Why It Is Better For Restaurants To Outsource Off Premise Functions

The Problem With Trying To Be Good At Everything

Restaurants are having to face many different challenges and obstacles as we head into 2021. The recent shift in consumer behavior is making restaurant executives completely rethink how they approach their operations. The focus has shifted from on-premise to off premise as COVID-PTSD looms.

The restaurant chains that have successfully pivoted their business models to focus on increasing their throughput with phone orders have succeeded wildly. Companies like Texas Roadhouse, Denny’s, and Papa John’s have crushed this year by prioritizing off premise.

We speak with restaurant executives from the top 500 largest chains on a regular basis and tend to consult them to not make a common mistake. A lot of restaurant operators want to try and be good at everything when they should focus on only being great at one thing.

There are a lot of shiny objects that restaurant executives are evaluating including ghost kitchens, artificial intelligence, and online ordering platforms. All of these solutions are worth exploring but we believe the key to success in the restaurant industry is to keep the main thing, the main thing. This means focus on what you do best and restaurants should focus on making great food and serving the guests that enter your four walls.

Why Partnering With Specialists Is Better

This doesn’t mean restaurant executives shouldn’t explore breakthrough technology and new initiatives. Rather they should focus on partnering with industry specialists. Companies like Olo, Order Solutions, Chowly, and Interactions all can help restaurants crush their off premise ordering but all specialize in different components.

"My big epiphany of specialization came when reading the book Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross who helped lead Salesforce.com to 100 million dollars in annual revenue by specializing the sales team," says Nick Tubis (CMO of Order Solutions).

Restaurant executives need to partner with best in class technology and ordering solutions so that they are strong on all fronts and aren’t breaking the bank by trying to develop everything in house.

Why Internal Restaurant Call Centers Are A Waste

We've been in the call center space for years and have seen some restaurant chains attempt to set up their own internal call center to streamline their off premise phone orders and 99% of the time it appears to be a complete disaster.

Some of the executives we’ve consulted didn’t even know what their KPI’s should be and were missing tens of thousands of phone orders a month, which equates to millions of dollars a year in missed revenue. This goes back to being an expert in your space and not trying to be an expert at everything. Often restaurant executives don’t understand abandonment rates, utilization rates, and agent-to-staff ratios because of the massive spikes in call volume that the restaurant receives (it's too overwhelming for them).

How Order Solutions Saves Restaurants Money

The call center industry has changed rapidly and one of the main reasons why is because brick and mortar call centers are dead. Yes they are dead. At Order Solutions we used to utilize a brick and mortar center for many years, but we quickly realized if you have a brick and mortar call center you are going to miss thousands of phone orders a month.

The reason is because the restaurant industry is unique. You’ve got breakfast spikes, lunch spikes, and dinner spikes. Then you have radio silence other times.

The key we realized even pre-covid is that you want to set up a virtual call center with agents that work remote so you can properly adapt to shift in call volume.

On top of that we developed our own AI solutions to help restaurants save tons of money and remove the need for a human to take a call 50 - 75% of their time. Our AI Voice Bots can save restaurants millions of dollars on labor costs, eliminate all of your abandoned calls, and improve your guest experience.

If you think about it, with an internal brick and mortar call center, it will cost you potentially millions of dollars ever year to run and manage. You’ve got healthcare, benefits, rising wages, and ridiculous overhead expenses.

Conclusion

If you want to save money on labor costs, increase your throughput, and drive your off-premise revenue you should be partnering with a company that is the best in the world at what they do. Order Solutions is hands down the best from a customer experience, sales, and technology standpoint. If you would like to explore doing a pilot test with me at some of your locations please reach out to me at Nick@ordersolutions.com