Restaurant customers crave not only your delicious food but also convenience. This desire for effortless service has increased the love for online ordering and now curbside pickup.
Consumers who have health concerns also appreciate the curbside pickup option as it allows them to remain in the safety of their vehicles.
For restaurateurs, offering Menufy online ordering paired with a curbside pickup option is an effective strategy to boost sales without increasing the need for dining room staff.
"We have had this feature in the past, but we made some recent changes that are really exciting," explained Phung Ngo, Menufy's project coordinator manager.
By listening to feedback from our restaurant partners, we have further improved the capabilities of the curbside pickup feature.
New Curbside Pickup Features
Menufy's online ordering partners already had access to many customizable curbside options. Now the curbside pickup feature offers even more capabilities. Restaurant operators can find Curbside Pickup in its own settings tab within the Manager portal dashboard, with some helpful new tools.
1. Curbside Pickup Only
The staffing shortage, health concerns, and local mandates have forced some restaurants to limit or close their indoor seating options. These limitations may also mean that businesses can no longer allow customers to pick up their online orders in-store.
Check the “Require Curbside Pickup” box to control how your customers retrieve their online orders.
We listened to the concerns of our partners and developed a solution to fit their needs.
Using the Menufy Manager portal, operators can now select "Require Curbside Pickup" to limit pickups to curbside service only.
2. Restaurant Alerts
Your staff is too busy to continually answer phone calls from arriving curbside users.
"Customers can now click a button to indicate that they have arrived at the destination, freeing our clients' call lines," suggests Phung Ngo.
Restaurants can enable alerts for when customers arrive to pick up their order.
When enabled, the customer’s order confirmation will include an "I'm here" button they can click to alert your restaurant that they have arrived.
Restaurant operators can activate this tool from their Manager portal.
3. Parking Slot Identification
Many of our business partners have established reserved and numbered parking spaces for curbside pickup, a popular feature with customers. This method improves the efficiency of service and provides patrons with the convenience they want.
Enabling “Request Parking Slot” allows customers to indicate their parking space.
Menufy's online ordering platform now allows arriving customers to identify the number of the reserved space they've parked in.
For restaurant owners who enable the parking slot feature within the Manager portal, pickup instructions will automatically be included in the order receipt sent to customers.
When this option is active, customers can navigate to their order confirmation, click the "I'm here" button, and follow a prompt that asks them to indicate their parking space number.
Final Course
Curbside is here to stay.
It's reported that 47% of millennials strongly prefer curbside pickup.
Menufy's new customizable features allow restaurateurs to capitalize on this consumer trend, and when enabled, adds a level of convenience for customers.
Phung Ngo is excited about these additional capabilities, which "make curbside pickup seamless for both parties!"
Looking for ways to improve the efficiency of curbside pickup service and increase customer satisfaction? Our experts recommend six tips to help you achieve this goal.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melissa Dimmitt, Marketing Communications Coordinator
Melissa began her digital marketing career nearly a decade ago at a restaurant group. She worked with restaurant managers and executive chefs while coordinating seasonal menu releases, executing photoshoots, and creating fresh digital content.