One direct order for eatery, giant leap for hospitality

The pandemic has also managed to do a tonne of good For the Indian FampB industry it opened up a whole delivertohome economy that wasnrsquot half as robust preCovid19 But with the good comes the bad In this case the challenger was the aggregator app keen to wallop a giantrsquos share of the profits even while offering smaller eateries visibility and reach on their platformRight before the pandemic struck the launch of a deepdiscounting initiative called Zomato Gold led restaurant bodies across India to join the LogOut campaign encouraging eateries not to join schemes that were detrimental to the health of the industry and allowed aggregators to dominateDivya Aggarwal Head of Marketing Impresario Handmade Restaurants and Dhruv Dewan ThriveThe second year of the pandemic has seen the stalwarts take their mission seriously launching what it has termed a boot camp Mumbai restaurateur Gauri Devidayalrsquos words made the agenda clear Taking back control all the way till fulfilment of last mile deliveries is the need of the hourHeld from May 11 to 13 this year the orderdirect boot camps organised by the National Restaurant Association of India NRAI tutored participants on how to set up a direct communication line with customers through direct ordering platforms and digital marketing midday joined the sessions and herersquos how it wentDAY 1 RUN YOUR OWN DASHBOARDThe first session titled Enabling Direct Ordering with Thrive was led by the platformrsquos cofounder Dhruv Dewan Four years ago Dewan started Hashtag Loyalty a tech platform that offered Customer Relationship Management CRM tools to restaurateurs When the pandemic hit 80 per cent of them stopped their subscription By April he came up with a direct ordering platform that could be activated on a restaurantrsquos existing WhatsApp and Instagram account as well as websiteThe tech tool gives access to a dashboard that allows a restaurant owner to set up preorders orders a menu apply promo codes and have access to digi payment gateways When an order reflects on the dashboard all one has to do is accept it assign a prep time and opt for either a third party delivery option or selfdeliveryAlso ReadCombat loses to Covid19An aggregator app he explained to participants will offer the platform discovery payment gateway options and logistics and charge you for it ldquoWe donrsquot do discovery our logistics is handled by five to seven players pan India we are transparent about the costs involved and donrsquot charge the hefty fee per orderrdquo he said They have tied up with thirdparty vendors for payment like Razorpay Google Pay PayTM and PhonePe and delivery fleets like Dunzo and WeFast ldquoOur tools help you offer loyalty programmes to your customers as well as track purchase behaviourrdquo The company started in August 2020 with one customer Bandrarsquos star Japanese izakaya Izumi Today they have 2300 across 70 cities ldquoWe have been able to save R184 crore for our clientsrdquo Dewan claimedlsquoOrder direct has helped tap into new customer basersquoAnkit Gupta Burma BurmaIn April 2020 Ankit Gupta of multicity vegetarian Burmese restaurant chain Burma Burma set up his direct ordering platform on Thrive ldquoWithout aggregator apps we would not have survived They have a seamless technology engine and the riders come on time and orders are completed well The problem however started when their commission of eight per cent went up to 21 and morerdquo said Gupta who switched to Thrive last year ldquoThe aggregator apps allow a delivery radius of seven kilometres In the pandemic I realised that from Fort where we are based I could easily make deliveries up to Lower Parel Thus going onto a direct ordering platform made sense It helped me tap into a new client poolrdquo he shared adding that he is hoping the new platforms clear the glitches ldquoThey tie up with thirdparty delivery companies and itrsquos often that I have to refund a client because the delivery didnrsquot reach them on time But we are finding a way around thisrdquolsquoIrsquom able to pass on the benefit to my customersrsquoSankar Kasirajan founder IDlishTWO years ago Sankar Kasirajan opened IDlish a south Indian fastfood joint in Borivli Malad and Goregaon Three months ago he got onto Thrive ldquoI took the order direct platform seriously only a month ago in the second wave and within 30 days I have been able to redirect eight per cent of my orders to itrdquo he said With no dine in or takeaways allowed during the ongoing statewide lockdown not everyone has their own fleet of delivery boys And the aggregator ecosystem is not helping make profits ldquoIt has empowered my business I donrsquot have to give away 30 per cent on every order to the aggregator and I am able to pass on this benefit to my customers Itrsquos a way of offering them the lowest price guaranteerdquoDAY 2 OWN YOUR DATAAnurag GuptaAnurag Gupta cofounder and COO of DotPe set up his firm in March 2020 Today they have over 15000 hospitality customers and have fulfilled over five million orders ldquoWhat is really working for our customers are preorder and subscription options Apart from deliveries we also encourage curbside or pickup options in case customers want to pick up their orders from a convenient point For restaurant clients that run more than one brand we have a food court or a cloud kitchen delivery set up where they can crosssell all their products through a single window All this magic on one single dashboardrdquoGoing digital he thinks helps you come closer to your customers via data Their digital catalogue offers four types of menus depending on the requirement of a restaurant as well as themes that can be customised and communication possibilities through banners and promotionsldquoOne of our important features is a remarketing engine that helps repeat customers benefit and thus creates a stickiness for them to come back and reorderrdquo he explainedlsquoOrdering tech platform was our solutionrsquoSid Marchant Viren DrsquoSilva and Sijo Mathew Good Flippinrsquo BurgersTWO years ago Sid Marchant Viren DrsquoSilva and Sijo Mathew launched an outlet of Good Flippinrsquo Burgers in Khar followed by Andheri and BKC With a small menu their aim was to create a burger brand that offered an international experience and was product focused ldquoFrom the beginning we valued direct interactions with our customers It helped us gain feedback and create a loyalty ecosystemrdquo said Marchant adding that while they were on aggregator apps that offered discovery they were simultaneously taking direct orders too ldquoNine months ago we got onto DotPe It was our solution to getting the system automated It ironed out the tedious process of managing direct ordersrdquo he addedDAY 3 BRIDGING THE COMMUNICATION GAPThe last day of the boot camp was dedicated to digital marketing and led by an allgirls panel on digital marketing The first session was held by Divya Aggarwal Head of Marketing at Impresario Handmade Restaurants which has the Social chain Salt Water Cafeacute and Smoke House Delhi in its gambit Impresario set up its direct ordering platform on DotPe in April 2020 Emotional appeal and using direct communication to help gain lifelong customers is important To make that first impression the first step is to get the menu sorted and use great quality images ldquoPick out your best sellers and add them to your recommendation section The written language goes a long way too and online SEO search engine optimisation and SEM search engine optimisation marketing is key Remember this is new messaging and it needs to be established in the customerrsquos mind Content is contextual and it makes sense to leverage it with date wise day wise tracking Moving content like GIFs and videos does betterrdquo she explainedThe second session by Sunaina Basu cofounder of Rafiki Marketing laid the blueprint for creating a good marketing plan with performance marketing a term used for online marketing where you pay only when a specific action occurs ldquoIt allows you to target prospects with great precision be it a click or a conversion Performance marketing has proved to be extremely beneficial for customer acquisition and retention enhanced reach amongst new audiences giving you control over who sees what and tracking the insights on your customers The paid marketing universe includes Instagram Facebook Google Ads YouTube and LinkedIn ldquoStart with a small amount gain trust and grow your budget Begin with two to three per cent of your revenue for ad spendrdquo Basu suggested adding that restaurants should use YouTube and video ads on FB and Insta for awareness Google ads for conversion and Instagram for post promotion engagement