How Chatbots Can Help You Run Your Food Business

By - Angela
06/22/20 09:00 AM
How Chatbots Can Help You Run Your Food Business
More and more restaurants and food delivery businesses have shifted to take-out and delivery services due to the current lockdown. Dine-in is starting to return, but many customers are still opting to have food delivered due to safety concerns.


Many food businesses have come across challenges in meeting the demand for service the past few months. These include coming up with and managing the process between order preparation, payment handling, and delivery--and the hurried staff training needed to take care of this new process.


To manage this process, many businesses have taken to implementing order cut-off times, either within a certain time each day, or even requiring orders days in advance before fulfillment. This can lead to customer dissatisfaction and reluctance to order, due to the long waiting time, missed cut-off periods, or even long waiting times for responses from establishments for their orders.


Adopting a chatbot can be one way to address this gap and increase turnaround time and reliability for your customers.

Automated Order-taking

An increased influx of orders--takeout or delivery both--is always a good thing. However, not having the means to respond to orders in a timely manner is also a sure way to have customers look for another establishment instead.


Having a chatbot take customers’ orders automatically is one way to manage this increase without losing customers. Make sure that your chatbot displays your menu and prices accurately. A quick transaction helps customers feel more secure in their order with your business.


Make sure, however, that you are equipped to easily check the orders that come in from your chatbot, such as an integration with a spreadsheet or system for your orders. While you will still see improvements regardless of this integration, an integrated order-taking solution will help you shave significant time from the order process and free up your staff to do more important things like order preparation.

Order History Availability

Think back on your experience with your favorite restaurants. Remember the way you feel when your waiter remembers your usual order--you can just relax while they confirm your order and prepare your meal for you straightaway.


Chatbots can do that, too, and let your customers feel that they matter because you remembered them.


There are many ways to leverage the availability of your customer’s order history in order to improve your establishment’s brand:


  • Order status updates
  • Customers can reorder previous orders
  • Automated food/dish recommendations based on their preferences
  • Drip marketing/order reminders from your chatbot

Sharing Updates and News

The people your chatbot talks to are interested in your business. They’ve interacted with you and want to know more about what you sell and provide. They are a step closer to being paying customers, if they aren’t already.


They are therefore the best people to interact with when it comes to sharing a new product, dish, or even when you have promotions that they may be interested in.


But take into consideration your customers’ preferences as well when you perform a broadcast. Allow your customers to opt out of marketing updates like this one, in order to make sure you don’t turn a possible lead into an irate customer.

Improved Branding Opportunities

Don’t let your chatbot stay as an automated assistant. Some of the most interesting chatbots can serve as an ongoing spokesperson for your brand, allowing your customers to engage positively with your business.


With the ability to process natural language, chatbots can talk to your customers in an actual conversation. Let customers engage with your chatbot in a conversation, and tell them interesting trivia about your company or your products. Interesting and fun chatbots can be a talking point for your business, if done correctly.

Your Chatbot is a Member of Your Team

If you think of your chatbot as a member of your team, there are many things your chatbot can do to improve your business.


From an automatic assistant, a sales and marketing person, and customer care representative--if you arm your chatbot with the right “training”, they can do all this and more. Let chatbots help your staff take care of the day-to-day activities in your food business.


This way, you and your staff can focus on the important things: serving your customers.

Angela