Okay, so you’re sold on the benefits of implementing online ordering in your restaurant. Now it’s time to select from among the many solutions available in the marketplace. But don’t let your excitement about the potential advantages to be gleaned from offering customers the opportunity to place orders via a Web site force you into making a rash software purchasing decision. Rather, take the time to ensure that the solution you choose has the features that will maximize the return on your technology investment.

For starters, be sure to find a solution that includes far more than a simple menu display and order-entry feature. Your “pick” should offer customers an opportunity to specify what time they would like their orders. Based on criteria entered into the system during the set-up phase, the solution should also indicate to customers how long it will take before their food is ready for pickup or will be delivered to its destination, as well as restrict ordering in line with restaurant hours (in other words, customers can order tomorrow’s lunch at 10 pm the previous evening, but cannot set its delivery outside lunchtime hours).

While features that enhance your customers’ online ordering experience are a “must” no matter which solution you choose, so too, are those that help you do a better job of handling orders placed in cyberspace. A good system, such as pcAmerica’s Restaurant Pro Express, will be configured to require online credit or debit card payments before orders are prepared, and to transmit orders directly to the kitchen for printing immediately upon receipt. You should be able to customize the Web page on which orders are placed, with your own colors and according to your own specifications. Ditto for the ability to designate in the point of sale system which menu items are visible on the online ordering screen and which aren’t and to set up special pricing promotions for online ordering. Operators with a single store should be able to set up delivery zones so that delivery is limited to certain desired areas; those with multiple stores should have the option to route or “push” orders to certain stores based on location or other parameters. Finally, the system should generate different reports for tracking online sales versus in-store sales, so that each may be addressed with separate business strategies.

The Restaurant Pro Express point of sale solution from pcAmerica offers these features, and more. For additional information, visit www.pcamerica.com.