Tag: contactless dining

The Best Way to Get (or Build) a STELLAR Restaurant Website

Even the smallest little eatery serving the smallest local area can benefit from having a professional website. But you didn’t get into the restaurant business because you love technology—you’re in it for the food!

We get it. That’s one of the reasons we built aBitNow. We want you to have a super slick, easy-to-use web presence that will make mouths water. And once their mouths are watering, we want those online visitors to turn into real-life visitors.

No matter how good the word of mouth is about your restaurant, we bet you’d still appreciate more business. But other than through word of mouth, where can you find more customers?

On the internet, of course!

Even the smallest little eatery serving the smallest local area can benefit from having a professional website. But you didn’t get into the restaurant business because you love technology—you’re in it for the food!

We get it. That’s one of the reasons we built aBitNow. We want you to have a super slick, easy-to-use web presence that will make mouths water. And once their mouths are watering, we want those online visitors to turn into real-life visitors.

Enjoy an Amazing Website with aBitNow

The way it works combines the best of everything phone apps and websites have to offer restaurant patrons these days—flexibility, efficiency, and convenience. But we go a bit further in a few very important ways.

aBitNow Benefit #1 – You Have Total Control and Making Changes Is Easy

First, we give you total control over your menu and we make it VERY easy for you to make changes any time you want. If you want to run a special, or offer a buy-one-get-one deal, or take something off the menu temporarily, or add a menu item for a holiday or a season (or make pretty much any other change to what customers see), it’s surprisingly easy for even a self-professed “non-techie” to do!

aBitNow Benefit #2 – Your Dishes Look Delish

Second, we don’t just give you an online ordering platform. We give you a beautiful website designed to showcase your dishes the way they deserve to be showcased—with enticing photos and dish details. Your online presence will be more like a high-end website than like a one-size-fits-all mass-produced food delivery platform.

aBitNow Benefit #3 – Your Customers Can Order and Pay Online…and Dine In

Third, your customers will be invited to order online, but not just for delivery or take-out. They can peruse the menu options at their leisure, place an order with all the specifics that would be asked by your best server, and then choose a time to come in and eat. You can plan ahead, and they can skip the wait time when they arrive!

There are several additional ways aBitNow is superior to those other online ordering apps, but this list is a good start.

Tips for Building Your Own Restaurant Website

We think the aBitNow solution is the best—and it’s certainly economical. But if you’re the stubborn type who wants to go it alone and build your own website, here are a few tips we recommend to help you get the biggest and best bang for your buck.

DIY Tip #1 – Make sure your site is mobile responsive.

This is huge, and it can’t be overlooked. What looks good on your computer won’t necessarily look good on a smartphone, and vice versa. What’s more, search engines are notorious for penalizing websites in search results if they aren’t mobile-friendly. According to one online marketing company, more than half of all menu views online are done with a mobile device–35% of views are on a mobile phone and 19% are on a tablet. Making sure your online visitor has a good mobile viewing experience is an essential first step to turning them into a real-life guest.

DIY Tip #2 – Build your menu using HTML.

In other words, don’t just upload a PDF version of your menu or share photos of your menu. You want the words that name and describe your food to be searchable. You want Google, Bing, and other search engines to read your web pages and send YOU as a result to people looking for what you offer. When you scan a menu or take a picture, search engines can’t read the words, and that means you’ll get fewer hits.

DIY Tip #3 – Photos, photos, photos!

Even the most detailed description of your signature dish probably won’t elicit the same physical response (literally!) as a full-color photo that highlights what makes your food special. Fresh produce, juicy burgers, golden brown crusts, and oozy melty cheese are nice to hear about, but when we SEE them? Oh boy…we immediately salivate when we look at a plate of food that calls out to what our taste buds are craving! So don’t skimp on the photos, and don’t rely on your smartphone camera. Hire a good food photographer—or at least do a lot of research about lighting and angles. If your food doesn’t look perfect and irresistible online, you just might lose a new customer.

DIY Tip #4 – Give your customer a smooth online user experience.

We all know how frustrating it can be trying to complete an online transaction only to get stuck in an loop, or search endlessly for a price, or not be able to go back or hit the “submit” button. If you’re building your own website, you have a LOT of details to keep in mind to ensure your visitor completes their order and doesn’t bail out because of frustration or lag time. If you’re not 100% sure the platform you’re using is going to provide a seamless and efficient user experience, it’s probably not worth even going down the road to offer online ordering. You’re better off providing your phone number than sending a would-be customer through a technical maze.

If you’re ready to take your restaurant to the next level, online ordering is the next step. But don’t rely on the big guys who work at volume, sending anonymous drivers to pick up your food and deliver it. Maintain control and use the aBitNow platform to build a website that’s worthy of the food you so lovingly make for your customers! We’ll build your website the way you build your signature dish—perfectly.

Sign your establishment up today and get our special introductory offer for new clients!

Contactless Dining Inside a Restaurant? Yes–Meal Delivery and Pick-Up Aren’t Your Only Safe Options Anymore!

If you love dining out, but you’re now more safety conscious than before, you might feel like you’re in a hopeless situation. You know you can use one of those popular apps to order food and pick it up or have it delivered, but you’re sick of eating restaurant food in your own living room! Wouldn’t it be nice to sit at a table in a relaxed atmosphere, be waited on by friendly servers, and not have to do any clean up afterward? You miss all of that…but how can you go back to restaurants when you’re still worried about contagious germs and viruses that might be here to stay?

The answer is simple: contactless dining made possible with innovative (but simple!) technology.

What Is Contactless Dining?

A contactless dining experience is made possible by restaurants using innovative technology. You use your personal smart phone device to do everything (except eat!), minimizing or eliminating the contact you make with other people and shared items like menus and card swipers.

With contactless dining, an app on your smart phone or computer takes the place of touching items that used to be unavoidable when dining in. New apps make it possible to have a no-touch experience at your favorite restaurant. That’s right—you really can enjoy an in-person dining experience that’s virtually as touch-free as app-based meal delivery and pick-up!

No More Sticky Menus

Instead of ordering from a menu given to you by a server that’s been handled by countless unknown customers, you view the restaurant menu online in a browser or app. You might place your order ahead of time from home or the office or while on the go, or after being seated at the table by the host or hostess. You’ll use your tablet or smart phone in the restaurant, or even your laptop or desktop computer if you pre-order.

The ideal online ordering app will let you browse menu items, look at photos, read detailed descriptions, and view prices. You’ll be able to customize your order and make special requests in exactly the same way you would if you were telling your order to a server. If you’re ordering for multiple people at once, a great app will let you assign names to each dish so when you arrive at the restaurant, your server can call you each by name and make sure you get the right order with all the personal requests. (“I’ve got a cheeseburger, medium rare with extra onions for Jack, and a BLT with mayo on the side for Jill…here you go!”)

The best ordering app will also let you select your table ahead of time–for example, a table indoors or one on the patio–as well as specify any special accommodations needed, such as a highchair or booster seat, or room for a wheelchair.

An app that facilitates a superior contactless experience should also let you tell the restaurant what time you’ll be arriving. That way, when you get there, you don’t have to stand around in a crowded waiting area with other guests–you’ll be seated right away at the table that’s already been set up for you. You won’t wait long for your meal either because the moment you place your order it will go straight to the kitchen, and they’ll know exactly when to start preparing it to have it ready when you arrive. Overall, enjoying an ideal contactless dining experience means spending more time eating and less time waiting around, minimizing your exposure to others seated nearby.

Contactless Payment Means Even Fewer Touchpoints

Contactless dining eliminates several other touchpoints by allowing you to pay and tip right inside the app. You won’t have to handle cash, or hand over your card to a server or cashier. You won’t have to touch a card swiper or enter your pin on a keypad used by everyone else. You won’t have to touch the receipt brought to you by the server and then use a shared pen to sign it. You won’t have to touch anything at all to settle your bill.

Instead, you’ll pay using your own phone and leave when you’re done. In fact, with the best app, you can even pre-pay when you order so the only thing left to do after you eat is tip—using the app, of course! Not only will you minimize contact with items touched by other people, but you’ll also minimize the time you spend in close proximity to other guests. When you’re finished with your meal, you can leave when you’re ready. For those worried about exposure, this is a double benefit.

With a contactless dining experience, you get to enjoy all the fun and perks of eating out and still feel comfortable knowing you’re minimizing your exposure.

How to Enjoy Contactless Dining at Your Favorite Restaurants

There are a few online ordering apps out there, but it seems like they’re focused on what makes it easy for the restaurant instead of what makes it easy for YOU—the customer. The ideal app keeps both the business AND the guest in mind, and at aBitNow, we pride ourselves on having created a solution that does just that.

So If you miss eating out at your favorite restaurants and would love to return as soon as they can provide a contactless dining experience, tell them about aBitNow. In the meantime, go to our registration page and register as a new aBitNow user, and nominate some of your favorite eateries to join aBitNow today. You can win $250 just for registering!