Already on the up-and-up prior to the pandemic, the food delivery boom was given an undeniable boost during lockdown. With countless venues forced to close their doors, a multitude of apps sprang up seemingly overnight, allowing them to continue doing business in some form, getting their food into the hands of hungry customers all across Australia.
At Doshii, we help businesses clear their plate, getting their multitude of apps talking to their POS and working in sync. The result for venues is less double-handling and more time to put their focus where it counts – on their customers. As we emerge out of this latest pandemic pitfall, that focus has never been more important.
Speaking to QSR Media, our Doshii CCO Josh Franklin explained how Doshii’s integration continues to support the hospitality industry as venues begin to open their doors once more.
QSR Media: The pandemic delivery boom made a case for businesses to streamline how they handle third-party ordering apps. How are chains utilising the synced insights and data from Doshii?
Franklin: With Doshii, chains are able to clearly understand which channels are driving the most revenue and profitability to them, for example in-venue ordering habits versus pick-up or kiosk and device orders. They can then optimise those channels’ offerings.
They can also look at less successful channels and assess how their results can be improved. They can see what is selling best and when, and look at modifying the menu accordingly or instigating other sales and promotional activity. Doshii also provides unique and tailored insights for each store. This means that menus and channels can be optimised, to ensure sales are being maximised for each location.
Doshii has a full menu management system to allow operators to manage their menus from a central platform. All styles of operators will benefit from less time managing menus across multiple apps. They’ll also be able to avoid costs incurred through rekeying orders into the POS, and removes human error associated with missed or incorrectly rekeyed orders. Ultimately it will improve revenue, reduce operational costs and increase efficiency.
What has the delivery data been telling you about customers?
Our experiences from the past 12 months have shown that ordering from apps – in venue, at home or on the road – is surging; some of our partners have seen customers spend up to 30% more when they order from their devices.
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Some of our partners have seen customers spend up to 30 per cent more when they order from their devices.”
Josh Franklin
CCO Doshii
Another trend we’ve seen emerge is that once consumers have ordered from their device the first time, they are far more likely to want to do it again.
Some areas of the Australian hospitality industry, including on-site dining, were badly hit during the pandemic. As a result, we’ve seen venues looking for unique ways to offer delivery, pick-up and app-based ordering to attract and retain customers.
Food delivery services thrived through the lockdown. There was a massive demand from customers wanting to pay for their meals with credit cards or some form of mobile or contactless payment. We also found customers preferred to order from a digital menu on their phones, even if they chose to collect the order themselves. This was, in part, due to adhering to COVID-safe rules, but this type of mobile ordering and payment preference hasn’t changed, even with the easing of restrictions.
How has take-up differed between chain stores and smaller independent businesses?
It’s been rewarding to see the benefits for both styles of business. Many of the smaller, independent outlets and businesses have needed Doshii simply to be able to operate efficiently and to ‘tech up’. We’ve helped hamburger stores, for example, that may have previously been predominantly cash businesses with no delivery partners be able to quickly open up these new channels, streamline their business, and keep them focussed on making and serving good food.
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Integration means running business smarter and gives operators the opportunity to capitalise on accurate and insightful data.
Josh Franklin
CCO Doshii
We’ve helped franchised stores tap into their unique markets in a way that wasn’t previously possible. While they have the advantage of having processes and procedures in place, they’ve managed to save money, time and effort with our data insights that lead to less wastage and the ability to maximise and tailor their offering across their different channels. Integration means running business smarter and gives operators the opportunity to capitalise on accurate and insightful data.
What does this mean for consumers?
Happier customers lead to a more vibrant hospitality industry. We think giving customers more of what they want, streamlining the ordering process and minimising any opportunity for order errors will provide a more fulfilling experience all ‘round. In turn that will lead to return business and glowing reviews and ratings for the venue operator. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
Update from Team Doshii
This Q&A with QSR and our Doshii CCO Josh went live nine months ago – and things have changed a wee bit since then!
We caught up with Josh and asked him a couple of follow-up questions regarding this latest phase of the pandemic.
What’s different for hospitality venues during this wave of the pandemic?
Franklin: During the first waves of the pandemic, the industry pivoted towards at-home ordering and takeaway, whereas now, they’re actually open. It’s more about the efficiency for venues now as they struggle with being short-staffed and making the most out of the staff that’s available.
How is Doshii positioned to support venues with these issues?
First, we provide greater efficiency. There’s no needing to have someone on hand to repeat orders to the POS system, there’s a way to avoid costly double-handling errors that take time to resolve. We help streamline the whole process to make things as efficient as possible, which has never been more important as many venues operate on what’s essentially a skeleton crew.
Secondly, we partner with two of the industries leading roster solutions Deputy and Tanda and that integration means you can use your venue’s history – how busy you’ve been over the last week – to then roster your staff more effectively. It helps you find out how to optimise the team you do have available and make sure you’re making the most of them at the right time, when the business needs it.
Reservations is another key area. When you do have a reservation, you can really stay well connected to the person who has made the reservation and easily deal with any changes that need to happen – and as we know, they’re happening quite frequently now as people’s plans need to pivot and change at the last moment.
Imagine working at an airline as a travel agent over the Christmas period, where all of the people having to go to Queensland, for example, had to make constant changes to their travel bookings. Imagine how many times Qantas had to touch a single reservation over that period. The same thing is happening to the restaurant industry and our reservation app-integration is well-positioned to help venue’s deal with sudden changes to bookings on the fly.