Why Having A Strong Brand Is Critical For Your Restaurant

If you’re a restaurateur, you know that having a strong brand is important. But what makes restaurant branding so vital? And how can you make sure your brand is as effective as possible? Simply put, restaurant branding establishes your business as a unique entity in the minds of consumers. It communicates the essence of who you are and what you offer, helping customers understand what to expect from your restaurant. Strong branding can help you attract new customers, encourage them to return, and even inspire them to spread the word about your products and services.

Conversely, when customers experience a poor brand experience, you will begin to lose brand integrity. In other words, the value of your brand to consumers diminishes.

The Pros & Cons Of Third-Party Food Ordering Platforms

Third-party food ordering platforms are becoming increasingly popular, with more and more people using them to order takeout or delivery from their favourite restaurants.

The role they played during the Covid-19 pandemic cannot be underestimated as entire communities, cities and even nations were placed under lockdown for weeks and months on end. These platforms in Malaysia, such as Grabfood and Foodpanda played a critical role to serve the home-bound public. More importantly, they kept thousands of restaurants in operation through a very difficult and uncertain period.

While these platforms offer a number of benefits, they also come with a fare share of disadvantages:

1. High commission rates

Third-party food ordering platforms have become a bittersweet partnership that many restauranteurs find themselves in. They enjoy the sales and automated delivery arrangements but pay a heft price in commissions.

2. You lose brand exclusivity

Imagine investing time and money on advertising to drive customers to your online restaurant located in an online ‘food court’ (like most third-party food delivery platforms) with no control over customers existing your restaurant to buy from other brands. You’ve essentially spent money to drive customers to other restaurants.

3. Your brand takes a second seat

With third-party platforms, your brand plays a minor role in the larger more prominent branding of the platform.

4. You are essentially serving third-party platform customers

Like it or not, with third-party platforms you are serving their customers not your own.

Diluted Brand Experience With Multiple Service Platforms

As we see digitalisation in the food and beverage business, service providers have begun providing services (or order types) that provide services such as table reservations, deliveries, pickups and dine-in ordering. This is how it can be bad for your brand:

1. Fragmented brand touchpoints

What we have noticed is how fragmented this space can be for the customer. Customers end up dealing with one service provider after another for each service they select.

2. Customers experiencing different brands

So not only is the service experience different, your brand experience is diluted as the service provider’s brand takes prominence in each experience.

3. Multiple order management platforms

Your staff end up dealing with multiple platforms for multiple tasks not to mention multiple customer databases as well. This in turn can contribute to increased human error in having to manage complicated setups.

The Better Alternative

At FoodVillage, we understand the pain of a fragmented brand experience and have consolidated all these services within one platform with your brand in the foreground. This is how you will benefit:

1. Keep the integrity of your brand with your own branded ordering platform

Here’s how: Usage of your own domain name (website address) or subdomain for multiple outlets or if you already have a website. Example of a subdomain: www.branch.yourwebsite.com.

Usage of your own corporate fonts, colours and logo.

2. Set your own policies, terms and conditions that are consistent with your brand

With your own ordering platform, you are no longer subjected to policies of third-party food ordering platforms that may conflict with the desired brand experience.

3. Customers enjoy one consolidated brand experience

With FoodVillage, any combination of these order types is kept within one platform:

  • Pickups
  • Deliveries
  • Dine-ins and
  • Table reservations

With an all-in-one food ordering platform, the brand experience is consistent eliminating the need to learn a new order process each time, no matter what order type they choose,

4. Customer purchase history is kept in one place

Your customers would appreciate the convenience of being able to reorder orders they had made before, regardless of the order type, with a single click.

5. Your staff will focus on what truly matters rather than managing orders on multiple platforms

Are your staff tired of managing hundreds of orders from multiple platforms daily? Sometimes forgetting or messing up orders? FoodVillage can help! With our systematic and automated food ordering platform, your kitchen staff can focus on what truly matters – making great food and providing an excellent customer brand experience.

A strong brand is essential for any restaurant. It can help you stand out from the competition, and attract while retaining new customers. If you’re interested enjoy these benefits, contact us today for our obligation-free walkthrough of our platform and see what our clients are already enjoying.

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Need Your Own Branded Ordering System?

Tired of the high commissions charged per sale on 3rd party ordering systems? 

Our commission-free platform provides a seamless and efficient ordering experience for your customers, with options for pickups, deliveries, dine-in and reservations

Here is a glimpse how you can benefit:

  1. Valuable customer data and insights.
  2. Advanced analytics tools will help you identify trends, measure performance, and make informed decisions.
  3. Automate delivery arrangements.
  4. Receive orders 24/7.
  5. No additional staff to handle phone or WhatsApp orders.

Fill out our contact form or WhatsApp us now and let’s start a conversation. Experience the ease, convenience, and revenue-boosting potential of our F&B ordering system today!