Ordering Direct Full Review

In this article I will be looking at an in depth look at Ordering Direct.

Ordering Direct opened itself up for trading in 2015. The company grew strength to strength from earlier years to what it is currently. Collecting restaurants in the several hundreds and providing them with an online ordering system. 

The origins

The Ordering Direct Team was Founded by 2 brothers Ash and Atique Alahi. Both were web developers about 6 years into the trade. Late 2014 a project was accepted to create an online online ordering system for restaurant. It involved a website that had ecommerce functionalities and a receiver which at the time was a wifi email printer. The brief was clear, when someone purchases takeaway it prints on the Wifi Printer. This was ultimately the start and birth of the business.

It took several months to create the system and make it work. Eventually the Restaurant launched and we saw a fair few orders flying through every day. Weekends were particularly busy. This gave them the idea to replicate this for another customer and charge them a subscription for this service. At this point there were only a handful of companies in this trade so pretty much all up for grabs. 

Talking to family and friends they managed to get 5 restaurants on board and see how they all ran. A small amount of money was now being made. With time the word got round about the system and started signing up people all across the UK. 

Awards

By the end of 2016 only 1 year trading Ordering Direct was nominated by the UKBCCI for the best innovation in 2016. They attended the Mayfair Hotel later that year and won the Award.

This was the first mainstream exposure they received and did see further growth.

Issues whilst trading

They spoke about some of the huge trials they faced early on when it was just a side project. Juggling web development and this side by side. As Ordering Direct was not generating enough income both Trades had to be done. 

Equipment and technology issues were the biggest problem. Initially orders were sent to the printer via email. Emails are well known to come in a bit late or not instant all the time. This created a lag in restaurants getting the order. There were also times when mail servers would go down. Or sometimes the emails got stuck and it would not print. These were some of the initial issues that were ongoing and made some of the owners upset.

Innovating

As 2017 approached the talk of a new APP was discussed to receive the orders instead of the old Wifi email printers. By changing over they found out that the orders not receiving the customers will be a lot lower. No more being reliant on the mail servers. No more delays. No more emails getting stuck in the mailboxes. All this was going to be replaced by the instant notification on the Tablet. This was ultimately the start of ‘Phase 1’ of the online ordering system.

New features were coming in:

1. Accept/Decline the order
2. Set a time to order
3. Reprint double copy
4. Running Late feature
5. Cancel orders
6. Order history

These features seem relatively basic now but at that time nobody had these apart from the Just Eats of this world. The wifi printer would automatically just print. You wouldn’t be able to accept or decline let alone set a time. 

Phase 1 design

The phase 1 design was made around the eldest customer they had. An elderly gentleman who ran an Indian Restaurant. The thought was if he would get it everyone would.

Every screen designed was made to measure that an elderly person turning it on would just get. This understanding also helped as most of the customers at this point were with Bangladeshi (Indian) or Chinese. Ease of Use was key to getting this complete successfully. 

What was our opinion of Phase 1 design?

The ‘Phase 1’ design with the features mentioned above was very easy and simple to use. Not a lot of issues in getting the concept. Everything seemed to be in steps so you just follow the steps and everything can be done. Even someone like me that never owned a restaurant understood and got exactly what to do and how to do it.

The colours were bright and everything just made sense. I can really tell it was made dummy proof. They practically spelt it all out in the system. There was not any room for you to mess anything up or create any issues for your system. 

What could do with a bit more work?

As simple as it was, it did feel like some clients who were looking for more features would possibly not suit. Preferably these are some of the features I thought would do well:

– Menu update
– Taking items offline
– Pre order
– Auto double print
– 80mm Printer
– More flexibility in timings

Introduction of ‘Phase 2’

Upon giving my honest opinions and some of the feedback on the product they did showcase ‘Phase 2’ of the product which had all the suggested features but more. It was quite remarkable.

They practically collected 2 years worth of feedback from owners good and bad and created this super version. It practically allows so much more flexibility and control for all. We also had a sneak peak of the monitoring as it was quite intriguing. More tools available for the monitoring team to carry out the job better.

Conclusion

Delving into the products designed by Ordering Direct I did feel as though it was a breath of fresh air. Both phases of the product were fresh and very user friendly. It feels as though they understand their customer base. Every feature was added out of request by customers. The system doesn’t feel forced at all.

The flexibility of the system was definitely a driving force for the success of this product. You can easily change order timings for individual days for eg. 45 minutes delivery for weekdays but make it 1 hour for the busy weekends. Features like this stop the restaurant from pushing the timings up and making the process longer. Other features such as a complete customising of the receipt. Everybody likes it differently. Some want the address small and some have it large. Every part can be tailored. 

To conclude with Ordering Direct I can say it was definitely a service that’s worth exploring. The friendly staff at Ordering Direct and the product knowledge they have will almost certainly allow you to make the decision there and then. 

For more information about the best takeaway systems please check out our other posts.