As well as the damaging 10pm curfew, the latest restrictions announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnston, included the requirement that pubs must now operate under a table service only system.
Previously, it was advised for pubs to do so, while many continued to offer the opportunity for customers to order at the bar.
A key result of this requirement for many operators means it has left them facing potentially increased staff costs, while also seeing revenues drop as nervous customers react to the restrictions by staying home.
One way to tackle the challenge, increase efficiency and potentially reduce your staffing costs is by introducing an ordering app or online ordering system, which will help free up staff to focus on pouring and delivering of drinks.
However, there are a myriad of apps and programs out there to choose from, so which should you consider when looking to implement a system into your business.
The Morning Advertiser has teamed up with a number of suppliers to the market to give you a roundup of some of the products on the market, and what they can offer to you as an operator.
App2table
App2table and club2app smartphone apps from Image Retail Solutions Ltd provide cost effective digital menu and ordering solutions for hospitality sites and sport venues, respectively.
Easy to setup and use, payment can be taken inside or outside of the apps. Staff are notified of new orders direct to their phone/tablet and/or orders can be printed directly from the cloud as they are received.
Club2app also provides additional event ticketing sales and validation for sports clubs hosting live matches as a much cheaper alternative to ticket sites.
Pay as you go and fixed monthly contracts available, as are generic and white-label versions of either app. The company is also able to provide custom app development for bespoke projects.
Click on the links above for more details.
AppInstitute
AppInstitute offers a fantastic and simple way for pubs and bars to take food/drink orders.
Since 2011, AppInstitute has been powering mobile apps for small businesses across the world.
With AppInstitute, you'll get your own mobile app for iOS and Android, without writing a single line of code. All of their apps are fully branded to your business, too - with no mention of the AppInstitute brand name.
Using your app customers will be able to place orders and pay through their phones. AppInstitute offers compatibility with a simple android-powered WiFi printer to manage all orders.
There are also additional functionalities, including loyalty schemes and stamp cards.
Plus with push notifications, letting customers know about offers, events, and news has never been easier.
When speaking about Raglan Road's app - owner Ged Dowling said: “Operating a bar during the pandemic is unlike anything we’ve done before. We don’t typically provide takeaway or table service, but these two options are now necessary to survive. Thankfully for us, AppInstitute makes it really easy for us to offer both these services to our customers.”
AppInstitute is currently building apps for pubs free of charge (usually £349). They offer a range of subscription plans starting at just £32/month (billed annually.)
Click here to get your free app built today.
OrderPay
OrderPay is the number one order at table app that enables operators to easily and effectively serve customers and operate safely within the new government guidelines.
The OrderPay consumer network goes beyond the technology and gives you exposure to thousands of new customers with the app providing a seamless ordering and payment experience.
Payment can be made immediately or automatically taken on departure, with the option to split the bill before or after ordering.
By switching on OrderPay, operators can benefit from numerous innovative features that can help them navigate the current challenging trading environment, whilst remaining relevant long-term, including the following:
- Game-changing technology that ‘reskins & locks’ the app to take on your pub’s branding when a customer enters your venue
- Reward staff with tipping functionality which prompts customers to leave a tip after a certain amount of time has lapsed since their last order, or if the app detects they have left the venue
- Understand your customers with valuable data that is shared with you and numerous ways to market to your community
- Profit-sharing coalition where 30% of OrderPay profits are shared with the network members
- No monthly fees, and a simple 1.95% transaction fee that includes all payment charges
OrderPay has already partnered with over 6000 venues and have developed OrderPay Lite, a version of the app which is specifically tailored for leased, tenanted and independent operators
Discover more at https://orderpay.com/
Pepper HQ
“One upside of this terrible Covid pandemic,” explains Simon Kelton, Co-Founder & CCO of Pepper, “is that it has proved the benefits of our mobile ordering platform. We are now processing over £10m per month through our clients’ merchant branded apps with an average of 60% of all transactions running through their apps, some as high as 90%.
“Most gratifying for us has been hearing that click and collect and order and pay from table have saved companies from going out of business. It makes all the hard work worth it.
“Pepper’s market-leading technology has been designed for pubs, bars, restaurants, QSR’s and coffee shops. With a decade of experience in hospitality Pepper works with over 200 brands in over 1000 locations with companies like Young's, Revolution Bars, Brakspear, Inception, Black Sheep Coffee and Wahaca along with many independents.
“Pepper’s platform is EPOS integrated, allowing us to develop and deliver the most powerful set of features for a cost-effective price, including online ordering, order to table, pay at table, digital loyalty, rewards & marketing, and data analytics. Pepper delivers both native app and web based customer journeys.
“While this is unquestionably a very stressful time for everyone in the industry, Pepper’s clients are using their digital platform to create improved operations to help weather the storm and come out stronger the other side.
“Our app users are worth 20% more than regular customers, we have seen increased average transaction values through digital ordering and staff have more time to look after customers.
“For more information please visit www.pepperHQ.com or email us at info@pepperHQ.com.”
Pints N’ Bites
Pints N’ Bites is the complete food & drink ordering portal simply accessed through a QR code identifying your entire venue or each individual table so that your staff efficiently find & serve your customers.
Upload & customise your entire menu (or we can do it for you) including; ingredients & allergen/dietary information, drinks by size, with or without ice, peppercorns, grapefruit or whatever you offer. Customers can tailor and customise drinks and dishes as much as you want them too.
Let your customers know how long their order will take to prepare & when it’s ready to collect or deliver (to table, home or wherever you like)
Receive orders on phones, tablets or an epos unit with built-in printer. Payment can be taken through the portal or separately with your existing payment options/PDQ’s etc - we don’t take commission & prices start from just £30 per venue per month.
Staff get visual confirmation of payment status so they can release orders knowing that the payment has been made.
See all of your orders within the portal so you can identify what sells and what doesn’t. Create a mailing list from customers who sign up to the app and agree to your marketing terms.
Build loyalty with points or a wallet, pre-pay gift cards so that customers can share the love.
Include a visual floor plan of your venue to help customers & staff.
Integrate with social media to increase your reach.
Visit http://marstonstelecoms.com/pintsnbites/ for more information.
RitualONE
RitualONE provides a web based order & pay table service for hospitality operators.
The customer scans a QR code, sees your menu, places and pays for their order. You receive the order with their table number immediately.
With a 24 hour set up there’s also no commission on orders for life. Free until 2021. Month by month thereafter.
Plus, convert followers into business with RitualOne’s direct integration with Facebook, Instagram and Google, so takeaway and delivery orders can be placed by customers directly within the social platforms.
To find out more click here
StoreKit
StoreKit Order & Pay is the most intuitive choice. It takes under 15 minutes to set up a store and there’s no monthly fees – so you can try it right now and determine whether it’s for you after you’ve built your mobile menu.
Why Order & Pay?
1) Total intuition
StoreKit has brought in world-class designers to focus on making you money. The team continuously studies the data to optimise the design for conversions, and to shed every last squeak of friction away from the buying chute. Customers love to spend here – and with in-built menu engineering, StoreKit will deliver state-of-the-art conversion strategy straight to your food and drink.
2) It integrates with your EPOS
Zonal, ICR Touch, Lightspeed L and K series, Revel, and Touchbistro, are just some of the whopping 30 EPOS systems to which you can send orders. StoreKit also works as an advice hub for EPOS software, so they’re really well-placed to help you get Order & Pay working in concert with your other software tomorrow.
3) Payment-only pricing
No outrageous commissions, no surprises, and no bills in the post. StoreKit is a payment processor, so unlike other softwares in this list, our pricing is not in addition to fees from a third party processor like Stripe. That means you can start building right now for free, and only pay a standard processing fee as orders come in – with zero risk.
Get started here: www.storekit.com/takeaway/order
Swifty
Meet new government table service guidelines with Swifty: the full-service order and pay, loyalty and reservation management platform, offering a seamless customer experience.
“We understand that many hospitality businesses will find adapting to the latest government restrictions operationally and financially challenging" says Matt Rix at HEINEKEN UK. "Swifty has the benefit of helping outlets seamlessly maintain or transition to full table service, whilst also offering tools to help drive footfall and grow your business".
Swifty offers:
- Order & pay at table – adhere to government requirements for mandatory table service and reduce staff contact
- Promotions & rewards – encourage repeat visits and reach new, higher value customers[1]
- Reservation management – allow customers to book tables in advance. Pre-bookers spend on average £13 more than those who don’t[2]
Swifty is now offering four months completely FREE for all HEINEKEN UK customers or prices start from £24 per month. With three tiers of packages – Swifty Lite, Swifty Premium and Swifty Plus – Swifty offers you greater flexibility to select the service that’s right for you.
For more information, visit www.swifty-app.co.uk/business
Onvi
Onvi is a fast, frictionless, and secure mobile Order & Pay solution, trusted by enterprise brands and single-site operators to help serve more customers and increase revenues.
There's more to a successful mobile Order & Pay solution than just putting a menu online – it needs to reflect the customer experience you've poured your heart and soul into delivering elsewhere.
Onvi prides itself on being best-in-class having invested heavily in our design and technology to ensure that we have the most intuitive, reliable and secure software solution on the market. Customers can easily find what they want, place orders, and complete payment in record time - following the highest security standards with ISO 27001 certification.
Onvi delivers a frictionless mobile experience without the need for a cumbersome login process or downloading any apps, making it extremely easy and quick for customers to get ordering, be it at their table or to pick up.
They can access the brand-customised mobile ordering solution via a short URL, QR code or clicking through from guest Wi-Fi. From there, guests can simply order straight from the menu and pay via Apple Pay/Google Pay or any debit/credit card.
Onvi is designed to provide all of the vital mobile Order & Pay features for small and large operators, in one easy-to-manage solution.
- POS integrated or standalone set-up
- Full suite of management tools, for menu enrichment, order management and reporting
- Ability to manage multiple menus, out of stock, dietary information, offers and bundles
- Fully searchable menus; ability to reorder from saved last orders; and Apple Pay/Google Pay, make it super quick for customers
- A simple subscription model with no set-up fees or commission.
Visit www.onvi.com for more information.
Yoello
Secure and seamless, Yoello is the UK’s only FCA authorised mobile ordering solution providing an unrivalled user experience.
Customers simply scan a QR code to browse a menu, order to their table and make a payment using any smartphone – no app download is needed.
The platform allows customers to conveniently order and pay for food and drinks safely from their table with no staff contact, no physical menus, no cash and no queues. Yoello is used every day in thousands of businesses across the UK with venue owners seeing on average 20–30% increase in spend per head after switching to the platform.
As well as mobile table ordering, businesses can also offer click & collect and delivery services through the platform at no extra charge.
Using Yoello also offers:
- Customise your venue profile and tailor your menu with modifiers and preferences so that customers can order what they want, exactly how they want it.
- Simple and easy to use – Yoello runs comfortably alongside your existing system or it can be
- integrated with your POS
- Paperless receipts – more convenient and reduces unnecessary waste.
- Reporting tools – valuable data at your fingertips
- Low transaction fees, with no extra or hidden costs
Businesses can get the Yoello platform free of charge for three months, enquire now by clicking here to find out more.
The content about each brand was provided by the suppliers as part of a sponsored feature curated by The Morning Advertiser.