How to get more direct online orders for your restaurant

Every order that comes through your own website is fully yours. Your menu, your prices, the guest’s name and number, and the chance to bring them back. Orders through a delivery app are useful for reach, but the app sits between you and the guest and takes a share of every sale.

You don’t have to give up the apps to grow direct orders. You just need to make ordering from you the easiest option for the guests who already know you.

1. Put “Order online” at the top of your home page

Open your website on your phone. If you have to scroll or hunt to find how to order, most guests won’t bother. Put one clear “Order online” button at the top of the home page, and keep it visible on every page.

2. Make your ordering page the link everywhere

Guests find you in many places before they ever reach your website. Point every one of them straight at your own ordering page:

• Your Google Business Profile: add your own ordering link and menu link, so guests who search your name can order direct.
• Your Instagram and Facebook bios.
• A QR code on bag stickers, receipts and table tents.
• Your voicemail and your email signature.

3. Make your menu easy to order from

Guests abandon orders when they can’t tell what they’re getting. Use clear dish names, short descriptions and good photos. Set up sizes, add-ons and required choices the way your kitchen needs them, so nobody has to call to ask.

4. Give regulars a reason to order direct

Regulars are the easiest guests to move. Give them something the apps don’t: points that add up to a free dish, a promo code for their next direct order, or a pickup-only special.

5. Make pickup smooth

A direct order should feel as easy as an app order. Give an honest ready time, keep a clear pickup spot, and have the order ready when you said it would be.

6. Count direct orders every week

Write down how many orders came through your own site and how many came through each app, every week. It takes two minutes and shows you what’s working.

How Y3ll0 helps

Y3ll0 gives your restaurant pickup ordering on your own website and your own domain, with sizes, add-ons, rewards and promo codes built in, and an orders board for the kitchen. Live card payments and delivery are on our roadmap.