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Toast POS to Raise Fees, rOS Plans to Remove Them

Content:

When it comes to restaurant ordering methods, online and call-in orders have continued to gain popularity amongst diners. Whether it is out of convenience or order accuracy, there are many benefits to both solutions. In this blog, we will discuss the pros and cons of both online ordering and call-in options to help you determine what is best to implement at your restaurant.

Customer preferences call-in order Vs Online orders

Benefits of Online Ordering

According to Zippia, online ordering accounts for almost 50% of all restaurant sales. Adding an online ordering option opens your business up to more potential and returning diners who prefer this method. In addition to consumer demand, online ordering helps to avoid input errors from your staff. Since the customer is entering in their information, they can add special instructions, input dietary restrictions, and any additional instructions to improve overall order accuracy. If you have a loyalty rewards program, you can enable customers to earn and redeem their points online, elevating the customer experience. With research suggesting that a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25% to 95% increase in profit, having an online ordering solution is imperative to keep customers coming back.

Cons to Online Ordering

Although order accuracy and brand visibility are significantly improved through online ordering, there are a few downsides to this method as well. One issue, in particular, is order timing. When a restaurant is experiencing a rush, they may not have time to update the order status, making guests believe their food will be ready sooner than it actually is. In this case, you will need a system that automatically updates your order throttles so you can run a tight ship, even during a rush.

Benefits of Call-in & Call Center Ordering

Call centers are becoming the norm in the restaurant industry. They provide the perfect solution for businesses that are short-staffed, have rush hours, or don’t want to hire someone full-time. With a live operator on the other line, you won’t miss a single customer call, even during peak periods, saving your bottom line. This provides your floor staff more time to focus on dine-in customers and their needs.

With LINGA’s Call Center module, your call agents can input customer orders straight from their laptops to your point of sale system and kitchen display. This way, if a customer calls back with an edit to their order, the agent can apply the changes, which will then be implemented, notifying your kitchen staff of the new status. With the right call center, your restaurant can improve overall kitchen efficiency, leading to higher customer satisfaction. Another advantage call-in orders have is the live customer service diners receive versus simply ordering online. When a customer picks up the line to order, it is another opportunity to build a relationship with them.

Cons to Call Center Ordering

Although call centers can improve workflow, if it does not have a secure connection between your point of sale system and the call agent, it can be more trouble than it is worth. Without a two-way connection to your POS, if a customer calls in with an order change, an in-house employee will have to manually edit the ticket or notify the kitchen, taking precious time away from dine-in guests. When in a dinner rush, this is the last thing you want to occur.

When it comes to call-in versus online ordering, we believe that both options working in tandem are the best solution for a bustling restaurant, especially if you are a pizzeria. With online ordering, you can gain more loyal customers and increase your brand’s visibility, and with call-in orders, you can increase kitchen productivity and keep up with peak rush hours.

Relevant Blogs:-

Online Ordering, What Happens if I Don’t Offer It?

Online Ordering - Why Restaurants Should Start Now

Why Your Restaurant Needs an Online Ordering System

Text Content:

When it comes to restaurant ordering methods, online and call-in orders have continued to gain popularity amongst diners. Whether it is out of convenience or order accuracy, there are many benefits to both solutions. In this blog, we will discuss the pros and cons of both online ordering and call-in options to help you determine what is best to implement at your restaurant.

Customer preferences call-in order Vs Online orders

Benefits of Online Ordering

According to Zippia, online ordering accounts for almost 50% of all restaurant sales. Adding an online ordering option opens your business up to more potential and returning diners who prefer this method. In addition to consumer demand, online ordering helps to avoid input errors from your staff. Since the customer is entering in their information, they can add special instructions, input dietary restrictions, and any additional instructions to improve overall order accuracy. If you have a loyalty rewards program, you can enable customers to earn and redeem their points online, elevating the customer experience. With research suggesting that a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25% to 95% increase in profit, having an online ordering solution is imperative to keep customers coming back.

Cons to Online Ordering

Although order accuracy and brand visibility are significantly improved through online ordering, there are a few downsides to this method as well. One issue, in particular, is order timing. When a restaurant is experiencing a rush, they may not have time to update the order status, making guests believe their food will be ready sooner than it actually is. In this case, you will need a system that automatically updates your order throttles so you can run a tight ship, even during a rush.

Benefits of Call-in & Call Center Ordering

Call centers are becoming the norm in the restaurant industry. They provide the perfect solution for businesses that are short-staffed, have rush hours, or don’t want to hire someone full-time. With a live operator on the other line, you won’t miss a single customer call, even during peak periods, saving your bottom line. This provides your floor staff more time to focus on dine-in customers and their needs.

With LINGA’s Call Center module, your call agents can input customer orders straight from their laptops to your point of sale system and kitchen display. This way, if a customer calls back with an edit to their order, the agent can apply the changes, which will then be implemented, notifying your kitchen staff of the new status. With the right call center, your restaurant can improve overall kitchen efficiency, leading to higher customer satisfaction. Another advantage call-in orders have is the live customer service diners receive versus simply ordering online. When a customer picks up the line to order, it is another opportunity to build a relationship with them.

Cons to Call Center Ordering

Although call centers can improve workflow, if it does not have a secure connection between your point of sale system and the call agent, it can be more trouble than it is worth. Without a two-way connection to your POS, if a customer calls in with an order change, an in-house employee will have to manually edit the ticket or notify the kitchen, taking precious time away from dine-in guests. When in a dinner rush, this is the last thing you want to occur.

When it comes to call-in versus online ordering, we believe that both options working in tandem are the best solution for a bustling restaurant, especially if you are a pizzeria. With online ordering, you can gain more loyal customers and increase your brand’s visibility, and with call-in orders, you can increase kitchen productivity and keep up with peak rush hours.

Relevant Blogs:-

Online Ordering, What Happens if I Don’t Offer It?

Online Ordering - Why Restaurants Should Start Now

Why Your Restaurant Needs an Online Ordering System

Stripped Content: When it comes to restaurant ordering methods, online and call-in orders have continued to gain popularity amongst diners. Whether it is out of convenience or order accuracy, there are many benefits to both solutions. In this blog, we will discuss the pros and cons of both online ordering and call-in options to help you determine what is best to implement at your restaurant. Benefits of Online Ordering According to Zippia, online ordering accounts for almost 50% of all restaurant sales. Adding an online ordering option opens your business up to more potential and returning diners who prefer this method. In addition to consumer demand, online ordering helps to avoid input errors from your staff. Since the customer is entering in their information, they can add special instructions, input dietary restrictions, and any additional instructions to improve overall order accuracy. If you have a loyalty rewards program, you can enable customers to earn and redeem their points online, elevating the customer experience. With research suggesting that a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25% to 95% increase in profit, having an online ordering solution is imperative to keep customers coming back. Cons to Online Ordering Although order accuracy and brand visibility are significantly improved through online ordering, there are a few downsides to this method as well. One issue, in particular, is order timing. When a restaurant is experiencing a rush, they may not have time to update the order status, making guests believe their food will be ready sooner than it actually is. In this case, you will need a system that automatically updates your order throttles so you can run a tight ship, even during a rush. Benefits of Call-in & Call Center Ordering Call centers are becoming the norm in the restaurant industry. They provide the perfect solution for businesses that are short-staffed, have rush hours, or don’t want to hire someone full-time. With a live operator on the other line, you won’t miss a single customer call, even during peak periods, saving your bottom line. This provides your floor staff more time to focus on dine-in customers and their needs. With LINGA’s Call Center module, your call agents can input customer orders straight from their laptops to your point of sale system and kitchen display. This way, if a customer calls back with an edit to their order, the agent can apply the changes, which will then be implemented, notifying your kitchen staff of the new status. With the right call center, your restaurant can improve overall kitchen efficiency, leading to higher customer satisfaction. Another advantage call-in orders have is the live customer service diners receive versus simply ordering online. When a customer picks up the line to order, it is another opportunity to build a relationship with them. Cons to Call Center Ordering Although call centers can improve workflow, if it does not have a secure connection between your point of sale system and the call agent, it can be more trouble than it is worth. Without a two-way connection to your POS, if a customer calls in with an order change, an in-house employee will have to manually edit the ticket or notify the kitchen, taking precious time away from dine-in guests. When in a dinner rush, this is the last thing you want to occur. When it comes to call-in versus online ordering, we believe that both options working in tandem are the best solution for a bustling restaurant, especially if you are a pizzeria. With online ordering, you can gain more loyal customers and increase your brand’s visibility, and with call-in orders, you can increase kitchen productivity and keep up with peak rush hours. Relevant Blogs:- Online Ordering, What Happens if I Don’t Offer It? Online Ordering - Why Restaurants Should Start Now Why Your Restaurant Needs an Online Ordering System Word Count: 643 Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes

toast raising fee
toast raising fee

In a recent article by reformingretail.com, their writing staff predicted that Toast would raise its POS integration fees. Ultimately, they were right. In the world of cloud-based restaurant management platforms, the writing is on the wall. All those that do not offer a true solution to the POS problem will soon see the consequences. For many, there were two clear signs that were obvious reasons for concern.
The First Sign
The first one was the amount of institutional capital Toast took on from the onset. That kind of initial investment forced them to continue creating new revenue lines to keep their boat afloat. For them, an easy solution was to simply charge their customers for each integration. Each individual integration meant another opportunity for them to increase their fee. Since they are a cloud POS, and all other cloud POS providers were charging per integration, they followed suit. How convenient.
The Nail in the Coffin?
The second part, and perhaps the most damaging, was the amount of growth they built without investing in their own infrastructure. Toast intends to monopolize every add-on feature and integration in the book. Options such as Online Ordering, Payment Processing, Payroll, Scheduling, Customer Loyalty, everything – they want to own it all. This strategy, of course, has never worked out for other POS brands, but that is negligible when your true goal is to convince the world (and investors) that you will be a $10B company. As Toast starts building (or rather buying) more of the solutions catalog it is logical to force your rivals to become more expensive.
What is Toast Planning to Do?
Easy, by imposing tariffs on their goods. Which means that, theoretically, Toast can charge even more for third party add-ons. For example, if they choose to roll out a customer loyalty platform and you are a customer loyalty program provider, it is very likely that the integration rate will go up by 50%. Presently, Toast charges integration fees of around 30%. Once upon a time, an integration was around $20 per month per location for access to unlimited integrations.
Perhaps the most interesting part is how it all works. According to the revenue share agreement, any lead a third-party partner sends to the company named after a breakfast classic results in a one-time payment of $500. But any customer using Toast that then integrates to a third-party partner commands 30% of ongoing revenue in perpetuity.
Here is how it would work using a realistic example. A SaaS business earns an 8x revenue valuation. A one-time payment business is only worth 1x in revenues annually. By demanding 30% in perpetuity, Toast is making sure they get the bigger slice of the pie.
Simply stated, all of Toast’s customer will have to pay significantly more for third party integrations solely because they happened to choose Toast for their POS. How unfair does that sound? Which underlines the critical lesson, -don’t say yes to a POS company without understanding the real cost of ownership-.
Help is on the Way
Sadly, while it looks like Toast is headed toward the same fate that Legacy POS systems met, there is some good news. Linga, formerly Benseron Hospitality, has announced a newly structured platform that aims to make traditional POS providers obsolete. After announcing a name change, they revealed what will become their new flagship product, the rOS®. Gone are the days where providers nickel and dime owners every step of the way. Linga rOS offers the complete catalog of add-ons and features, at one price. Everything except the kitchen sink comes as a standard feature.
Providers such as Toast, Revel, upserve, Square and Clover are rightfully concerned. For brands that have been winning a lot of business from NCR and Micros, a better understanding of what not to do was expected. As the popularity of rOS® platforms rises, the traditional POS system might never be the same again. The only question we’re left wondering is, is Toast POS, toast?

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