Do you know that forms like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub revolutionized the way the world eats? Just about five years ago?
Food delivery wasn’t exactly a brand-new concept. But the power it gave for customers to access a common restaurant’s menu at their fingertips was groundbreaking.
Customers were able to access menus using a phone or laptop from the absolute comfort of their house, office, or car. Likely they could order and pay money for their food online, and then have it delivered.
No further waiting in line to order take-out.
No more phone calls throughout the lunch that is busy and always put on hold. You can forget hoping the busy and overwhelmed cashier who is taking your order to first get it right.
Suddenly diners had the capacity to order just what they wanted, when they wanted it, with only a touch of a button or two.
As it happens that has been just the beginning of what has become a shift that is significant the way diners order food.
The popularity of online ordering is on an upward trajectory that shows no sign of stopping. Under recent studies done by Statista and QSR magazine, over one-fourth of all Americans order takeout or delivery one or more times a week.
And digital ordering and delivery have grown 300% faster than dine-in traffic since 2014.
The statistics are even higher among millennials, 53% of whom say their visits to a restaurant with a hook for some reason by digital technology.
This gives the ability to search a menu online, read reviews. And even scrolling through Instagram photos and posting their very own afterward. (the figure is 40% for all diners as shown in a Forbes study).
Business Insider estimates that orders placed via smartphone and mobile apps will become a $38 billion industry by 2020.
Yet according to the Forbes study, only 26% of restaurants surveyed had mobile ordering apps.
Given this pronounced shift and preference for digital ordering, it is clear that utilizing mobile ordering apps is imperative. It is a must for restaurants to compete and grow their business if they have one location or a dozen.
Mobile ordering apps will be the step that drives the technology- a world in the future.
Making the entire process of eating out, or take-out, and even delivery far more convenient. This brings convenience for customers and more profits for restaurants.
Mobile order apps are taking online ordering to the second level. Allowing restaurants to create custom-branded apps that diners can use to order food directly from a common restaurant.
It’s a win-win for both restaurants and their customers.