The restaurant industry is growing rapidly in population and consumer base but also in technology and how they are designed. More than half of all restaurant managers believe mobile applications can help their businesses grow. Nearly 70 percent of all restaurants have a presence on social media, with Facebook being the primary way restaurants connect with customers. Many things can be done to improve the customer experience uniquely.
Today there are already more than seven million mobile devices in the market, and one can safely assume that within a few years, those numbers will double. So if you are about to start your restaurant (or doing it right now), remember to start working on a mobile app. Mobile apps have a way of helping small companies take their businesses beyond the local markets and reach even global customers.
A few top-rated restaurant apps can be found on Google Play Store. Chefs Feed is a real-time restaurant recommendation app powered by the world’s best chefs and their users. The app offers an amazing experience when discovering new places – there are already 30,000+ reviews written by professional chefs and thousands of 4+ star ratings.
Another one is Zomato, a restaurant search and discovery service. The website features more than 1.2 million establishments across 24 countries, and a menu of services that help the top restaurants get found by customers. Zomato was featured on TechCrunch and was labeled as a “Facebook for restaurants.”
Some other top-rated apps are GrubHub, Foursquare, and Yelp. All of them are known very well in the market. Around 80 percent of all downloaders in the United States have filled their online orders from restaurant apps or websites in the last month alone.
Benefits of having a restaurant app:
More mobile customers
Your customers can find your restaurant and order food right away. More local customers
Your restaurant’s reach expands to the neighborhood as it becomes easier for customers to find your place, make a reservation, or order food online.
Easier to personalize
For instance, you can easily promote your services on the app if you want to order in advance. The app can help you notify customers about your upcoming events and specials.
You can create a loyalty program to encourage customers to return after trying some of your food or other services.
It is always good to keep track of the customers and their preferences. You can learn from your customers by collecting all the previous visits, reviews, and feedback. Besides this, the information gathered from the app’s users can help you make improvements in the future for a better customer experience.
Tracking and reporting
Keep an eye on what’s happening with your restaurant business through the apps. It is also an opportunity to improve performance with better analytics. Commonly, restaurants need to improve at reporting customer feedback through conventional methods. Improved ease of payment
It is very convenient for customers to pay through the app when they order—no need to carry cash or credit cards. Restaurants can keep in touch with their customers via newsletters and other updates regarding upcoming events and specials.
If you have a loyalty program, it will also help encourage customers to sign up for more offers, promotions, and other benefits the restaurant offers.
If you are interested in mobile applications for your restaurant and would like to build one for yourself, contact Coaxsoft. We are a group of software developers specializing in creating custom restaurant applications to make your business more efficient and keep the customers coming back.
