How Chatbots are Driving Automation in the Restaurant Business?
As the world is battling the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in a complete lockdown mode, the brick and mortar restaurants are at the receiving end. However, the food delivery and online food ordering business are showing resilience in this period of crisis. The winner of COVID-19 seems to be the food delivery business. And what’s fueling the trend of online food ordering in restaurants is chatbots, which are increasingly being used by restaurants and other ready food businesses.
How do customers stand to benefit?
If your restaurant has delivery and takeaway options, you can help your customers by reducing the effort it takes to place the order. They can be spared to make a phone call or go to the app to place the order. They can place their order through the restaurant’s chatbot on its website, Facebook or any other social media platforms.
Yes, restaurants and food outlets can use a chatbot to engage with the customers on a chat window. With the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), chatbots have become very intelligent and intuitive. They can engage with customers, explain to them the menus and what can be paired with a particular dish or drink, take orders from them and get the takeaway prepared or a home delivery assigned. All this is possible without any human interference.
For the customers, it is more convenient to have a conversation with the bot for enquiring or ordering the food than using an app to make orders. A chatbot is a software used for automated chatting and its use in the restaurant and food outlets has immense potential.
What makes chatbot such a huge success?
When it comes to ordering food, we never seem to have enough time. We are mostly in haste and want to finish the task of ordering the food as swiftly as possible. No matter if you are ordering your special dinner or just want your staple dinner, the option to deliver the food at home or prepare a takeaway to be picked up from the restaurant is important for all those who are into the business of cooked food. If the customers can place their orders after having a chat with the restaurant’s chatbot, it will make the process simpler and better than ordering it through the app, which only allows a one-way communication or through the phone where the customer is made to speak with the restaurant manager with whom the experience may not be as smooth and businesslike as it can be with the chatbot.
How does it work?
The concept of chatbot in a restaurant business is fairly easy and simple: You begin a conversation with chatbot the same way you talk to a person. Finally, you place your order that the chatbot processes. Big fast food brands such as Burger King have already deployed a food ordering bot that’s making customer experience pleasant and smooth. A chatbot assists customers by giving them information from the menu and helping them choose and order their favorite food. It also helps in-home delivery of the food or pickup of the takeaway parcels. It can reserve the table for the customers as well.
Chatbots make the presence of restaurants more widespread and more accessible. This implies that ready food and restaurant businesses are going to use chatbot more profusely. Chatbots can help restaurants cut personnel and labor costs, minimize human errors, and improve customer experience.
The customer at the center
With chatbots, customers can order their food from Facebook Messenger. The chatbot can further ease the customer’s interaction with the restaurant by taking orders to reserve the table or answering any other query that a customer may have. The whole point is the customer may be justified in seeking a non-intrusive interaction with the restaurant with whom he has to interact more regularly and often. With the progress and upgrade in technologies, restaurants can employ more non-intrusive methods to engage with their customers. This way, restaurants can ease out the customer experience.
Push for automation
Bots can be customized as per the needs of the restaurants and food outlets. For example, it can send offers to customers in a less spammy manner. As the restaurants and ready foods industry are expected to step up automation drive, restaurant order chatbot seems to be the ultimate winner.
Final thoughts
With the menace of COVID-19 taking the world by storm, the restaurant and food industry is reeling under depression. But online food ordering has come as a silver lining and it makes a strong case for chatbots.