Delivery adjustments
Respondents across Tillster’s study agreed delivery time was a critical factor after all these months. Forty percent said they’d wait 40 minutes. Anything above that and sentiment rolled off a cliff. Only 21 percent claimed they’d wait 41 minutes or more.
The most important counter, according to guests? Restaurants communicating accurate delivery estimates. Using Shake Shack as an example, it layered in dynamic prep time into a recent app update.
Similar to fees, time-based challenges are pushing guests into multiple digital channels—not necessarily away from them and into the restaurant booth. Many consumers who have become convenience loyal are looking for alternatives. Across urban/rural divides and family sizes, more than 70 percent of Tillster respondents said they’d rather pick food up than wait for a long delivery.
The average quick-serve customer today is ordering delivery twice each month, Tillster found. At 2.5 orders per month planned in the next three months, we’re looking at a 32 percent bump from 2019, with a definite rise among middle and older-aged groups.
In the next year, 81 percent of respondents will order online for delivery the same amount or more often.
Pulling out Gen Z, perhaps the fastest-rising cohort of restaurant guests, nearly 86 percent said they would “probably” or “definitely” order from their favorite fast food or fast casual more often if it offered delivery. They were also more likely than any other age group to order multiple dayparts, including lunch and late-night. Twenty percent said they’d spend $10 or more in delivery fees.
Where the data takes us
In Bluedot’s study, three out of four consumers (of every demographic) were willing to share their mobile location for better service. Sixty-nine percent said they’d do so if it meant their order was ready upon arrival. Forty-seven percent were on board if it resulted in a hot meal. Coupons (32 percent), and to not miss out on the brand’s latest offerings (21 percent), factored in as well.
One place you can see this in action: More than 50 percent of Panera Bread’s orders today are processed in a fashion that captures data (app, online, kiosk, drive-thru, loyalty at the register). And all indicators suggest customers will keep doing so if the restaurant makes it worth it.
What has digital done to tipping? It’s an important question as restaurants battle labor dynamics. The ability to promise higher hourly wages thanks to tipping is one lever many brands are hoping to pull. Employees at fast casual Honeygrow, on average, make about $13–$15, depending on position. Managers north of that. However, the chain’s 100 percent digital format (kiosks in-store) lends itself to tipping more often than not, CEO Justin Rosenberg says.
It measures in the ballpark of $1.50 an hour, meaning those same front-line workers can actually gather $16.50, or more.
“There’s a lot of places where you can go to a coffee shop and oftentimes I’ve noticed folks, they order, they use their card, and then the cashier will spin the iPad around and then there’s the tipping option,” Rosenberg says. “And I think a lot of times people feel uncomfortable with that. Whereas with the kiosks the way we have it, there’s no pressure.”
It’s helped with training, too. “How can Honeygrow make the experience better for the guest” isn’t just a whiteboard tactic that flows from the top down, Rosenberg says. Exceeding customer expectations is something hourly employees see right there on their paychecks.
Close to half (46 percent) of Bluedot respondents said they do not tip for mobile and web orders. Of those who don’t, 27 percent admitted to thinking about it, but ultimately deciding not to.
Thirty-seven percent also feel pressured at the counter to tip. Requesting for a tip on a tablet made one in three consumers uncomfortable, and of those who don’t feel pressured, 70 percent were happy to tip.
Overall, while inconsistent, 74 percent of consumers said they tip at restaurants. Thirty-three percent tip equally regardless of whether they’re ordering via app, web, or in-person, while 30 percent tip more in person, and 11 percent said they do so online.
A majority (58 percent) said they tip appropriately when placing orders with third-party apps; 13 percent extra; 9 percent less; and 20 percent not at all.
The higher checks restaurants, mainly in quick service, continue to report from mobile orders and digital channels, appear a reflection of larger party sizes and patience in menu selection as much as anything else.
But in all, there’s little debate restaurant customers learned from the pandemic, just as restaurants did.
They turned to digital out of necessity, yet have become full-circle guests with higher demands.
According to Paytronix’s 2022 Restaurant Friction Index, released in March, 41 percent of an average restaurant’s sales now flow through digital channels, including mobile apps, aggregators, and websites. It’s far more than the 32 percent generated via brick-and-mortar location and 26 percent from phone calls.
Restaurants were receiving orders through an average of 2.7 different purchasing channels at any given time (mobile app, aggregator, desktop website, on-site visits, or over the phone). “Today’s most successful restaurants look at the customer experience holistically, not as separate channels,” says Andrew Robbins, CEO of Paytronix Systems, Inc.
Unsurprisingly, 41 percent of managers noted in the report they consider it “very important” today to provide customers with a consistent, integrated cross-channel ordering experience.
On top of that, providing the right ordering (39 percent) and payment options (38 percent) would be “very” important to their innovation strategies going forward. Loyalty features and pickup options were equally common considerations, at 38 percent, respectively.
“In this environment loyalty, payments, and digital ordering all work in concert so that whether a guest orders from their couch or from the table in a restaurant, the experience is one that keeps them coming back,” Robbins adds.
