Mobile App Development July 29, 2019

How Restaurants Can Grow Their Business Through Mobile Apps

Written by Analytix Editorial Team Jagruti Patel

The rise of on-demand food delivery services has transformed the restaurant experience. Restaurant owners must realize the urgent need to embrace a mobile-first strategy to turn tables faster. The recent 2019 Food and Beverage Mobility Benchmark report from Oracle Food and Beverage reveals:

84% of respondents saw business improvements when they launched a branded mobile app.
93% believe their mobile investment promotes loyalty and drives repeat business.
89% believe their mobile strategy will drive sales growth.
84% believe it reduces their labor costs.
96% believe mobile will save time and money on back-end functions. Mobile technology is a potent tool to increase revenue, deliver exceptional customer experience, and secure loyalty. So, how can your restaurant take advantage of the current mobile trend? Here are a few benefits of using mobile apps for restaurants to grow business.

Increased Revenue and Customer Engagement

Mobile apps help you capitalize on the vast mobile base. By utilizing in-app messaging and push notifications, restaurants can inform customers about their new dishes and combo offers and they can drive higher footfalls. Mobile apps can also be used to send customers notifications about special promotions, offers, and events, thus driving increased revenue.
Mobile apps ensure shorter waiting lines, faster service, more in-store efficiency, and higher orders. As customers share their dining preferences, favorite menus, and even preferred tables, it allows you to build a customer database and deliver a more personalized customer experience.

Better Operational Management

The daily grind for a restaurant owner involves a number of responsibilities and tasks. Therefore, in addition to consumer-facing apps, investing in a robust restaurant management app helps better control labor, payroll, inventory and suppliers, and simplifies day-to-day management and operations to raise productivity. Additionally, an all-in-one cloud-based back-end portal can help restaurants get valuable insights into their business operations and sales to handle inventory and payroll successfully, thus boosting your margins and saving money in the long run.

In-app Loyalty Programs

A mobile app loyalty program can engage customers and reward them for continued business and can encourage them to keep coming back for more. It allows you to identify and reward your loyal customer base and frequent visitors to your restaurant with exclusive deals, complimentary dishes, or other benefits. The famous Dunkin’ Donuts DD Perks loyalty program is one such example. It not only provides guests with new levels of service, speed, and convenience, but also triggered 10 million app downloads.

Digital Menu and Online Reservations

Digital menu cards not only speed up the ordering process for customers, they also allow restaurants to easily add new offers, up-sell and cross-sell, automate displays based on the time, season, and customers. It also provides the functionality of multi-languages to appeal to foreign customers. Using modern and exciting design, simple navigation, and mesmerizing pictures of food, customers can create their cart and ascertain cost before placing an order, leaving little room for an unsatisfactory experience. Additionally, mobile apps provide real-time analytics for you to automatically track which dishes are more popular than others. This helps you gauge the fast selling items and focus on their conversions so as not to lose valuable business.
Automating the reservation system allows customers to reserve or make changes to their booking without having to call each time. The transparent and simple reservation system gives the restaurant a real-time estimate of the number of guests, thus allowing them to distribute staff, resources, and complete preparations accordingly.

Online Ordering and Delivery

As per the latest 2019 State of Restaurant Industry report, 38% of U.S. adults – including 50% millennials- say they are more likely to have restaurant food delivered than they were two years ago. Popular global brands like Subway, Starbucks, and KFC have tapped into the power of mobile apps to deliver increased profits. A mobile app enables users to choose from either eating in, pick-up, or delivery, depending on the services your restaurant offers. The “Add to order” buttons makes it fast and easy for customers to order with a single tap. Moreover, an order history can provide restaurant owners with easy ways to keep track of their customers’ favorite meals and order frequency thus making re-ordering faster.
Using the order history and customer database, you can refine your menu options and distinguish between “rush hours” and “off-peak times” for customer inflow. This allows you to manage your restaurant staff and other resources better.

Social Media Branding

The mobile app has the potential to become a direct marketing channel, enabling restaurants to build their brand, gain recognition, and enhance their image, by allowing social media integration on the restaurant app. It’s not only an effective branding tool, but also enables you to reach a large number of people in a very short time, interact with new customers directly, and even respond to their feedback. When customers interact through likes, shares, and reviews, or by clicking pictures taken at your restaurant, your brand image and visibility of your restaurant significantly increases.

Ready to Develop Your Own Restaurant App?

Do you own a mobile app for your restaurant? Are you looking for website development or mobile app development solutions for your restaurant? Don’t lose the chance to boost your business. Become a mobile-first restaurant today! For more information, connect with us at sales@analytix.com or call us on 781-503-9000

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