The pandemic changed all of our lives and caused seismic shifts across all industries; the food sector, especially, needed to adapt, and quickly, to survive. As a result, the last few years have witnessed a takeout revolution, with more food for delivery being ordered than ever and a vastly wider choice available to the hungry folks who request it.
As with so many of the changes wrought by Covid 19, things are unlikely to go back to where they were pre-pandemic: in no small part down to the fact that the increased volume of takeout being ordered is safeguarding the revenue of those businesses that are still recovering from the financial consequences of the lockdowns. And not to mention that we, as diners, are now increasingly expecting to have a range of takeout food available to us to order from an array of our favorite restaurants and brands.
Innovations in Online Meal Delivery
One of the main ways in which the food sector has transformed the takeout industry is through the introduction of innovative new methods and systems of ordering and overhauling the entire process of getting takeout food to customers. It’s now easier than ever before to order online, with an array of payment options available, too.
Examples include how some high-end restaurants created a virtual gourmet online experience for guests ordering food, designing menus, and crafting their platforms to enhance their brand. Other businesses have introduced the facility for those containing to create user profiles and subsequently receive in-app push notifications. Some establishments have even introduced real-time menus so that if diners want to view, for example, the Hello Fresh menu this week, they can do so with just a couple of clicks. Order tracking and the introduction of smoother, quicker delivery systems have all helped to revolutionize the takeout industry.
Giving the Customer What They Want
Overall, food ordered online makes up nearly half of all food purchased, and this proportion is set to increase over the next few years. With ever-busier lives and full-to-bursting schedules, customers not only want the option of being able to order from a range of establishments online, but they’re expecting the number of dishes and sides available to be comparable to that offered if they visited the eatery in person.
The best part about online delivery is the fact that you can order everything from groceries to delectable cakes and desserts online. The time saved can be put to leisure activities rather than jobs, such as finding a great online casino for US players. If you visit a famous platform like BloomingBox, which is an online cake shop Dubai, you can choose from flavors like Ferrero Rocher, Red Velvet, Kit Kat, and tons of other options. Depending on what your sweet tooth is telling you that day, you can simply get the same delivered online to your home. It is a simple process and works just like an Ecommerce platform does!
And some trivia: the age range that currently orders the most takeout food is the millennials – those between twenty-five and forty years of age.
The Rise of Delivery Providers
For those restaurants that didn’t have a delivery team pre-pandemic, the increased accessibility of delivery providers was vital in allowing them to get meals to ordering customers. As well as being, for many establishments, a cost-effective opportunity to expand their reach and survive the pandemic, the platforms provided by the delivery companies allow users to view menus and order online, and rate their favorite restaurants.
Delivery providers have allowed food establishments to offer their meals on a delivered basis to new demographics and geographical areas; the popularity of these providers within the restaurant industry means that they’ve created a sustainable business model and are seen as a safe and long-term solution.
What Makes for a Successful Takeout Food Delivery Business?
Customer retention is one of the most important contributing factors to the success of a food delivery business. As well as always ensuring consistently high quality and on-time deliveries, there are other things that a company can do to help build and maintain a robust and loyal customer base. Ensuring that you’re set up on a mobile platform is vital so that your customers can order food quickly and conveniently without having to hunt around for details, find a phone number, or turn on their PC.
Initiating a loyalty program is an excellent way to optimize retention, and offering exclusive discounts or even free trials to members can keep engagement levels up. According to research, more than half of retained customers are likely to make a positive recommendation to friends and family members, so keeping existing customers happy is one of the most powerful marketing tools.
The Future
The future for online meal delivery looks very bright indeed. As well as innovations in delivery tracking, the food industry is likely to see an influx of tech-based solutions to serve the ever-increasing numbers of customers wanting to order meals online. These could include AI applications and even delivery droids!
There’s likely to be an increase in third-party delivery and a high chance that tech giants will get involved to help deliver the sophisticated solutions that will be vital in improving processes to make for the slickest ordering system possible.
The eateries that can think most creatively in this regard will have the most excellent chance of success; Dominoes, for example, allow customers to place orders on Twitter by simply tweeting a pizza emoji. Smartwatches are now being designed with the future of food ordering in mind – which says pretty much all that needs to be said about the prospects for online meal delivery.
