How to Increase Delivery Orders for Your Restaurants [15 Steps]

The bell rings, and you go to the door. Open it and see a stranger standing with a bundle of food. He gives it to you, and you take the food. You go to your living room, watch your favorite series, and enjoy those foods. The foods are perfectly cooked and baked. Nothing overcooked here. Nowadays, this is a common scenario in almost every house. People are now prioritizing their chilling time, so they want to avoid going to the food store or a restaurant to take away the food. 

Over the past decade, the number of orders for food online has increased daily. People place orders online, and restaurants get orders and manage all the orders using the Restaurant POS software. There is a need to deliver the ordered food to the customers on time for huge orders. 

From this article, you will learn how to increase delivery orders effectively. So let's get started!

Importance of Food Delivery Orders

Before discussing how to increase orders and the importance, let's learn about the food delivery app first. Before covid19 pandemic period, The food delivery hype was not that much. During the pandemic, people started ordering food online to get their food at home through a restaurant food delivery system. This pandemic has helped the rise of food delivery orders. 

Almost 59% of adults said takeout is important to their regular lifestyle.

Even after the pandemic, the delivery order trend has not changed. If we observe the end of 2022, the statistics show that the food delivery business is expected to reach a high point of 339 billion dollars!

From then on, the importance of food delivery is increasing daily. Nowadays, people search for "restaurants that deliver to my area" on the search engine to find the nearest and best restaurant to get the food delivered to them. Also, there are some restaurants that deliver their own food by their own delivery man. Usually, these restaurants give the proper importance to the delivery of the orders because high delivery of food orders can make a higher profit for the restaurant business.

How to Increase Delivery Orders : 15 Constructive Ways

Many people are looking for an increasing order solution to write "how to increase orders" or "how to boost restaurant sales" on Google. To start a restaurant business, you must think about order delivery. Even after you want to open a small-town restaurant, that applies here. We see that the restaurant business is becoming famous, and the delivery system of the restaurant is becoming popular, too. But it is a little bit challenging to compete with the big players. There are many ways to increase restaurant orders. However, when it comes to the delivery of orders, the best way to increase your restaurant delivery orders is to keep your eyes on the prices. Also, ensure you do everything properly, making the customer return for more. 

Let's focus on some points in which you can create an effective action plan to increase sales in a restaurant, which will help you increase delivery orders.

01. Simplify Your Menu

When making a delicious meal, you must remember that the food menu should be attractive, and the food image must be mouthwatering. However, customers can interact with your business most easily through your menu. It would help if you made your menu unforgettable. Also, You need to do something so that customers will remember your restaurant by seeing your menu and making the tasks easier for the staff. Some foods have a high chance of spoiling when delivered to customers. So, do not list those foods on the menu.

02. Boost Your Online Order Amount

After streamlining your menu, you must focus on your online order amount to boost it. Now, the question is, how would you boost it? You need to increase your availability first, widen your offerings, and increase your market share. In addition, you need to post some offers that make the customer contact you. You need to deliver food that can be heated at home, easily carried, and has good packaging. So when someone orders online, they see your menu and order the food they want. If they love your items, there is a high chance they will order more food next time.

03. Use professional, enticing photos

People are very concerned about How to increase food delivery sales. You may create an attractive menu and make a good list of foods. But do you know that taking good clicks of foods could be a chance to increase delivery orders? Yes, you are hearing it right. You are thinking, how? People are usually attracted to food when the pictures are high-quality. People instantly get attracted when the food product looks realistic, vibrant and mouthwatering. After seeing it, most people order the food instantly, no matter what it tastes. You need to keep in mind that only professional photographers can take this kind of picture. So, better hire them to take your food pictures.

04. Write a Clear Descriptions

Write engaging descriptions for your menu items to grab customer's attention. Sometimes, descriptive explanations tend to sell better than boring ones. Make sure to note any allergens or dietary restrictions on your menu. This helps save time by reducing customer questions and improves their experience. It also shows that you know what you're doing and care about their dietary needs.

05. Set Up Your Own Digital Presence

If you're starting an online food delivery service for your restaurant, having a website is essential. It gives you direct access to your customers, so it should be your top priority if you don't have one yet.

Once your website is set up, use other platforms like social media to build excitement around your brand and connect with your community. Posting pictures and updates on Instagram with special deals and running contests on Facebook can help attract more customers. A strong online presence is key to boosting your online food delivery sales.

06. Extend Delivery Hours

Many people love to have their snacks at night. Because most of them may work at night or hang out with some friends, they get hungry at that time. So, they started looking for restaurants or cafes to deliver the food. 

Furthermore, you don't have to be open all day and night, but think about staying open longer for delivery to serve customers late at night and early at night. This can help you reach more people and make more money.

07. Expand Your Last Mile Food Delivery Capabilities

If you want your orders delivered on time to every corner of the city, you can start using many third-party food delivery apps. Many good delivery apps are renowned for their delivery services, such as Doordash, Uber Eats, HungryPanda, and many more. 

However, you can use the Leverage of third-party logistics providers to expand your delivery orders.

08. Use Different Channels

Utilizing platforms like Zomato and Talabat can help expand your customer base. These platforms already have many users, so you can tap into their audience to boost your brand visibility. 

Additionally, being listed on these aggregators allows you to stand out among competitors since customers can easily compare different offerings on their apps. Make sure to highlight your strengths to shine the brightest.

09. Do SEO & Content Marketing

Many people usually search for the best restaurant dishes and restaurants that can deliver orders in the search engine. So, it would help if you created a search-friendly description so people can easily find you.

You need to complete the whole process using SEO. This will help you rank your restaurant site on Google. So, if you have a target to increase your delivery orders, SEO is one of the successful ways to do this.

10. Leverage Customer Reviews And Feedback

Customers want their food deliveries to arrive on time, be packaged safely, and taste good. If you mess up by forgetting items, getting orders wrong, delivering late, or serving mediocre food, customers won't order from you again.

Asking customers for their opinions through feedback surveys helps you understand how well your delivery service is doing. You can take the opinions by email, social media, or the app.

11. Use The Right Technology And Software

To increase the delivery of orders, using the right technology and software sometimes matters. It may sound a little bit awkward, but it is effective. Select the right technology and software from external delivery platforms or ordering systems. So you must introduce a dependable food delivery software platform that smoothly works with other restaurant software.

12. Offer Promotions And Discounts

When you offer many promotions and discounts to customers, there is a chance of increasing the number of delivery orders. You can incentivize your customers with the best discount offers for a limited time. Also, you can offer large orders.

However, you can advertise coupons for those who first placed an in-app order. Or they can offer free items for online orders.

13. Offer Convenient Payment Options

There are two categories of people who want to pay: cash or by card. For those who want to only pay with cash, most of the time, they search "what restaurants take cash for delivery" online. For these different categories of people, you must have different payment options. These will make a good impression on the customers, and it will help to increase delivery orders.   

14. Provide Exceptional Customer Service

Providing customer service is an important part of increasing delivery orders. You need to establish a smooth and customer-centric ordering system. These will ensure thorough monitoring of every phase throughout the delivery process and promptly resolve any encountered issues to maintain service excellence.

15. Make Sure You Offer Catering Delivery

"How to increase food delivery sales" is a common concern for increasing food sales by delivering it. If you offer them a catering service, it will be effective for sale. Many people seek catering services, which must be done by delivering orders. As you have a target to increase delivery orders and the catering service's core part is delivering the orders, do not forget to offer catering delivery.

Statistics of Online Food Ordering

According to the present situation of the restaurant business, there are many statistics on food ordering. However, there are only specific statistics that we should know. So, whenever you think about increasing food delivery sales, you should analyze the statistics first.

• When the orders are delivered to the customers successfully, revenue is calculated per year. So, Online food delivery market revenue is expected to reach $142.9 billion in 2024.
• By calculating using CAGR from 2021 to 2024, The online food delivery segment has an estimated annual growth rate of 7.1%.
• Nearly half of Americans have tried using a food delivery app in the last year. 
• 63% of young adults aged between 18-29 used restaurant delivery services regularly in 2023.
• About four in ten have been ordering more food online since COVID-19 began.

According to a survey by Statista in 2023, most Americans preferred ordering food online through DoorDash, with 70% saying they had used it in the past year. Domino's came in second, with 47% of people surveyed using it for food delivery. The survey was done online and included 3,403 people across the United States.

• 33% of consumers say they would be willing to pay a higher fee for faster restaurant delivery services.
• Research indicates that approximately 60% of consumers in the United States opt for delivery or takeout services every week. Over 20% of all food delivery users utilize a delivery application at least once every week. Moreover, 31% of customers report using third-party delivery services at least twice weekly.
•  The typical age of someone who orders food online is around 34.
• 55% of online food delivery users have a university degree.
• 59% of restaurant orders from millennials are for takeout or delivery.
• By 2023, online orders are predicted to make up 40% of all restaurant sales.
• India's online food delivery services market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 30% by 2026.
• By 2023, online dinner delivery revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2021-2023) of 4.4% in the United States.
• 60% of restaurant operators agreed that offering delivery has generated incremental sales.
• Over six out of ten young adults aged 18-24 find online food ordering easy and convenient.

Wrap up

In summary, most people prefer to get their products from home. To get products like this, the business should have a delivery system. In addition, if you have any company, you must have enough knowledge about how to increase the delivery of orders. You must research more from many sites, track your competitors, and stay updated on business trends. When marketing your business, you should mention that you can provide delivery facilities. Also, it would help if you used the software to track customer orders. After all this, you can take your business to a better level and increase delivery orders at your desired level.