Providing customers with a diverse range of order and payment options has never been more crucial, especially regarding carry-out and online ordering. Check out this brief guide on introducing carry-out and discover how to make this new and exciting service a success in your establishment.
Why Introducing Takeout Is Beneficial
A few years ago, eateries of all shapes and sizes might have been able to get away with offering dine-in options exclusively. But frankly, in the era of COVID, this is not the case anymore. Customers nowadays find restaurants and bars that provide a diverse range of dining options more attractive than ever before. Although dining rooms are filling up again, many diners are still wary of crowds—that, or they simply prefer the option of takeout over traditional dining.
For this reason, introducing carry-out options to your bar and grill is incredibly beneficial. You’ll see a new influx of customers ordering your food. Second, carry-out options diversify your revenue, so you can expect to see your profits increase.
How To Pull It Off
Integrating carry-out options into your eatery is—without a doubt—an excellent way to diversify and maximize your revenue. To reap those lucrative rewards, you have to implement these new dining options correctly. Luckily, you can take a few simple steps to ensure your new carry-out services are a success.
Make Sure Your POS Is Up to the Task
Before you do anything else, you must ensure that your establishment’s POS systems can handle your new carry-out integrations. We know what you’re thinking: How much weight can my POS system hold in the success of a carry-out service? And truthfully, the answer to that question is—a lot more than you realize.
Before you do anything else, you must ensure that your establishment’s POS systems can handle your new carry-out integrations. We know what you’re thinking: How much weight can my POS system hold in the success of a carry-out service? And truthfully, the answer to that question is—a lot more than you realize.
- Organizing and facilitating carry-out and delivery options
- Easily integrating with online ordering (a popular choice at the moment)
- Keeping customer info up-to-date and retaining operational control
Thus, ensuring that your POS system can handle all of these new components will guarantee your carry-out integration is breezy and set up for success.
Create a Carry-Out Menu
Of course, there is no introducing carry-out options to your bar and grill without creating a carry-out menu for your customer’s convenience. Many bars and grill establishments leave certain items on their takeout menu. Typically, they do this for one of two reasons:
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They want to give customers a reason to dine in occasionally.
- Certain dishes have expensive ingredients, don’t travel well, or both.
So you should consider these things when you create your carry-out menu. Additionally, online ordering systems are a popular choice among customers.
Thus, you should consider incorporating an online ordering platform for restaurants and even a third-party delivery service into your carry-out options. Doing so will make it easy and convenient for customers to do business with you, no matter how they prefer to receive their meals.
Have the Right Supplies and Delivery Space
Lastly, if you want to successfully introduce carry-out to your establishment, you must have the right supplies. Moreover, you need to have an appropriate space to house your carry-out service. Extra counter space in the back-of-house or even a bit of room at the bar for a carry-out station works.
You’ll also want to supply your new station with takeout containers, napkins, cups, lids, and to-go condiments. But once you have those things sorted, you can start enjoying the benefits of carry-out services in your restaurant.
