2020 has been a tough year for businesses in all industries, but particularly for the restaurant industry. Local mom and pop restaurants have been hit harder than anyone because they lack the funds or brand recognition of large restaurant chains.

While there’s no telling how many years the ripple effects of this pandemic will be felt by small restaurant owners, one thing’s for sure: they will be forced to reevaluate their priorities and think of new ways to keep their businesses alive.

How restaurants can survive: online ordering

Among the chaos, one strategy has distinguished itself as vital for the wellbeing of local restaurants all over the world: online ordering. Whether it’s complementary to dine-in for restaurants that are still open or the only source of business for other restaurants that have been forced to close their doors, online food delivery is on the rise.

There’s just one problem: how to get a food delivery business up and running fast and what online ordering system to choose. Food delivery portals and apps like UberEats, Doordash, or GrubHub charge large commissions (up to 40%) on every order, which spells disaster for every small restaurant owner.

The best choice is to have an in-house online ordering system so restaurants can keep all of the profits and have full control over the ordering process and experience. But even this can be problematic due to the large number of online ordering systems out there, many of which take a lot of time, money, and technical knowledge to set up.

Why GloriaFood is an excellent choice

GloriaFood is the first free online ordering system in the world, designed specifically for small and medium restaurants to take online orders on their smartphone or tablet. Setting it up is as simple as copying and pasting a code into the restaurant’s website to add a “See MENU & Order” button.

 

At its core, the GloriaFood online ordering system has been created with restaurants’ best interests at heart. Born from a desire to simplify the ordering process for both the hungry food client and the restaurant owner, it is a trusted partner of more than 22,000 restaurants around the world.

One of the main advantages of this online ordering system is that restaurant owners can use their free online menu maker to set up their menu in a matter of minutes and start taking their first online orders that same day.

Small local restaurants should keep doing what they know how to do best: cook and serve food. The technology for delivering food online should be as simple as possible so even someone with no IT background can set it up – and this is what sets GloriaFood apart.

What does GloriaFood offer?

Its core product, the online ordering system, is just one of the tools restaurant owners can use to increase their profits in the online world. These are the rest of its free features:

  • Facebook ordering app;
  • Mobile ordering;
  • Table reservations widget;
  • Real-time ordering;
  • Order-ahead feature;
  • Order for later feature;
  • No-contact delivery and minimum exposure pickup options;
  • Vacation mode to put your services on hold or change your service hours;
  • Photo stock of mouth-watering food images;
  • Reporting dashboard;
  • Access to the FoodBooking shared app where customers can discover your restaurant;
  • First-order promos;
  • A variety of templates for restaurant promotions (% discount on cart; % discount on selected items; Free delivery; Buy one, get one free; Fixed discount amount on cart; Payment method reward; Get a free item.);
  • Send online ordering invitations engine;
  • Restaurant promotion flyer generator;
  • Website rank checker and online health tool;
  • Google My Business recommendations and tips;
  • Third-party integrations with delivery tracking software, POSes, etc.;
  • Multi-template receipt editor;
  • Delivery configuration tool so you can set your own local delivery zones.

 

The company also offers a variety of paid premium features that are entirely optional:

  • Online/credit card payment ($29/month);
  • Sales optimized website ($9/month);
  • Advanced promo marketing ($19/month);
  • Branded mobile apps ($59/month).

Closing thoughts

Probably the most important and appealing thing about GloriaFood is that any restaurant can absolutely make money selling food online just by using their free services. No one needs to pay for the extra features if they can’t afford them or don’t think they would help them, and they can still reap all of the benefits of the core product.

Additionally, this works as a hop-on-hop-off platform so restaurant owners are free to experiment with their paid features without having to commit to a long-term partnership.

For example, for owners who don’t have a restaurant website yet, their restaurant website builder that generates a sales and SEO optimized website can be the perfect solution. However, if it isn’t, they can cancel the service at any time.

In these turbulent and troubled times for the restaurant industry, online ordering is shaping up to be one of the few lifelines. If implemented correctly and with the right tools, such as the GloriaFood online ordering system, it can boost restaurant profits and increase online recognition like none other.