There’s no such thing as a business that doesn’t need to adapt. Whether it’s to new methods or to rising trends, a company is more likely to succeed if it renews itself from time to time–something that’s especially true for the food house industry.
Trends everywhere are moving towards mobile, signaling a new, increasingly popular marketing strategy for restaurant owners.
The peculiar thing about business is that you can’t adopt every new idea that comes out. According to Entrepreneur.com, it’s important to realize how adaptation can benefit your restaurant. Consider the following example:
“If you have a unique twist on a conventional eatery or restaurant, maybe your strategy for attracting Gen-Yers includes coupons for after-hours specials delivered via mobile devices.”
Another common trait among successful service vendors is understanding the importance of leveraging profitable strategies to increase sales. And if the current trend is anything to go by, then mobile apps for restaurant owners and operators are here to stay. Mobile applications provide various benefits that make them such important tools in maintaining business relevance.
To help you identify the trends, below are just seven reasons why your restaurant should have a mobile app.
1. Mobile apps allow for greater customer convenience
Busy restaurant owners need simplification.
We often become so busy with everyday activities that hearing that our work has been streamlined lifts a huge weight from our shoulders. Many customers also find comfort in the convenience of simply logging on to a restaurant’s mobile platform to quickly make food orders.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Mobile phones are a huge part of our daily tools which is why restaurants with a mobile presence carry the advantage.” quote=”Mobile phones are a huge part of our daily tools which is why restaurants with a mobile presence carry the advantage.” theme=”style3″]
Aside from the huge convenience they afford the customers, apps can also help their users save time. GrubHub for restaurants says orders made on smartphones are executable in just 45 seconds.
2. Mobile apps can increase restaurant sales
According to Nathan Ellwood on apptentive, both the food seller and his customers have something to gain when a mobile application is available. This is because just as the customer has found a convenient way to get his food, the seller is also taking advantage of the fact that the customers tend to buy more when it’s easy to do so.
Say, for example, a customer was only able to buy food from your restaurant in the mornings because of their other time commitments throughout the day. With a mobile app, he or she can now buy in the afternoon too because it’s that much faster and easier. You can imagine how much more the restaurant would turn in if they began to associate your restaurant with fast, good meal offerings.
3. Mobile apps give your food outlet some online presence
In these modern times, internet platforms have taken a new direction. MobileMarketer, an online platform that analyzes the impact of mobile applications to everyday activities, has made mention of how more people are turning to the use of applications in lieu of web platforms.
This means that providing an application for your restaurant on any of the app stores is a good way to get internet users to see and access them. It essentially comes down to this: exposure in the app store is just one more effective way of advertising your business online.
4. Mobile apps keep transaction/customer records for your restaurant
Another great reason why your restaurant should consider making mobile apps a staple in your salesforce is that they can help your business store information. Depending on the features you want to integrate into the app, you can learn about all the people that have eaten off your dining sets.
This is especially useful if you need to contact them at any time or if you need to collect data for business growth evaluations. Think of it as a business transaction record or ledger.
5. Mobile apps make paying easier
If your restaurant requires customers to make all their orders within the app, it might be wise to consider integrating an app portal for payments. An app portal can save manpower by reducing the need to have someone physically collect cash over the counter. This means you may not need a cashier and can simply forward the data to your accountant for collation and record keeping for the online payments.
With a payment portal, you can make the application function as an income collector to save on various costs including payroll.
6. Mobile applications enable you to forward information via push notifications
There are times where you may need to inform customers or employees about upcoming events, restaurant schedules, special offers, or information that is otherwise important to your business. For instance, if your restaurant will be serving a special delicacy that isn’t always available, you may want to communicate that with your customers.
Perhaps you’re having a sale that you know many of your patrons will want to take advantage of. Or maybe you’ll be closed to observe a certain holiday season.
Making use of a mobile app allows you pass that information along so that both new and existing users can always see it. Push notifications are an effective and less expensive way of disseminating the information.
In most cases, around 70% of users opt-in for push notifications.
7. Mobile apps can showcase excellent ratings and reviews
To learn how customers perceive your products or services, it is important to encourage them to leave reviews. Reviews (via number or alphabet ratings) show your strengths to potential customers and also let you know where to improve your restaurant.
You won’t always get a review from people who just come in to eat then leave. But if you do, it’s likely because the customer(s) was on either side of the extreme: very impressed or very dissatisfied. You won’t get a holistic review unless people are asked to leave one.
By asking your customers what they think, as opposed to waiting for someone to have an emotional outburst, you’ll get a more natural, more comprehensive view of your restaurant. A good way to initiate this is to bring up the review questions on the app while they’re logged in.
For the foreseeable future, restaurant owners are using mobile applications at unprecedented levels.
And why not?
After all, the benefits speak for themselves.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”In the next few years, it is likely you’ll find most restaurants (especially those in developed countries), featuring full-scale mobile app transactions.” quote=”In the next few years, it is likely you’ll find most restaurants (especially those in developed countries), featuring full-scale mobile app transactions.” theme=”style3″]
Picture an eatery where the only thing you do after you walk into a restaurant is eat the food you just ordered online with no wait time at all. For every aspiring, new, or existing restaurant owner, this future just might be worth considering.
Find out how much it cost to build your app using our
Let’s make great things happen!
Handy
