OMNICHANNEL FOR RESTAURANTS What is it? How Can it Benefit Your Restaurant? 2

IT’S MORE Modern restaurant customers demand convenience. They want high-quality meals IMPORTANT delivered or ready to pick up at the click of a button. THAN EVER With the rise of delivery, online ordering, kiosks, and many more new methods of interaction, multiple channels are required to meet the demands of the modern restaurant-goer.

TO HAVE AN When you look at the predicted numbers pre-Covid-19, it’s clear that consumer demand was already driving massive digital OMNICHANNEL growth across the industry: | The global market is expected to reach $154 billion by 2023

STRATEGY | Digital orders at restaurants have grown at an average rate of 23% since 2013 and are predicted to triple in volume by the end of 2020

| Mobile ordering is forecast to grow to a $38 billion industry this year

And since then, even though it has caused a global shutdown of economies, Covid-19 has also accelerated the use of contactless technologies, digital ordering, and delivery services even more. 3

With brick and mortar restaurants dealing with walk-in, pick-up, and delivery customers By the end of reading this paper you will and so many ways to order and pay for meals, be able to: getting all of your technologies and sales channels aligned is a daunting task. | Understand the multitude of channels restaurants can use At this time, it’s even more essential to have an omnichannel approach. | Identify the key tech players in each category But what is omnichannel, and what does it mean to implement it at your restaurant? | Break down the key advantages and disadvantages of the There are so many channels now and so omnichannel approach much technology, the challenge is to bring it all together into a coherent system. | Figure out the best way for your Restaurateurs are busy with operations so restaurant to use an omnichannel getting everything to work together is an approach to improve your customer overwhelming task. journey and increase sales

Just choosing which delivery partners to use is hard enough, so trying to get your head around all the different channels and tech First, let’s deal with the question that is platforms, looking at pricing for multiple likely on your lips right now. subscriptions, and deciding which you do and don’t need is a significant undertaking. 4

WHAT EXACTLY IS OMNICHANNEL FOR RESTAURANTS?

Customers are demanding Omnichannel versus convenience and restaurants multi-channel are responding. Omnichannel means embracing the different Single-channel ways customers can order, pay When you focus on just one sales channel for, and get their food in a holistic, you can only reach customers this way. streamlined system. The focus Whether that means walk-in diners or is on the customer journey as a customers acquired via delivery partners or online ordering. You can make this channel whole, rather than the experience as smooth and efficient as possible and on one channel or another. deliver an excellent customer experience, but you’re limiting the number of customers you In an omnichannel operation, data flows can reach and the richest of their interaction in a purposeful way and can be used with your brand. throughout the system, rather than being siloed. This brings a multitude of advantages Multi-channel to the modern restaurant. A multi-channel approach is when you sell The best way to understand the through more than one channel, including omnichannel approach is to compare in-person, online, and offline. You might cater it to what came before. to dine-in customers, walk-in customers for takeaway meals, and customers who order online for delivery, for example. 5

A multi-channel approach includes all Omnichannel also ensures data is collected of these different methods of interacting from each channel consistently in one place with customers but doesn’t connect them. and can be used effectively to improve You may be giving customers in each operations and the customer experience channel a great experience but the different down the line. This leads to many benefits channels are not integrated. So the customer and some challenges that we will experience in each channel is separate, discuss later. they can’t easily move between channels. A good way to get a deeper understanding Omnichannel of how the omnichannel approach impacts the hospitality industry is to first look Omnichannel takes the multi-channel at what’s happened to the retail industry over approach and builds bridges so customers the last decade. can move between channels seamlessly.

Imagine that a customer finds your restaurant What can we learn from the on Doordash. They become a regular impact of omnichannel on retail? customer and order a meal once a week. However, because your profile is not branded, The restaurant industry has been slower they might walk past your restaurant every to adapt to digital than others largely because day and not dine in because there is no it is naturally a more physical, real-world connection between the two channels. industry. While getting a replacement pair of trainers delivered to your door can be more With omnichannel, you ensure that your convenient than heading to the local Foot interactions are consistent. So perhaps you Locker, you can’t fully recreate a multi-course add a menu to all takeaway orders and tasting menu experience at home. a voucher offering a discount when they dine in. You may be able to turn this regular delivery customer into a dine-in customer without a disconnect. 6

Top 10 Companies in the US, Ranked But the average restaurant has been But the danger was that physical stores by Retail Ecommerce Sales Share, 2020 digitizing more and more, with online turned into showrooms for online buyers. reservations, payment systems, and delivery People would go into a shop and try out % of total retail ecommerce sales platforms leading the way. a product, then head over to Amazon and make a purchase. An omnichannel approach 1. Amazon An interesting comparison that may help takes into account how the customer wants 38% us see the future for the restaurant industry to shop and solves this problem by keeping 2. Walmart is the move of retail online. High street shops them from buying elsewhere. 5.8% have been struggling since the internet connected us. The rise of sites like eBay and It does this by moving customers between 3. Ebay 4.5% then, of course, Amazon, have hit traditional channels, capturing data for remarketing, retailers hard. and generally offering a more complete, 4. Apple holistic experience, connecting online 3.5% The chart on the left shows Amazon’s current and offline. stranglehold over the retail industry. 5. The Home Depot 1.9% We are now seeing major online retail As Amazon cemented its dominance giants opening up brick and mortar stores 6. Best Buy over online retail over the last decade, as an additional channel. This closing of the 1.5% omnichannel became an essential tactic circle shows how important it is not to dismiss for retailers trying to survive. 7. Target a channel as redundant when it could 1.5% be used as part of an omnichannel approach Brick and mortar stores were forced to use to increase sales across the business. 8. Costco Wholesale whatever advantages they had over online 1.3% retailers. Namely, the ability for customers 9. Wayfair to walk in, browse products, and talk to staff. 1.3% In a brick and mortar store, you can pick up a product and see if it is right for you, 10. Macy’s you can try on clothes and make sure any 0.9% product is right before you buy.

Note: represents the gross value of products or services ordered via each company’s website (browser or app), regardless of the method of payment or fulfillment; excludes travel and event tickets.

Source: eMarketer, May 2020 7

THE OMNICHANNEL LANDSCAPE FOR RESTAURANTS

As we’ve seen from the example of the transformation of retail, an omnichannel approach is not so much The biggest players: Meal Delivery - Monthly Sales a choice, it is essential if your restaurant is going to adapt and 450 July 2020 survive in a turbulent marketplace. 400 Share of Sales

But the restaurant industry is not the same 1 350 Doordash - 46% as retail. It has its quirks and idiosyncrasies 300 that make integrating and managing multiple Eats2 - 23% channels even more challenging than in almost 250 - 21% any other business. 200 - 150 8% To help you get your head around what an U.S. Sales Indexed 3 omnichannel approach looks like for the 100 Other - 1% modern restaurant, let’s break down the various channels into two categories, Takeout, 50 and Dine-in, and look at the pros and cons of using each channel and the biggest players 2018 2019 2020 working in each space.

1Indexed to meal delivery Jan. 2018 sales (=100). Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding. 2Does not include purchases made with Uber Cash. Some sales indistinguishable from Uber rides, especially in May-August 2019. 3Amazon Restaurants (prior to Jun ‘19 closure), Caviar (prior to Oct ‘19 acquisition),

Source: Second Measure 8

Takeout Channels Doordash: In just seven years, Doordash has : One of the earlier players focussing risen from Bay Area start-up to become the on takeaway restaurants and fast-casual biggest delivery provider in the US, operating before more upmarket restaurants started Last-mile Delivery (third-party and in-house) in more than 800 cities in 50 states and to offer delivery more widely, Just Eat taking 46% of the market. is still a major player delivering meals Offering food for delivery opens up from restaurants to hungry customers new markets to all kinds of restaurants. Operates in the US, Canada, and Australia across Europe. It’s so popular that many food businesses have decided to focus only on delivery. GrubHub: Grubhub along with its subsidiaries Operates in the UK and Ireland, Mainland and Eat24 take 21% of the delivery Europe, Canada, and Brazil The rise of ghost or cloud kitchens and market and operate in a lot of smaller cities, virtual restaurant brands, where there is no dine-in and a restaurant’s only over 4000 in all. In June 2020, Just Eat interaction with customers is through the announced it was buying GrubHub to extend online ordering process, shows the huge its reach in the US. demand for food delivery. Operates in the US

The delivery landscape is one of the more : Uber Eats uses Uber’s experience complex and important in the restaurant in ride-sharing to deliver food from ecosystem. The industry is booming and the neighborhood restaurants. It has become one biggest players are becoming household of the largest global delivery providers and names. Many restaurants choose to take is a household name in much of the world. delivery in-house which comes with its Operates in the US, Canada, UK and Ireland, South own pros and cons, and there are partners America, Asia, and Australia that help them take orders and organize Takeaway.com/Delivery Hero/Foodora: Dutch drivers too. food delivery company delivery.com, acquired Behind the third-party delivery and its subsidiary providers, there are aggregators and to complete a huge conglomeration that now ordering systems that help you manage serves multiple continents. your delivery operations. Operates in the UK, Mainland Europe, and South America 9

What concerns do you have with Curbside pickup, drive-thru | You can attract customers at different dining out post-COVID-19? & order ahead times from dine-in service and serve more customers at busy times with an efficient system Offering meals for takeout is nothing new. Traditionally more common among fast-food Cleanliness of table and prepared food 78% The main downsides are the cost of the tech restaurants, takeout is becoming the norm required and the risk that your collection even for fancy dine-in restaurants looking orders could get in the way of dine-in service. to capture a share of the market. Touching a reusable menu 73% The biggest players: Specialists in online Offering takeout attracts a different ordering and mobile order-ahead include demographic of customers who may want Vromo, Orkestro, Applova, ChowNow, to quickly a meal on their way home, or Cook staff cleaning procedures and PPE 71% and Bringg. for an al desko lunch. In today’s fast-paced society, it’s worth considering as a new avenue Many of the largest POS providers, including Bathroom cleanliness 70% of opportunity. Toast, Lightspeed, and Upserve, have pivoted to offer mobile order-ahead technology, as Recently, chains like Starbucks, McDonald’s, well as reservations platforms like Sevenrooms and Domino’s have been investing heavily and payment provider PAYMNTS.com. Occupancy numbers 69% in order-ahead tech to make the ordering and pickup process for takeout as efficient as possible. With more and more people using Dine-in Channels Contact with waitstaff 60% mobile devices to order, this is looking like the future of restaurant takeout. This year, we’ve seen a revival in technologies like QR codes which some had thought Fans or A/C units 43% The advantages are: had their day. The use of other tech such moving air as≈contactless payment systems and mobile | This technology can provide convenience ordering for dine-in guests has accelerated. to your customers by cutting waiting times This acceleration is being driven by the rules | Simple to implement – you just need that are in place as restaurants reopen and packaging and an ordering system reflects public opinion according to this study. 10

For restaurants looking to employ It could just be a PDF menu, but forward- The drawbacks are: an omnichannel approach, it’s a good time thinking restaurateurs are using the full to get on board with the latest technology. potential of QR codes to offer the best | Reduces the positive aspects of human Many tech providers are offering generous experience to the customer. On a smart interaction during the restaurant experience incentives as they pivot to offer new solutions. system, the customer can see all the menu options, make their selections, and pay their | Requires customers to have a smartphone The following tech solutions can help you check, all on their device. Thereby, eliminating The biggest players in QR code and tableside entice diners back and offer a number of ways almost all the traditional points of contact ordering: Deliverect integrates with many to make their experience more convenient involving paper menus, payment devices, partners to offer QR code ordering. Other while collecting more insights into their and conversations with waitstaff. preferences and behaviors. major providers include Square, Presto, Many ordering systems link directly to the MyMenu, Menumodo, and One2 Menu. QR code ordering & tableside ordering apps restaurant’s POS so when the customer orders, the waitstaff don’t even have to punch White label ordering apps With 73% of diners concerned about touching the order in. This system can actually free a reusable menu and disposable menus staff up to concentrate on other areas while For those that want to create a truly unique even being mandated in many regions adding another channel to your business and experience and embrace the omnichannel of the US and Canada, QR codes are making capturing more customer data. ethos in terms of creating a consistent a comeback. experience across all channels, you might The main benefits can be summed consider white-label apps for ordering, The demand for contactless ordering solutions up as follows: payment, and delivery. for dine-in guests has seen ordering apps pivot from pick-up and delivery to tableside | Minimizes contact for customers making They are more expensive and time-consuming ordering. Customers can use QR codes or them feel safe to implement but give you the ability to fully navigate to ordering apps themselves. But how customize not just the look but the user | do they work and how can you utilize them? Improves order accuracy journey and experience. | Instead of giving customers a paper menu, POS integration streamlines order flow The biggest players: Flipdish, Hungrrr, Slerp you provide a QR code on the table ready to be and ClickEat provide white label solutions | Staff can focus on delivering scanned by the customer. When the customer for restaurants and integrate with your POS excellent service scans the code, it brings up the ordering through Deliverect. website or app on their device. 11

Restaurant POS systems moving into new areas

Amid the chaos and uncertainty of 2020, many POS providers quickly pivoted to offer additional services in order to capture new areas of the market. Big players like Toast, Lightspeed, Square, and others developed ordering apps, new payment systems, and loyalty programs to help specifically with the new conditions created for the restaurant industry.

For restaurants that already use these POS systems, it was a convenient way to add new capabilities into their existing tech stack without too much cost or hassle.

On the other hand, many of these apps were put together very quickly and may be buggy. Established tech providers who already specialize in these solutions and that offer integrations with the major POS providers might be a better solution depending on your restaurant’s needs.

Either way, the more solutions that enter the market the more competition drives innovation. For restaurateurs, there’s more choice than ever. The difficulty is picking the right tech that will seamlessly integrate and provide the best customer experience possible. 12

THE PROS AND CONS OF THE OMNICHANNEL APPROACH

Now that you can see the omnichannel landscape for restaurants a little clearer, it’s time to look at the benefits and challenges in implementing the approach. This will help you decide the extent to which you embrace omnichannel, which channels are right for your restaurant, and how to best implement omnichannel in practice.

The benefits of omnichannel

Streamlined user experience

The goal of the omnichannel approach is to provide a seamless experience for the customer no matter how they interact with your restaurant. Even when they come to you via multiple channels, both online and offline.

A customer coming into the restaurant to dine in will get the same experience as if they order via a branded mobile app and will feel the connection between the two channels. This fosters brand loyalty and repeat business. 13

Bigger reach Although certain third-party partners may | Continually improve your service, not give you access to customer data, once menus, and processes based on the data Using more channels means reaching out you onboard new customers onto your POS you collect to a wider audience of potential customers. system, you can collect data on them and There are a number of ways in which you start to use it to your advantage. For example, | Make your processes more efficient and can increase your pool of future regulars using the omnichannel approach, you might cut unnecessary spending by seamlessly integrating more sales discover a new customer through a delivery channels, including: partner, then move them onto your system The challenges of omnichannel via a flyer with a special offer placed in the | Making more noise and attracting new takeout bag. audiences simply by being visible in more Harder to manage multiple channels and varied places As you integrate the more channels, you will clean up your customer data and start The biggest challenge when it comes | Utilizing the customer base of multiple to collect a lot more of it from your new to putting together an omnichannel third-party delivery partners sources. If used in the right way, this data can approach is managing the variety of systems help you understand who your customers are and processes that are necessary for | Benefiting from the mutually beneficial and how to serve them better. it to work. marketing efforts of ordering, reservations, and delivery partners More, and crucially, cleaner customer data will As discussed above, there are a number help you in a number of practical ways: of channels, each managed by different | Capturing more customer data and using tech platforms and requiring different it to re-engage to foster repeat business | Add individual-level personalization to each systems to function. The whole point of the and encourage referrals customers’ experience whether it’s dine-in omnichannel approach is to get these or ordering online. Eg. Have their favorite systems working together to take advantage More data, cleaner data drink ready for them when they dine-in of as many of the benefits as possible. or offer a discount on their regular order But this can be a real challenge for A less obvious but potentially more important when they order online busy restaurateurs. advantage is in the data an omnichannel approach can help you collect. | Target customers with personalized offers that have a much higher chance of being used 14

More touchpoints equals a bigger workload The challenge of managing With Deliverect, all you have to do is update third-party services your menu once on your dashboard, and the More planning, more channels, and hopefully system pushes the changes out to all your more customers mean a bigger load on your With so many channels working at the same delivery partners. This allows for the kind resources. To successfully overcome this time, you are going to have to outsource at of on-the-fly changes to dishes, prices, and challenge requires more work and more staff. least some of the work. With this convenience availability that are a daily reality in busy comes drawbacks. You are now relying on restaurants. It all but solves the problem, If omnichannel is implemented well, third-parties to offer the same experience that ensuring that your menus are up-to-date and the investment will be paid back fairly quickly, you would offer directly to your customers. accurate while freeing up valuable resources but there is going to be an upfront cost on the floor. to bear when putting together and executing Although this can be difficult, working with your omnichannel strategy. It is vital to put the right partners will ensure that you are good systems in place to manage the giving your customers the best experience increased number of staff and shifts and possible. Tools like Deliverect help you link create an efficient overall system. up other tech solutions aimed at solving this problem. Multiple subscriptions required Managing Menus Across Multiple Platforms One of the downsides of the omnichannel approach is that you will have to take out One specific issue that comes with managing multiple subscriptions to tech providers. multiple delivery partners is the headache of updating your menus, of which there may This investment, though, is far better than be many, on each delivery platform. paying for tech that is unsuitable and that your staff don’t actually use. If you have Some platforms require you to email changes the right tech in place, the benefits listed and wait for approval, some allow you above will pay back your investment many to change menus on their online system. times over. Either way, making changes across multiple menus and platforms can become a real chore and eat into your manager’s time. 15

HOW TO MANAGE THE OMNICHANNEL APPROACH WITHOUT GETTING OVERWHELMED

The modern restaurant consumer The good news is: if you deal with the Depending on your capacity and specific demands a frictionless experience challenges in smart ways, they turn needs, it could help you cut down on a lot into advantages. of manual tasks with just one system. across different channels, tech platforms, and devices. | Fourth Hospitality automates many Use Automation to Cope with the tasks relating to workforce and inventory Clearly there are many benefits to the Increased Workload management, including HR and omnichannel approach for restaurants payroll processing, shift scheduling, so the question is: how do you handle the When you’re attempting to run multiple shift tracking, and much more. downsides of managing so many channels channels within one coherent system, It also features kitchen-specific tools and third-party players while integrating you better have the processes and data to automate purchasing, stock checking, them effectively? collection in place to be on top of your and invoice processing. kitchen and restaurant management. This is a vital piece in the running of a successful | MarketMan is a specialist solution for omnichannel strategy. inventory management and procurement. The MarketMan app is built for kitchen There are a bunch of tools out there to help managers and chefs who are always on you cope with the increased workload. the go. It simplifies stock-taking and Not only will they help you manage your purchasing with tools to keep track restaurant operations more efficiently, but of different suppliers and fluctuating by automating repetitive tasks, they can also prices, and uses smart tech to make the take the pressure off your staff. right purchasing decisions. Using key integrations with accounting software | QSR Automations integrates kitchen partners, it also helps managers to stay automation, reservation management, on top of invoicing and stores all of the and ordering solutions to streamline many data in the cloud for easy access. of your restaurant management processes. 16

| Belgian startup Apicbase develops specific Deal with delivery chaos tools to manage costing, recipes, inventory, with Deliverect and ordering effectively from one centralized dashboard. Already very active One of the most complex and difficult in Europe, and serving customers in the channels is delivery. Using multiple delivery US and Canada, Apicbase has developed partners boosts your reach and potential a software platform with a number of customer base but it also adds complexity tools that work together to streamline to your operations. If you don’t manage kitchen management and provide your delivery orders properly you can end actionable insights with which to improve up with chaos. your processes. Here are just some of the issues that With tools like these integrated effectively frequently arise: with your other software, you can turn the negative of the increased workload into | Staff having to switch between tablets, a number of positives, including: POS systems, and other ordering hardware

| Higher margins on every dish sold | Staff re-punching orders from tablets into the POS which leads to errors | Better staff training | Confusion in the kitchen with orders | Improved ordering efficiency coming in different formats from different delivery partners along with regular orders | Happier employees One of the solutions is to consolidate your delivery partners into one system thereby streamlining the whole process. 17

Deliverect is purpose-built for this task. This is a prime example of how you can social media channels, and more, even Using integrations with the major POS actually simplify your processes while taking bringing in outside data like weather providers, ordering and payment solutions, advantage of the reach of multiple channels. forecasts to help you plan effectively. and third-party delivery providers, it creates a seamless flow of orders right from when From there, it uses AI to help you predict the customer places the order, to the POS Effectively manage your and plan for the future while adding a host receiving it, to the ticket being sent to the omnichannel data in one place of benefits: kitchen, all the way to driver pick-up. The final piece in the omnichannel puzzle | Improve communication This means the staff deal with one platform is to make sure your data flow is streamlined | Make fewer mistakes on one device and all the orders are in the so that all your data can be used effectively. same format. | Save time Here are two solutions that help you use data It actually simplifies the process ensuring: to improve operations: | Continually optimize your entire tech stack | No more iPad juggling Avero breaks down the data for each section To implement a successful omnichannel of your business so you gain a granular approach, you can use integrations like this | No re-punching of orders understanding of exactly what’s going to align your tech stack so that all the data well and what needs to improve. Especially | No confusion in the kitchen with is flowing into one system. This ensures your useful if you have multiple locations, it can inconsistent order numbers and different tools are talking to each other and tell you where to make changes to optimize ticket formats simplifying operations rather than making revenue, control costs, improve service, things more complicated. and then replicate these best practices across | Rank higher on third-party platforms due all your outlets. to faster preparation times and a better You can actually have fewer team members order acceptance rate in certain areas and redeploy them into Tenzo consolidates all your data from areas where they can be of more use. multiple systems into one platform. It takes | Orders clearly marked for driver All the data can be funneled into one place data from your POS, labor management or customer pick-up to reduce mistakes to improve operations. software, inventory, online reviews, 18

Omnichannel is the future for smart restaurant operators. A new generation of innovative solutions is catering to every job imaginable. But the challenge is lining it all up and connected tech platforms so that they simplify operations rather than making things more complicated.

Deliverect integrates with providers like Tenzo and Apicbase, as well as the major POS providers. This key link pulls everything together with the delivery partners for a fully CREATE A MORE integrated tech stack. POS integration allows you to take advantage of the benefits without putting a huge amount of extra effort. CERTAIN FUTURE Ultimately, consumers want to be served fast with good hot food. The less they realize they are part of a system the better FOR YOUR it is working. An integrated tech stack using the omnichannel approach results in more efficient use of your staff and other resources, RESTAURANT WITH cost savings for the business, and a more streamlined customer experience. And you can use the clean data you AN INTEGRATED collect to constantly improve operations. The upshot? Happier customers, OMNICHANNEL exceptional reviews, and more repeat business, leading to more revenue TECH STACK coming in each month. TO TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS INTO A MODERN OMNICHANNEL RESTAURANT, BOOK A DEMO WITH DELIVERECT TODAY.