Is Text to Order Beneficial for Your Business? 

Food delivery and take-out options are booming right now and on the rise! In addition to online ordering options, restaurants are also beginning to implement text-to-order technology.  

Text-to-order is a high-end technology that allows customers to text in their orders while the system detects any order errors. The overall goal of this system is to replace the traditional checkout for a more seamless one. Whether you’re operating a delivery-only service or dine-in restaurant, text-to-order is something worth considering.  

More Efficient Workflow 

Offering text-to-order allows for easier customer and order management, creating a more efficient workflow. Customers being able to text in orders means more hands at front of house, assisting customers, and waiting tables. If there are any errors in the customer’s order, the system will recognize that and correct it or prompt for correction. If there is a credit card failure, a link will be forwarded to the customer to correct their information. This takes a lot of stress off restaurant employees who are dealing with online orders and payment issues. 

This also allows a more seamless ordering process for the customer without having to download an application or visit the website. Meaning more customers are able to order directly from the restaurant, including the ones without internet access.  

Integrating Systems 

Depending on how you look at it, the best way to go about implementing text-to-order would be to integrate it into your POS system. Everything works better when everything works together and is connected. Integrating systems will open up a lot of opportunities to drive business. This will also eliminate the possibility of mistakes when entering payment information. 

Integrating systems will create easier checkouts and payments and lessen the number of steps staff must take to complete orders. This also makes it easier to store customer information for repeat orders or promotional offers. Customers can choose to save their payment options for future, easy checkouts.  

More Marketing  

Text-to-Order is also a great way to allow your customers to opt-in to promotions and reminders! This is a great opportunity to give exclusive offers to text-to-order customers to drive repeat orders and build more brand equity. You can also use this to send links, feedback surveys, and collect information for email marketing.  

This will also allow you to get your promotions to customers without internet access as well. It’s safe to say that most people in 2022 have used or currently use the internet. However, sometimes you can’t get an internet connection, data plans run out, or maybe someone is trying to order take out from their grandma's. Text-to-order is the best way to allow this market to receive your promotions and still place their orders.  

Disadvantages and Opportunity 

It’s always important to consider the cons of every business decision and text-to-order leaves a few things up to question. Implementing new processing such as text-to-order can seem great and beneficial, but a lot of the time employers are behind on training. It’s important to make sure your team is trained well and comfortable with the system before implementing it. It also may be smart to do so on a slow day when you aren’t expecting as many customers in case of error.  

Although text-to-order can create an efficient workflow for front of house, it can create workflow issues for the kitchen if you do not have an effective system for staff communication. There can be a disconnect in the communication of what’s in stock. This can cause the need to cancel an order, refund the money, and communicate the issue to the customer all separately. This process can also be devastating to your level of customer service as well.  

With the above advantages and disadvantages in mind, it’s most important to choose whatever works best for your business and drives sales. Create a system that is efficient for your staff. If text-to-order is a system that you can integrate, it would be overall very beneficial to your restaurant. Implement processes that will prevent staff miscommunication and procedures to take in case of order issues and cancellations. Know the system well and make sure your staff is trained correctly as well to cultivate great customer service and leave the customer with a great experience!