Why All Toronto Restaurants Should Go Digital

With Covid-19 affecting almost every industry and turning the world online, it is no question that many restaurant businesses have gone digital in one way or another. From having their menus online to online ordering, restaurants have seen greater increases in sales by incorporating a digital aspect in their business. ​​Going digital brings massive opportunities for boosting the efficiency of your food business and can really help take your business to the next level. Tactic states that offering delivery generates more sales by 60% of restaurants. 

Covid-19 Post Pandemic Effects

Over the past year, consumers have developed customer behaviour habits, which many of them will stick around even after the pandemic. Some of these effects include:

• Consumers Count on Convenience More Than Ever
• Increase in Preference for Contactless Payments
• Customers’ Increasing Focus on Health
• Increased Purchasing Influence With Social Media Stories
• Shifts in Buying Behaviour From Online to In-Store

To read more about these effects, visit our previous blog.

Going Digital: How and Its Benefits 

Make Your Menu Digital

This should be the first step you take to digitise your restaurant. Using a digital menu is crucial, especially these days where every customer expects to see what your restaurant offers in a click of a button. Replace your traditional signs and posters with a digital menu board to show a more realistic expectation of what your food looks like, especially when you add photos to your menu. A digital menu will always reflect your restaurant’s stock as it can be updated as often as needed. It also reduces the amount of physical contact made with your customers and menu.

Benefits of a digital menu:

• Usability: Manage the menu board from anywhere
• Easy and convenient to change and update
• Ability to highlight a new menu item
• Display special promotions
• Save Money on Printing
• Contactless

Digitise Your Storefront

By digitising your storefront, gain immediate purchasing power to take advantage of an upcoming sale, meeting a new client, or to promote new products or services. Implement online ordering for pickup, dine in, delivery, online reservations, and easy online payments for increased efficiency. Improve your brand consistency with the customisability of online ordering, all while saving you time and money by streamlining orders online.

The Benefits:

• Lower costs & higher profit margins
• Streamlining order entry and approvals
• Brand consistency – customisable and interchangeable
• Increased efficiency in day to day work
• Flexibility
• Hassle Free Ordering Channel

To read more about digitising your storefront, check out our previous blogs 3 Reasons Why your Business Needs Online Ordering and Tips on Selecting Your Business’ Online Ordering Platform.

Connect With Your Customers Digitally

By digitising your restaurant, you will gain many more points of contact for your customers to reach you online. You can freely communicate directly with your customers through social media and email and gain customer data you wouldn’t know if solely in-person. You can also utilise a loyalty program to keep your customers purchasing from you. By engaging with your customers this way, you will get to know them better and know how to appeal to them more through your business.

The Benefits:

• Makes communication easier
• Engagement and interaction
• Know who your customers are
• Build stronger relationships with your customers
• Send personalised marketing messages and promotions

Use POS (Point of Sale) Systems

If you want a solution that is implemented directly inside your restaurant, a digital POS system can improve your efficiency. You can use touchscreen tablets to take orders and even process payments in-store. With a POS system, you can easily view your inventory and invoice, all while with one device. It can also help you personalise your customers’ shopping experience, and with the information you have from each customer, you can direct them to the products they are interested in.

The Benefits:

• Better inventory management
• Simple invoicing
• Quick payments
• Contactless payments and interaction
• Personalisation of customer purchases

Implement a Ghost Kitchen

If you want to explore the option of going completely digital, a ghost kitchen is your best bet. Manage your menu and delivery all online, you only need a physical kitchen. This saves money on rented physical space, hired employees, and maintenance of your space. A ghost kitchen provides a lot of flexibility, being solely digital, you can change your branding and menu whenever you please. With a ghost kitchen, you meet online demand and only need to focus on your orders without worrying about anything else.

The Benefits:

• Save money on a physical store-front
• No need to tend to customers
• Flexible and adaptable to changing market trends and customer demand
• Easy to change or update menu and branding whenever you want
• Opportunity to capture a wider audience
• Ability to meet online demand

To read more about ghost kitchens, check out our previous blog.

Getting Started with Digitising Your Restaurant

After exploring your options on how you can go digital, it is time to start planning your first steps. A digital menu board is a good place to start, however these days it may be more efficient to find an online ordering system, since your menu will already be displayed. This way, you can streamline your customers’ experience all in one place. 

ZeMaas can digitise your storefront and digitise your items/menu for you. This will include prices, modifiers, images, sizes, and descriptions for each item. Our online ordering service provides delivery, pick up, and  dine in options so that you can offer your customers the most convenience at the lowest price. Your brand is important, which is why ZeMaas platforms are white label so that your brand is put first and your customers’ online ordering experience is customised to suit your brand. 

To learn more about ZeMaas’ online ordering, check out our page here.