Improving Online Ordering With Images
Looking for a sure-fire way to win the attention of Grubhub customers and improve their online ordering experience? Try adding a few images to your restaurant’s menu through the Grubhub for Restaurants platform. Including photos can increase sales of menu items by up to 30 percent – and it’s easy to see why.
From improving order accuracy to giving customers a better idea of what to expect, images can help deliver an online ordering experience that customers are hungry for.
Why great restaurant photography improves diners’ online ordering experience
Integrating images into your restaurant’s online presence greatly improves customer satisfaction.
Take a look at the three pain points that strong restaurant photography has helped resolve:
Greater menu familiarity
While new and exotic dishes are guaranteed to spark curiosity, they likely won’t be a top choice among customers who don’t know what’s in them. Eating is a full sensory experience, and photos can help give diners visual cues that can get their mouths watering. Clear up any confusion about dishes on your restaurant’s menu by including images wherever possible.
Quicker online ordering
Use images to show, not just tell, customers about your restaurant’s offering. Supplementing menu descriptions with appetizing images that can capture the hearts – and stomachs – of customers in just seconds will reduce the time it takes them to place an online order. The faster a customer adds meals to their cart, the less chance that they will change their minds and not place an order.
Higher order accuracy
In addition to providing customers a snapshot of what a dish might look like once it finally arrives, images also give back-of-house staff members a visual guide for putting orders together. By taking a few seconds to compare the image on your restaurant’s menu with the finished product, your staff can ensure no detail – big or small – is overlooked.
Where to feature your restaurant photos
There are many places where your restaurant’s brand will pop up online, and it’s important that strong photos are included in your digital presence. Brush up on our restaurant photography tips if you want to learn more about how to snap professional-grade photos. Take a look at where you can add photos to get more traction online:
Feature your dishes on your restaurant’s menu
Your restaurant’s online menu is the most important place to feature images of your food. When diners are scrolling through a list of dishes, a jumble of dish descriptions makes it hard for them to navigate your restaurant’s offerings. Restaurants that have already made the switch from fully text menus to photos on their online ordering platforms have seen their conversion rates increase by about 25% on average.
Your menu photos should showcase your food – capturing each dish at its prime. Close up photos of your dishes help capture your creation’s details, giving diners a look into what ingredients are cooked in. Plating is especially important when it comes to menu photos. Take your time arranging each dish and make sure the plate and background are clean. You want your diners’ focus to go straight toward the food.
Nando’s Peri-Peri has perfected their menu photos on Grubhub Marketplace. Highlighting their main dishes along with recommended side pairings helps diners envision what their order will look like.
When you partner with Grubhub, your restaurant can schedule a free photoshoot so you can get professional photos of your cuisine to feature in your digital presence. Already a Grubhub Marketplace partner? Schedule your free photoshoot today or reach out to your Account Advisor to learn more.
Highlight your offerings on your restaurant’s website
90% of customers research a restaurant online before visiting – that’s more than any other type of business. Your website serves as a virtual home base for your restaurant’s brand. It’s often the first place you can make a memorable impression on customers, so featuring irresistible images of your cuisine can motivate diners to place an order.
Your restaurant’s brand begins to form online as soon as a customer search for your cuisine. When a customer searches for your restaurant on Google, your restaurant’s Google Business profile will appear. This profile features basic information about your restaurant including its address, hours, website and ordering platform. Make sure you update your Google Business profile so that customers can easily find out more info about your restaurant.
What types of images should you include on your restaurant’s website? Photos of your food are great to place on your homepage and menu. Crisp images of your cuisine on top of white plates that will showcase the natural colors of your ingredients stand out. Since natural light can help do the same, consider conducting each of your photoshoots near windows. Take a look around your restaurant and snap some photos of your staff in action. It’s also important to include photos of your ambiance so that diners can get a feel of your overall dining experience.
Be selective about what photos you choose to feature. Too many photos can bog down a website’s load time and make it more difficult to navigate. Check out more tips on how to design a successful restaurant website.
A strong restaurant website won’t do much for your bottom line unless you have a clear avenue for diners to place an order. Elements of how to create a seamless online ordering system? Look no further than Direct.
Direct is a commission-free online ordering platform that allows customers to place orders right from your website. Direct makes menu management simple. When you update menu items or add photos on your Marketplace menu, your Direct menu will automatically update to reflect changes. You can bring your restaurant’s brand to life with Direct by easily customizing your site to match your brick and mortar location.
Check out how Naan N Curry used their Direct site to feature their food photography:
Connect with your diners on social media
Social media is a gold mine for foodies these days. Social media offers the perfect format to tell your restaurant’s story through images – putting your mouth watering food photography center stage. Creating a social media profile for your restaurant can get your food into the digital conversation, and strong food photography can help bring your account to the top.
When it comes to social media, strong photography is key. There’s no one size fits all for social media composition, and cookie cutter posts can blend into customers’ feeds. Mix up the recipe by trying out one of these formats:
- Food features are high resolution, close up images of your dishes. These posts are great for featuring a specific menu item.
- Food films are videos that feature your dishes. Videos tend to perform better on social media apps like Instagram and TikTok, so taking advantage of this feature to show your food in action can draw extra attention from diners.
- Interactive stories is the best way to directly prompt an action from a customer. On apps like Instagram and Facebook, you can post images to your story that will appear at the top of diners’ feeds. With this feature you can directly link to your online ordering website, ask interactive questions or run a contest.
- Behind the scenes photos and videos help your restaurant come to life. You can make a short video showing how your chef whips up a recipe or use a photo slideshow to showcase what your employees like to order.
- Reposts of your followers’ photos of your food can not only connect you with your customers, but also give you more unique content to work with, turning your diners into your PR team. Make sure you get permission from the original creator before you repost any content. You can also collaborate with local micro influencers to expand your reach.
Hashtags are key when it comes to getting your account more exposure. #Foodie has over 200 million posts on Instagram, and #LocalRestaurant has racked up over 300,0000 posts. You can also get in on the local conversation by using hashtags like #AustinFoodie or #NYCeats. Adding trending hashtags to your post allows them to enter different categories online, bringing your restaurant into people’s social media feeds.
Make your restaurant picture perfect with Grubhub by your side
Embellishing your restaurant’s online presence with eye-catching photography can greatly improve your digital brand. Adding them to your website, online menu and social media accounts get customers’ mouths watering, prompting them to place an order.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and a picture of your delectable food is worth the delivery fee for Grubhub’s over 30 million customers. That’s why Grubhub offers a free photoshoot for restaurant partners. Ready to get your mouth watering food in front of hungry diners? Partner with Grubhub today to start taking more orders now.
2023 Alcohol Delivery Trends for Restaurant Owners
Alcohol Delivery is expected to grow exponentially over the next few years – it’s time you learn how to capture this growing demand for to-go cocktails and alcoholic beverages. Check out what spiked drinks are trending in 2023 and how you can quench your diners’ thirst.
The pandemic kickstarted changes in local regulations to allow restaurants to incorporate alcohol delivery into their delivery strategy. Over 17 states and districts have decided to allow restaurants to sell to-go cocktails permanently, and customers love the ability to order to-go cocktails, beer and wine from their favorite restaurants on Grubhub.
Find out more about the benefits of offering alcohol delivery as part of your business model and see which cocktails seem to hit the spot best for thirsty diners eager for an effortless at-home happy hour.
The benefits of offering alcohol delivery or to-go cocktails
Curious whether it’s worth it to add alcohol to your delivery and to-go menus?
While it does take an up-front investment of both time and money to reconfigure your day-to-day operations and ensure your new alcohol offerings adhere to guidelines, Grubhub data shows a clear payoff.
Adding alcohol to your delivery menu on Grubhub can increase the average order value by a whopping $14-$15.
Think about that in terms of daily or weekly revenue; If you deliver 100 orders a day, you stand to see an average overall increase of $1400-$1500 per day and $9800-$10500 per week.
Of course, alcohol delivery on Grubhub is not available everywhere.
It’s important to do your research before you commit to a menu change or start collaborating with a local mixologist on cocktail ideas. If you’re a current Grubhub restaurant partner, please check with your Account Advisor to find out if you can offer alcohol.
To learn more about how you can add alcohol to your Grubhub menu, check out our guide to Grubhub alcohol delivery.
What were the top alcohol delivery and cocktail-to-go items ordered on Grubhub in 2022?
Grubhub’s #2022Delivered showed an uptick in alcohol orders, with a handful of cocktails seeing a meteoric rise in popularity.
- Beer
Whether it’s paired with a juicy burger or helps wash down game day wings, Grubhub diners’ go-to alcoholic drink is an ice cold beer. Beer is an easy addition to any alcohol delivery menu. Its pre-canned packaging means that you can offer a wide array of ales and lagers without a lot of prep work.
- margaritas
Frozen, on ice, with salt or without, margaritas continue to be a hugely popular drink that’s perfect for washing down that spicy carne asada on Taco Tuesday.
Keep delivery constraints in mind while you finalize your menu – frozen margaritas are harder to prepare and deliver without seeing a dip in quality. Also, too many flavor options could complicate things for your bartenders.
- Hot Sake
This hot Japanese drink has taken beverage delivery by storm. Hot sake, also known as ‘Kanzake,’ is a warm alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice. It comes in a wide variety of flavors and is known for having a higher alcohol content than wine. You can serve Sake pre-bottled and give diners quick instructions on how they can heat it up so they can perfect their at-home happy hour.
- Piña Colada
Cream of coconut, pineapple juice and rum can turn any cloudy day into a trip to the tropics. You can serve it blended or shaken with ice, and garnish it with a pineapple wedge, maraschino cherries, or both. Check out tips on how to make sure your Pina Coladas can stay fresh on the road. No matter how you prepare it, diners are going bananas for this fruity classic.
- Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon blanc is a fruity, light white wine that pairs perfectly with a soft cheese or a smoked salmon. Adding sealed bottles of wine to your delivery menu can help you easily take liquids on the road. Think about offering white wine pairings with your dinner entrees so your diners know exactly what bottle washes down their meal best.
Hello, 2023: Alcohol delivery and cocktail trend predictions for the year ahead
Half the battle when creating an alcohol delivery menu is deciding which cocktails to include. On the one hand, you want to appeal to various tastes; on the other hand, a streamlined menu with few items helps reduce buyer confusion and makes it easier for your staff to execute orders on time.
Getting to know what cocktail trends you should watch in 2023 could help you create a menu that hits all the right notes without going overboard. The result? More sales and less stress!
Bold and bubbly
If there’s one thing taking 2023 by storm it’s bold flavors. Diners are craving online ingredients both in their food and drink. Spicy cocktails are rising in popularity, combining the fiery sting of alcohols like tequila with the hot taste of chili peppers. Customers are turning toward bitter tastes as well, sipping on espresso martinis and Manhattans.
Bold flavor cravings have encouraged customers to embrace high-end spirits. Diners are willing to spend more for premium ingredients, especially if those ingredients break the norm. Don’t be afraid to offer a few higher-end cocktails and bottles of bubbles on your beverage menu for those who are looking for something bold and fancy to sip on.
Growing interest in low-ABV and alcohol-free beverages
The alcohol-free spirit movement is chugging right along, with “mocktails” getting more creative. You can buy infused faux alcohols to make mixed drinks, or rely on herbs and fruits to create fancy beverages that feel special without imparting an alcohol-based buzz. Mocktails can make your fancy drinks appeal to customers of all ages.
Global flavors are landing on drink menus
Diner’s don’t need to travel to Japan to enjoy the popular hot Sake, or fly south for a tasty Mexican beer. Global flavors are on the rise in the US as customers crave worldwide ingredients. Some of the most popular alcoholic drinks hail from all across the globe, and customers appreciate when they are paired with global ingredients. Try adding popular global drinks like Sangria, Negroni or Irish coffee to your beverage menu.
Hard seltzer are essential to any menu
Hard seltzers have continued to be an unstoppable addition to the beverage sector. Their undeniable popularity makes them a widespread winner because they tick many boxes.
They’re a lighter drink that appeals to people who might not love the taste of alcohol, they’re typically lower in calories than sugar-laden bottled cocktails and they’re nice to drink on a hot summer day.
Customers gravitate toward local spirits
Like local food, local spirits are getting a lot of support from people who want the money they spend to funnel back into their own community. As people strive to support small businesses, customers seek menu offerings that include liquor from local distilleries, breweries and winners.
Tequila (still) increasing in popularity
Margaritas are the number one drink of choice for Grubhub customers, but now their love for tequila is spreading. Try out some other accessible tequila cocktails like a Paloma grapefruit or experiment with the smokier, more complex aroma and taste of mezcal.
Grow your bottom line in the new year with Grubhub beverage delivery
According to BeverageDaily, alcohol e-commerce is expected to grow by 66% between 2020 and 2025. Much of that growth can be attributed to rising alcohol sales through online platforms like Grubhub Marketplace.
The first step to adding alcohol delivery to your business is to sign up with Grubhub for Restaurants. We have all the tips and tricks to help optimize your restaurant for beverage delivery so that your delicious concoctions make it to satisfied customers.
As a Grubhub restaurant partner, you’ll have a dedicated Account Advisor who can let you know if your market allows alcohol sales. If so, your Advisor will help you add alcohol to your account successfully so you can get up and running quickly.
How to get your restaurant ready for football’s biggest night
With the nation’s biggest pro football event just weeks away on February 12th, it’s time to draw up a game day menu for this year’s festivities. After all, football’s biggest night could make an even bigger impact on your restaurant’s bottom line.
Of the $14.6 billion spent by fans during last year’s game, 79% went toward food and beverages. ¹ A significant part of that spending goes toward restaurant delivery orders — on Grubhub, this January day was one of the most popular days for delivery in 2022 Gear up for game day with these fan favorites as well as a few tips on how to handle the rush of orders that are sure to come your way.
3 tips to win football’s biggest night
As you look forward to the ultimate championship football game, it’s important to come prepared with a plan. Create a solid game day strategy in advance and you can execute it effortlessly when football Sunday rolls around.
1. Create a winning menu
When you’re preparing your delivery menu for the biggest football game of the year, focus on food that’s easy to eat in front of the TV. Start with classic meals that you can eat with your hands: nachos, tacos, soft pretzels, pizza, wings and burgers, for example. You can also help your customers take their tortilla chips to the next level with a selection of delicious dips. Spinach and artichoke dip, beer cheese, Buffalo chicken and guacamole are always crowd favourites.
Fans love to snack when they’re gathering to watch the game, so it doesn’t hurt to be a little indulgent when you’re designing a menu for football’s biggest night. Don’t forget to add a few healthy options, too, especially if your typical menu is centered on fresh, health-conscious dishes. Consider lighter fare such as your chef’s special winter salad, baked chicken fingers, or a gorgeous crudité platter with house-made hummus or dill dip.
Alcohol delivery is also a popular offering during the big football game. Provide your customers with a safe way to enjoy a beer or cocktail by stocking your menu with drinks. Bottled or canned drinks are easy to transport; you can spice up your usual alcohol options with a special seasonal brew.
No matter what you include on your game-day menu, exclusivity is key — when certain dishes are only available on game day, it gives customers extra incentive to order. With Grubhub, it’s a breeze to make your special menu available for delivery during specific times. That way, you can promote the football-friendly menu as a limited-time offering for the big day. This feature helps your kitchen staff prepare for the rush of orders and ensures the menu automatically returns to normal when the game is over.
2. Score specials
Football’s biggest night is a popular time for restaurant delivery, so competition for orders can be steep. After you design a football Sunday menu, it’s also important to think of ways to help your restaurant stand out from the crowd. One option is to offer irresistible game-day specials. Everyone loves a good deal, especially when they’re ordering for a crowd. If you can provide football-friendly meals and a way for diners to save money, you can create an advantage over restaurants that are charging full price.
When customers are ordering delivery, it’s usually because they want to save time. Make their lives even easier by offering game-day packages — create a bundle of dishes and offer them for a fixed price. You might include a variety of appetizers or create a full meal package with an entrée, snacks, and dessert. It’s an easy way to feed a crowd, so customers can organize an impressive football viewing party with minimal effort. Make the package even more appealing by including serving platters, utensils and napkins.
- Advance ordering discounts: Offer a discount for people who place game-day orders in advance. Customers can relax knowing their menu is ready to go, and the extra notice gives your kitchen crew time to plan and prepare certain items before the big day. It also streamlines the ordering process so you can ensure the storeroom is fully stocked.
- Free or discounted items with purchase: Encourage customers to order more by offering a discount on a second item. You can provide a lower price on a dessert with the purchase of a wing platter or create a deal where diners get three dips for the price of two.
- Dollar amount perks: When customers spend a certain amount of money, offer a special perk. Provide free delivery for orders over $100, for example, or send a free dessert when a customer spends $50. Or, consider offering a 10% discount on all orders over $150.
- Football food discounts: Choose a few game snacks and create a limited-time discount. If your wings are popular with diners, offer a selection of wings for 15% off on game day. Another option is to give 10% off your usual super-sized appetizer platter.
Once you select a game-day special, make sure to promote it. You can also get the word out to new and existing customers using the Smart Promotions and Loyalty tools through Grubhub marketing.
3. Go mobile
If your restaurant’s ordering system depends on phone calls or a web-only option, it’s time to set up a mobile ordering system. Customers love the convenience of ordering from an app, especially if it’s one they already use. This is particularly true for millennials — nearly 40% of millennials have ordered delivery or takeout using their smartphones.²
To capture these tech-savvy diners during the most-watched football game of the year, it’s helpful to find a partner such as Grubhub. You can set up your restaurant’s menu within the Grubhub system so it’s available on the website and via the mobile ordering app. When a diner decides to order food for a party or a last-minute game-day gathering, your restaurant will appear as an option. The top-notch ordering experience can build exposure among new customers, increasing the chances that your restaurant will be a go-to for football-game festivities and everyday ordering.
While you’re thinking about mobile menus, consider other ways to reach customers while they’re scrolling on their phones. Promote your special football menu on your social media profiles and send it out to your email list. You can even include a link to your Grubhub menu so diners can order right away.
To give customers even more opportunities to order from your restaurant, expand your web presence with Grubhub Direct. This service enables you to create a branded ordering website that you can link directly from your emails and social media profiles; you can even integrate it into your existing website. Orders through a Direct website are commission-free, so you keep more of the profit. Plus, when you make an update to your Grubhub menu, it automatically updates your ordering website.
Feed hungry fans with Grubhub Delivery
The biggest night of football is fun for fans, but it’s also a lucrative opportunity for your restaurant. By creating a game plan and loading up your delivery menu with delicious snacks, you can increase revenue and keep hungry diners happy. If you’re ready to reach new customers and expand your business, sign up for Grubhub delivery today.
¹National Retail Federation: Super Bowl Spending Survey
²Oracle — Millennials and Hospitality: The Redefinition of Service