The advantages of using third-party food delivery platforms are apparent, all restauranteurs need to do is to set up their menu and the rest is done for you. From sales to food deliveries, the platform will manage that for you. This convenience does come at a cost and we are not just talking about the high commissions that are charged, but the terms that a restaurant has to abide by. FoodVillage is an all-in-one food and beverage online ordering platform that is customisable to suit the unique requirements of each restaurant. Here are the top 7 ways how the ability to customise this ordering platform can benefit the business:
1. Customers pay directly to restauranteurs
Unlike third-party ordering platforms where payments are made through them, with FoodVillage, all customer payments are made directly to your payment gateway account. Regardless of the payment gateway a restaurant chooses, customers pay directly to the restaurant. When that happens, restaurant managers or owners can dictate the frequency of payouts as soon as a day. As their business grows, they will also have the power to negotiate terms and rates with payment gateway service providers in their favour.
2. Ability to customise delivery range, timing and more
Restaurants can find themselves restricted by third-party delivery platforms in terms of the delivery range and time. However, with their own branded delivery platform with FoodVillage, not only will restaurants be able to customise the delivery range and timing of your orders but they will also be able to set the delivery duration. Having this option empowers restaurant owners with the ability to decide what is the acceptable maximum delivery duration for their business, even though a customer may be within a serviceable range but will experience a longer than usual delivery time due to bad weather.
We wrote an article detailing how far food and beverage brands can go to customise settings within the FoodVillage platform – The Top 10 FoodVillage Features That Automates & Boosts A Restaurant’s Food Deliveries.
3. Fully customisable order timing
Every service time can be adjusted to suit your business requirements, regardless of the order type, be it pickups, deliveries, dine-ins or table reservations. Here’s a glimpse of some of these parameters that can be tweaked for each order type:
- How soon first orders are received after your store opens
- The number of minutes the last order is received before a store closes
- Enabling or disabling now orders
- Enabling or disabling later orders
- How many days in advance can customers order
- Time intervals in minutes (5, 15, 30, 60, 180 minutes)
- Order offset – the minimum amount of time from now that a later order can be placed
4. Complete control over terms and policies
Restaurants can dictate their own policies when it comes to running their business with FoodVillage. Whether it is how cancellations, refunds or customer service are handled, restaurant owners are in control.
5. Holding the keys to business operational hours
A burger joint, Burgertory was closed by a third-party delivery platform without their knowledge and as a result, they suffered significant losses. The loss of sales was total as they were completely dependent on online sales during the COVID-19 lockdowns. With FoodVillage, that would never be the case as restaurant owners or managers are the ones that hold the keys to their own business operational hours.
6. Terms & conditions for discounts and promotions
With FoodVillage, restaurants can customise discount promotions. Set the period when the promotion is active and turn them off anytime they want. Discounts can be set to apply to a certain menu, dish, order type* or even the payment type made by a customer. Discount codes can be set to trigger automatically or entered manually as well. Here are the terms that can be set for each discount:
- Member’s only promo
- Minimum spend
- Applicable to one or all outlets based on the discount code used
- Discount by percentage or by dollar value
- Discount by percentage but limited to a maximum value
- Free delivery with minimum purchase
7. Custom checkout fields
Custom checkout fields can be used to collect additional information that you may require and they are completely customisable. You are only limited by your imagination. You can set a drop-down or checkbox selection or text input. Here are some examples:
- Contactless pickups or deliveries
- Preferred pickup location
- Reaffirm that a customer understands a certain instruction (where to pick up for example)
- Cutlery
- Car plate number (for pickups)
- Customer’s mobile as opposed to the recipient (for birthday cake gift deliveries)
FoodVillage is a powerful online restaurant ordering platform that is customisable, empowering you to run your restaurant online on your terms. We have presented the top 7 ways how you as a restauranteur can customise your business. You will only discover more as you use the platform.
With FoodVillage, you’ll get more out of your restaurant than ever before. Let us help you turn your online business growth dream into a reality.
*Order types = pickups, deliveries, dine-ins and table reservations.
