that is managing their own deliveries the biggest problem is being overwhelmed with orders during the busy times. [Of course some restaurants only wish they had this problem!] The solution we found is both simple and very effective.

Our ordering software allows you to create timeslots for every day. And then it allows you to limit the amount of orders the system can take during any specific timeslot. This way you can ensure that the amount of orders never exceeds the amount of delivery drivers you have available. Also, and perhaps most importantly, you can easily manage user expectations. Users will only be able to order a delivery in an available timeslot. This way the client knows, before they order, how long it is going to take to get their food.

Order food and pay online

For the best in user convenience, especially in the age of Covid-19, the entire order system can be linked to various online payment providers such as Payfast and Yoco. This means that as the user places their order they can make payment by credit card. The restaurant gets an order that is already paid for. All they have to do is make the food and deliver it (or give it) to the client. And the client can simply take their food without anyone having to look for a credit machine, what a bonus!

Where can I get my online food ordering service?

So for restaurants in South Africa…more specifically in Johannesburg only, at the time of writing…we have managed to package this service via Resto orders Pty Ltd. Links below.

We are proud to be the developers behind this exciting new product.

How to get it done cheaper?

Hahaha, cheapskate! Really? There is no cheaper way to do it more effectively. That is the simple answer!

Why use Resto to order food online?

Infinitely flexible: Each Resto client is treated as an individual. This means that each Resto page can be customised exactly to each client’s requirements. Whether you want to offer custom discounts or you wish to push the client data to your external CRM, a Resto site can be customised to do it!

Order via Whatsapp: That’s right, you can set it to send the order directly to a Whatsapp number. Unfortunately this only works for a single branch/shop at this point in time but we are working on the multi-branch version.

Support and backup: Resto offers various support packages to suit everyone’s budget. But I think most importantly they offer support because they back their product 100%. And with this kind of system, I do recommend that you take a support package. Stuff happens, you know!

Own your data: With Resto you own your client data. You can view and even export your client data.

Manage it all yourself: You get access to manage everything. By that I mean your orders, your clients and your products. You will have the access details needed to login and mark items as “out of stock” or to edit the price. You can also view your orders and add notes to them too. You get access to stacks of reports too. What more could you want?

Set fees: Resto charges set fees for their services. This means that you know exactly what you will be paying. They do NOT take any kind of percentage of your business.

The biggest difference between Resto and other online food ordering services such as Mr D or Uber eats is that Resto does not charge a percentage. So the user pays the actual restaurant price.

How it works: order food online for deliver or takeaway

It is actually really simple. After you sign up with Resto they will turn your menu into an online food ordering cart system. This is actually all you need to take orders online. Client’s can place the order and it is immediately emailed to you. Now this might be ok for some places, but it is certainly not enough for most restaurants.

It is highly recommended that you also purchase a Resto printer and controller. This is a small thermal, Bluetooth printer which is connected to a small, robust laptop. The laptop has special software that checks for new orders every minute and if it finds an order, it prints it out automatically. So restaurant staff just need to notice when something has printed. Resto will connect your website’s orders to this laptop and come install it onsite (connect it to power and internet).

The laptop itself is also useful for viewing orders online and editing your products. They will show you how to do all of this.

And that is just the start of it. Any Resto order portal can be completely customized to the client’s needs. Maybe you want to add in special discounts or coupons. Maybe you want to sell gift cards or offer discount coupons. And maybe you want to send all your data to an external CRM. Whatever you want, if it is in our power, it can/will be done for you.

So please click the button below, go over to the Resto website and sign-up to get your very own restaurant “order food online” system…