What is an online ordering system?

The origins

Online ordering systems are a recent phenomenon. It followed the issues caused by Just eat and Hungry house of that time. They gave orders and charged a huge commission for doing so. This meant a smaller margin and existing customers that rang up and ordered now through those platforms. A customer that was already there is now paying upto 15% in commission. Restaurateurs were unhappy and looked to keep regular customers with them but have a similar experience.

This was the birth of the online ordering system. People commissioned companies to develop a system where they can have their customers order directly via their website. With no commission the restaurant was closing down on those margins and everything was leveling up.

New companies opening up?

With demand came companies sniffing an opportunity to provide this service. We saw a relatively small niche turn into something in the mainstream and companies fighting to get their systems off the ground.

The early years were quite tough for most companies to get off the ground. Many restaurants had no idea what this was and the explanation was tough. But slowly and steadily everyone in the trade understood the reason and benefits behind it.

Successes in the Pandemic

As the world battled an unknown virus, millions were locked away in Britain. Panic and food shortages added extra burden on the restaurants. This saw the real need for an online ordering system. Dine in restaurants that never did takeaway were forced to take a system. Takeaways that did only phone orders were now forced to take one. Local chippies who relied on walk-ins all got one. Online ordering systems were probably the most sought after service.

What are the benefits of online ordering systems?

The online ordering systems were created to save you money ultimately on the third party commissions. Taking back customers that were already yours. The 0% commission was the best selling point of the system. With ultimately no commission you can take unlimited orders for a set monthly amount.

0% Commission
Website and APP added
Receiver for the takeaway

The online ordering system can act as another employee in the restaurant. Receiving orders automatically without the need to be on the phone reading out the order back or making errors and not being able to understand the customer. There is no need for anything. Everything prints out perfectly in the order that is required and it cant make any mistakes.

Are online ordering here to stay?

Online ordering companies seem like they are here for the long term. Constantly innovating and increasing services and opportunities for themselves. We are seeing ground businesses getting funding of hundreds of millions of pounds from angel investors. We are seeing huge corporations buying out ordering companies. What seemed like a small niche is proving

to be quite the force.

We can see thousands of people employed in the country for online ordering companies. Services such as EPOS and Table Ordering and Self service kiosks are now being rolled out to the nation. These companies are constantly innovating and pushing the boundaries of restaurant technology.

What do we expect for the future?

Online ordering will continue to progress and make grounds on the larger platforms. Once they truly make a mark on the bottom of the likes of Just eat, Deliveroo and Uber eats we can see them out right buying out some of the major players to get a monopoly of the market.

We can also see a new leash of mega companies coming into the space. Oracle, a company worth over 40 billion dollars, bought out Gloria Foods in 2021. Major players are investing which can only mean the industry is getting stronger year by year.

We can see some of these online ordering companies that had humble beginnings will eventually become large corporations. We can already see the bigger players in the space buying out the smaller companies growing quicker.

Who ultimately wins with an online ordering system?

Ultimately the customers win. In recent times we see a huge spike on prices on uber eats and Just eats and these are just over inflated prices to compensate for the large commissions. It affects the customer mainly. A meal if they went to the restaurant and ordered that cost £20 now costs £30+ on the platforms. That’s a huge rise.

With online ordering restaurants can be honest with the pricing as the overheads are next to nothing. It becomes a more affordable option for customers.

Conclusion

Ordering systems are an incredible way to save more money on orders and keep more of the pie with the owner. Slashing margins are seeing thousands of restaurants close up and down the country.

These benefits are making it easier for owners to manage their orders more efficiently and getting the orders out quicker in a more timely manner.

Ordering systems are here to stay and a great way to keep the monopoly away from the larger corporations. Any competition is great for customers who will ultimately be the deciding factor.

To find out about the best takeaway systems please read some of our other posts.