A food truck loaded with delectable offerings is a pleasant sight to any hungry eye. Food trucks have been a popular option for many decades, and many business owners are considering switching from physical to online ordering. This has been induced partly by the recent pandemic because many people want to dine outdoors after being in lockdown for the last two years.
An online ordering system for your trucks helps customers choose and pay for the food they want online. This is beneficial for you as well as the customer. This article explores how to set up online ordering for food trucks.
1. Choosing the Online Ordering Platform
In today’s day and age, there are many online ordering platforms, each with an inherent set of features and a unique pricing plan. You should consider the needs and wants of your food truck business when choosing the online ordering platform.
For example, if your menu is small and you accept only cash payments, you would do well with a basic online ordering system. However, if you are planning things on a grand scale, with a wide variety in your menu and credit card payments, you should consider a more well-rounded and robust platform.
OrderEm is a trustworthy and well-experienced online ordering platform you can partner with to begin your journey.
2. Setting up the Menu
Now that you have chosen your platform, it is time to look at it and set it up. You must create a detailed list of all your food items and add their pictures, descriptions, and prices. If you own a social media page with these particulars, you can simply copy the information onto your online ordering system.
But if you are just starting with the online food via food trucks business, consider hiring a graphic designer who can work hand in hand with you to make an attractive menu that will draw in your customers. OrderEm is a renowned organization with immense expertise in creating online menus. You can be confident they will help you make a big difference with your custom-made menu.
3. Determining the pricing
All online ordering platforms will charge you a fee for using their services, which can be a flat rate or even a percentage of sales. Some online ordering platforms can charge you a monthly fee for using their analytics and marketing tools.
OrderEm is one of the best-known online ordering systems out there, and they can help you with a lot of market research and pricing to ensure you make a handsome profit on every sale. Giving discounts and hosting promotions is another great way to incentivize online ordering among your customers.
4. Creating your Website and Setting up Social Media Pages
In today’s day and age, as an online ordering food truck business owner, you must be seen by people out there. Your visibility is essential for spreading the word that you are in the market, ready to serve customers. A website will help you achieve this with the proper domain name, catchy lingo, and excellent search engine optimization.
OrderEm can help you create a website with custom fonts, colors, and an eye-catching web design. They have a wealth of talent in their ranks and are versatile enough to make your custom website stand out from the rest of the crowd.
Social media presence in today’s world of “likes” and “dislikes” is equally important. A social media account will give your food truck business a voice, and you can cultivate a fan following to boost popularity and sales. Create Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram handles so the public knows where your business is headed and what it offers.
5. Setting up the Payment Processing Channels
With the online ordering platform you choose, you would want to go with integrated payment processing. This means a potential customer can directly pay for his order through the payment platform. To establish the payment processing channel, give the platform your bank account information and enable a merchant account setup.
The kind of payment you will accept depends on you, but the wise thing to do is to accept all forms of payment, from debit and credit cards to digital wallets like ApplePay and PayPal. This will mean that the maximum number of customers will stand to gain from ordering food from your platform.
6. Integration with the Point Of Sale System (POS)
The point of sale is the place (nowadays digital) where your customer will execute the payment for his meals, and sales taxes may become payable at this point. If you have already set up a point of sale, integrate it with your online ordering platform. This will ensure all customers’ orders are directly forwarded to the food truck kitchen. This operation will involve the installation of an app or a plugin that will act as an interface between the POS and the online ordering platform.
If you have not invested in POS, start thinking about doing so because it will streamline your operations and make managing sales and inventory a snap!
7. Promoting the Online Ordering System
Now that your online ordering system is up and running, it is finally time for promotions to begin. Your potential customers need to know that you are live, and you can do this in many ways. Some of the most popular ways to promote the online ordering system are to post links on social media account pages, display QR codes on your food trucks and other exciting locations, run email campaigns, and use SMS marketing. It is an excellent idea to offer incentives to customers when they order food from your platform.
You could consider giving customers free soft drinks or offering hefty discounts on initial orders. Incentivize online ordering heavily, so customers will see a clear profit made by ordering online versus physical ordering at the food truck’s location.
8. Monitoring the Performance of Your Business
Many people with online ordering businesses neglect this point, and it costs them heavily. It is vital to monitor the performance of your online ordering platform to see where you have to make the necessary adjustments when the time comes. You may have to track revenues and sales, analyze the feedback that customers give you, and make the necessary tweaks to your pricing and menu.
It is a good idea to introduce a new dish now and then so that the inclusivity of your menu increases and the surprise factor works well in your favor over time. OrderEm has many vital analytics tools in its arsenal, using which you can track user behavior and website activity. Thus, you can prime your online ordering system for maximum results and performance.
Conclusion
Setting up online ordering for your food trucks can be a brilliant idea to increase customer footfall, be more inclusive of new customers, and streamline the business overall. If you follow the above laid out steps to launch your online ordering system, it can be the game changer you were so desperately looking for to advance to the next rung in your business efforts.