Online Ordering

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
1

For those of you who have online ordering, what kind of response are you getting?

What POS do you use and has the online ordering increased your ticket average, or even boost frequency?

Just curious, any info would be great.

Thanks,

Tony

2

We have had online ordering up and running for about 4 months in 3 locations. Currently we are getting about 30 to 40 orders a week total. A little less than I thought we would, but everything is a process. We use Speedline for our POS and use Brygid as our processor. The whole setup was pretty easy. It cost $250 to set up and then they bill us $1 and order.

So far our average online ticket is about $25 compared to our overall $20 average. So I guess its paying off in that sense.

www.pizzapirates.net

if you want to check it out.

David

3

David you and/or your web designers have done a great job on your site…

Does the 1.00 per order charge go down if volume goes way up?..How much labour time is saved by the online orders?..Might not be significant in a low volume setting but as volume increases it could allow a reduction in CSR time…

4

No, it’s always $1.00. That’s how they make their money. I think we would have to do 15 to 20% of our orders online in order to reduce payroll. So for right now it’s just something that’s keeps our name out there with there with big guys.

5

Pulled these Numbers out of my POS:

Web Orders are 8% of sales.
Avg Ticket $24
Avg 125 orders a month.

Initial Setup was $750. POS Company Charges $35 a month for the site. First 25 orders are free, After 25th order, they get 3% of the sales. Paying roughly $100 in total for the month.

Online ordering is the new thing now, and i think your crazy if you don’t have it. For $100 a month, i get a 24/7 employee, i don’t have to worry about it calling in sick, or need to take off for whatever reason. Its always there. I have so many customers who will only order over the Web.

I use Pizza Director from Foodtec Solutions. 781-453-8620 www.foodtecsolutions.com

6

Thanks for the input, everyone.

I have done some research, Foodtec’s 3% isn’t sitting well with me, what if this takes off and in 5-8 years I have to pay Foodtec $1000.00 a month? Brygid’s $1 a transaction isn’t that great either, however Revention’s $49 a month for unlimited orders sounds really nice. I am glad to see people are using it even though it isn’t through the Big Chain stores.

Thanks again,

Tony

7

Tony, I was with you when I got my system from Foodtec, but after a year I gladly pay my $150 - $200 per month web ordering fee. My customers absolutely love it and I definitely see an increased check average that covers any expense…highly recommend!

8

I really hate the per order or % of order pricing plans for online ordering. I believe paying a fixed price per month is the only way to go.

What happens when the customer pays with a credit card? Now you have to pay yet another 2.5-3% on top of the 3%.

$1 on a $20 order is 5%! With a CC that moves it up to 8%. Why give that much of your business away?

9

does the online system need to be compatable with your POS.
I use Ehungry.com…$10/mo + $.20 per order.

10

When i was considering ONO, i compared the pros and cons of each service.

I found these differences if i went with my POS company ONO system:

  1. Upselling multiple items after a customer ordered an item.
  2. Orders came directly thru the POS. No need to re-enter the order.
  3. No cluttered fax lines or someone calling you to tell you that an order is coming.
  4. Will charge the customer a certain delivery charge according to where they lived.
  5. Customers can check the status of their order. (It will tell them if the order is not done yet, or being delivered)
  6. During Peak times, the Promised times can be changed on the fly, and the website will update the time)
  7. If an item is sold out, you can quickly update it on the site.

I don’t mind paying a premium for Technology.
I consider it a cost of doing business…

11

I use http://www.rfgmarketing.com/content/ind … &Itemid=14
as my lunchtime fax, it pays for itself each month AND IT INCLUDES FREE ONLINE ORDERING THAT I JUST LINK TO MY WEBSITE, I think I average about 75 a month. and they do emailing as well, now I choose to do custom eamiling through constant contact just because I like the color.
but call andy and talk to him its a great system, It comes faxed directly to us. I can not tell you how happy I am to work with them and they dont do the per order charge.

here is my link they did for me,
https://www.i8at.com/stores/i8_11822/

12

I don’t think I mentioned it but the main difference is that Foodtec is TOTALLY INTEGRATED with our POS. There is no fax to re-enter. There is nothing better than coming in at 10AM and having an order from a pharma rep for $250 waiting for you…i get at least one a week like this

13

We’ve been using eorders.com for approximately 7 years now. They charged $350 set up, $50 per month fee and 10 cents per fax. We are seeing approx. 350-375 online orders per month. Downside is they are faxed to us, but ticket averages are up. We are currently using Point of Success and eagerly awaiting to see what their integrated online ordering will be. Another online company we looked at recently that really had a easy to use ordering system and was reasonably priced was menuspot.com and they are powered by Onosys, which handles some of the larger chains.

14

I would think it would be intelligent for an Independent to have as many online gateways to their restaurant as possible. You should not limit yourself to just one online ordering system.

I have a franchise that provides a website, and online ordering for a fee. My online ordering is about 25% of my sales, and reduce my labor cost by about 4%. As well the upsell, and customer satisfaction on my online ordering is much better. The customer can look at my whole menu, prices & descriptions, and passively order at their pace. Its a much better presentation than my best phone girls can offer. My phone girls have an avg. ticket of $28.00 but my online ordering has an avg. ticket of $35.

My goal over the next year is to drive more traffic online, by direct mailing my customers with coupons that can only be redeemed online. Once they order online we have there email address, and I can email them periodically with specials and coupons that match their preferences, at a fraction of the cost of Direct Mail. Direct Mail Postcard 45 cents vs. email 1/100 of a cent, its a no brainer.

In the long run driving more traffic online will reduce labor, increase avg. ticket, and reduce the cost of advertising. Which all bring more money to the bottom line.

I am working with my Franchisor now to allow me to use multiple sites to bring sales into my store. I believe if there is only on e road in and one road out, you limit the amount of people the travel the road per se’. But if you have multiple roads leading to your business, the diversification should create more traffic.

15

Thanks for the input everyone,

We are looking pretty hard at Revention, I really like the simpicity of the order screen and I like the $49 per month online feature. The 3% deal at Food Tec is a over the top and I can’t justify the expense when others do it a lot cheaper and do it just as well. Revention is fully integrated as Food Tec is but 3% can ad up to thousands of dollars per year and that is unacceptable.

Thanks again,

Tony

16

Hey Tony,
I use Revention/Hunger Rush Seamless easy operation. I use about 60% of what it can do, I’ve had it a year and find great new features all the time, when i have time to learn. Good luck man.

17

I am looking at online ordering and have come across a bit of a snag in the process. For those of you who do a discount on second pizzas, how is the discount handled?

I have had an onlie service tell me they are not able to accomidate my business model because they have no way of applying the second pizza discount. This does not make sense to me but I am not a programmer. I see this as a big stumbling block to my customers using the system because they do not know the cost of their order until they are face to face with my driver/cashier.

Are there any of you that are doing this type of discount with a POS intigrated with online ordering? If so what systems are you using?

18

Hey Daddio,
The only way that I know how to do specials that way is to do 1 of 2 things. 1: Make 1 whole item “button” the special price (2 pie special) and if there is a topping choice use the item note feature. 2: Have them order the first pizza normally and create a “special” key with the description on it “Half Price Pie special” and do the item note thing for toppings. It sounds a bit confusing reading this, but it’s easier than it may sound, especially since I deal with it a lot.

I saw a newer POS system at the Feeser’s show yesterday that had a lot of online ordering integration but I didn’t get to play with it too much because the show was huge. The rep is sending me the paperwork.

19

This is a great feature on my system. (Pizza Director)

It has an auto-apply feature setting, if you want to have it automatically giving them the discount. If you wanna go further, only registered customers can get it, if you wanna go further then that, have a specific time frame for it.

20

I am specifically looking for the Online solution to this issue as my POS is doing the discount with no trouble but the online people say their system cannot handle it.