The New Year 2021 has definitely set the benchmark one step up for the online food ordering and restaurant food delivery business due to the global pandemic. The industrial experts suggested that the restaurant industry will have to face various challenges in terms of changes in customer behaviour, their concerns about safety and hygiene, and their expectations.
During the period of global pandemic also food ordering apps like Just Eat, Food Hub, and Deliveroo in Glasgow, Liverpool, and London are still dominating the food industry just because of their advanced restaurant management system, marketing campaigns, and eccentric innovations. To keep up with this competition you need to focus on the growing customer demands, brand-new technologies as well as current trends and updations in the industry.
The restaurants that provide food delivery services experience gradual growth in sales and in revenue. Whereas the food outlets that are launched for online orders have observed swelling in online food orders placed per hour when reopened after the lockdown.
The positive cash flow in the new year 2021 is awaited to show a jump in the growth curve when comparing with the previous year 2020 when the food industry was drastically hit by the pandemic. Revenue is expected to indicate an annual growth rate of 5.3%, resulting in a jump in the market volume of about 33,355m US$ by the year 2025.
So what will mould the restaurant food delivery business in 2021 and beyond?
So, what is trending in the online food ordering and restaurant food delivery business?
There have been a plethora of things going on in the online food ordering and restaurant delivery business which has captivated the visions of startups and medium firms for improving their business capabilities. Even though every business owner should know what is trending in the domain, new updates in technologies relating to the restaurant business and plan their strategies accordingly.
1. Contactless Delivery Through Drones, Robot, and Parachute
Yes, you heard it right!
Technology is advancing at a rapid speed that new tech-savvy techniques and methods are launching in just a blink. Just Eat recently tried drones for delivering food across different locations in London and find out that it reduces delivery time by approximately half, which can be definitely considered as a milestone in the online ordering system for takeaway. It can be considered as the best and smart solution to beat traffic blues and promising a contactless delivery on time.
Do you ever wonder how robots can deliver food to your customers accurately?
Well, this is also possible and effortlessly happening in different parts of the world. There are so many online food delivery companies using robots to drop off food orders. Usually, these robots can support approximately 22 lbs. of food. While it makes a delivery, the robot’s chamber is safely locked so that no one can ever loot the food or fool around with it. And when the delivery robot reaches the accurate destination, the server will send a message alert with a link. Your customer can unlock the chamber and enjoy your yummylicious food using this link.
The delivery robot has cameras implanted all around it, providing a 360-degree view to the robot as well as to you. The robot can easily control and overcome a diverse of obstacles to make the deliveries to the destination precisely.
2. New Delivery Channels
A majority of people in the UK reject if the user experience is poor. Also, a recent survey by Food Media says that 55% prefer simple and most convenient online delivery apps. The most convenient and comfortable way to simplify ordering and allow customers to place orders through multiple channels or platforms like social media, virtual assistants, smart devices, cars, and so on.
To effectively implement your omnichannel tactics and optimise the customer experience, it’s necessary to understand all the channels that you using. Which customers use which channels, which channel have more traffic at which time during the ordering process is more profitable? And how your restaurant's marketing strategies can capture that audience?
The omnichannel advertising method is, therefore, a mandatory technique for every type of restaurant business. You can use your social media to build your brand also make effective communication with your customers, identify brand ambassadors, share your success stories and photos of your top-selling dishes, and encourage your customers to make a purchase from your brand.
Email marketing and SMS marketing are two great ways to reach out to your customers quickly and effectively. For example, with promotions, tailor-made meal offers meal subscriptions, the latest updates, and don’t forget to include loyalty programs because 67% of a food business comes from existing customers!
3. Food Waste Apps
One-fourth of all food produced for human consumption worldwide gets squandered and this became a major trauma for a number of reasons. On the other hand, less than one- quarter of the total food got wasted in the UK, and Europe alone would be enough to eliminate the world's 1 billion most hungry. At the same time, food waste costs money also. Annually, about 1.2 billion tonnes of food waste is generated and food waste management costs around $1 trillion.
One way to avoid the accumulation of food waste is by introducing and provide awareness about food waste apps that come along with an online food ordering system among your customers. These apps permit restauranteurs to offer-up any excess food in the ‘magic bags’ at deducted costs. In the UK it is now available in almost 125 towns and cities.
The major problem with these apps is that they mentioned only the tip of the food waste accumulation, as customers literally only portrayed 25% of total global food waste. Europe and Great Britain are answerable for one-fourth of these customers' food waste, so it is highly mandatory that food waste apps are primarily used in these countries. However, 65% of all food waste literally takes place throughout harvest or in the successive warehouse, with 55% of this waste generating in Asia.
4. Insights
Insights or data provided by the POS systems help restaurant food delivery industries to regulate customers' emotions, their buying pattern, top-selling dish, delivery time, respond to positive as well as negative feedbacks, customise special discount offers, loyalty programs, and much more.
With the high competition for restaurants to keep up with the growing needs of guests and as well as the challenges of the modern digital world, analysing and understanding the metrics and insights linked with your operations become an integral part of your role as the restaurant owner. With the advanced and innovative technologies like POS integration, and the more tech-savvy organisations in the area making APIs available, restaurant's insights are becoming resourceful for restauranteur.
What if you could determine the frequency of your top-selling special orders to put together your menu, or If you could know the secret behind why some specials day of the week attracts fewer customers?
With the right and accurate use of restaurant insights analytics, you can.
Unlike restaurant reporting, which includes searching at an organised list of major metrics to compare and analyse sales and profits among different periods, restaurant analytics by the restaurant management system helps you to do deep research into the numbers and patterns to better understand why your restaurant business is performing in a particular way.
5. Focus Your Marketing Objectives to Drive Millennials
In contrast to any other generation, millennials spend the highest part of their received income on different online prepared foods or preferred for eating food from outlets. This action makes millennials one of the major crucial demographic in online and restaurant food ordering & online food delivery business. Well, the significant point why millennials are willing towards ordering food is their frantic plans and precipitous lifestyle which makes these kinds of food delivery services more important.
Now, millennials can be divided into categories as the only generation with the highest spending behaviour. The important feature seizing the millennial's attention is fast and convenient services where they can order food hassle-free, make instant checkout and get quick delivery without any human error for their ordered food. The effective use of an app for your restaurant business could be the most beneficial advantage which provides all the possible benefit to have a better customer experience and grab the attention of millennials, letting them have faith in your food brand, encouraging more and more orders with quicker and secure delivery options.
It’s time to upgrade your food business through various platforms or different online food delivery methods. With the advancing and innovating technology and hard-hitting competition, the buyers demand more delicious, freshest, and best-priced quality food products fulfill their cravings to the utmost.
Get on with the best and perfect online food delivery app development firm to uncover the best ways to keep up with the current and upcoming trends in the restaurant business and get a better understanding of how it works with your brand and your marketing objectives, hence implement the right one for your growth.
