Did you know that takeout food has been around for over a century? That’s right, this hot trend has been hopping since the 1920s with restaurants providing takeout hot dogs, sandwiches and even full meals to picnickers. Today, takeout is more popular than ever, with the pandemic reintroducing the masses to its convenience and charm. For operations that offer to-go options, improving the takeout experience can be a central aspect to the success of the operation. Let’s take a look at five tips that’ll help you deliver a better takeout experience.
1. Maintain food quality
In real estate, the mantra is location, location, location. For a restaurant, it's quality, quality quality. And quality is at the top of our list for a reason. A good portion of restaurant reviews either rave or rant about one of two things: customer service or food quality. Keeping your customers happy with first-in-class service is a must, but it’s all lost if your food also isn’t spectacular.
So, how do you win with quality? The first thing to consider is recipe creation. Make sure you have solid, great-tasting options on your to-go menu and that your execution of the meal is spot-on. If achieving this means scaling back to only items that shine, consider that a win. As a matter of fact, smaller menus are an effective and popular trend for many establishments that want to produce the very best.
Speaking of menus, takeout food can be its own beast. Some foods don’t travel or hold for long car rides as well as others. With that in mind, think about creating a separate takeout menu. That way, it’s easier to offer foods that maintain their quality and are quick to create. Hands down, there’s no better experience than unpacking hot takeout that tastes delicious.
But no matter what’s on the menu, consumers want their meals to taste fresh. To achieve this, you need to keep cooked and cold foods at the right holding temperatures. So while food waits for the customer or delivery driver pickup, the quality and safety of the meal aren’t compromised. Whether it’s heated shelves, frost tops, buffet warmers, hot food merchandisers, hot and cold wells or more, the right solution comes back to how it benefits your unique operation’s workflow and menu.
2. Provide consistency with the right technology
In addition to great-tasting takeout, it's essential that customers have a consistent food experience — every single time. Many successful restaurants have business models that hinge on consistency. If a takeout order is picked up on Saturday, Tuesday or Thursday, customers should get the exact same quality of experience. If they operate in multiple locations, meals should be the same whether they're ordered in Arkansas or Toronto. But creating consistent takeout meals time and again isn’t easy. That said, the right tools can be a game changer.
If you find that consistency is a concern, think about what equipment you have on hand. Swapping out old equipment with updated models might be the answer. Newer, automated solutions offer features that can help produce the same chicken fried rice, crispy burritos or cheesy pizza each time. Some units even have programmable options with preset temperatures, cook times and blower speeds. Others have intuitive food-sensing, pan-sensing and automatic shut-off technology that allow takeout operations to multitask while still getting food out the door quickly. In addition, if you have more than one location, be sure to update equipment throughout all of your locations, so each operation has an equal ability to produce the same quality meals and experience.
3. Deliver on order accuracy
Ever heard of the “rule of three?” Well, ready, set, go…this concept boasts that most things are seriously more satisfying when grouped in sets of three. Bacon, lettuce and tomato, and even breakfast, lunch and dinner are a part of this rule. And your customers would probably agree. The three-pronged takeout approach of offering quality food, consistent execution, and accurate orders provides the ultimate in a satisfying takeout experience.
Excellent customer service and effective technology are central to getting this right. One tip is to train those who receive takeout or delivery orders on the phone or in person to listen intently and repeat the order back to the customer. Additionally, online ordering has catapulted into popularity, with many consumers quickly and easily typing in their orders into some type of web-based ordering system. Just be sure that whatever technology you choose, it’s something that’s tested, true, and works not just in theory, but also in practice.
Accuracy is often even more crucial with takeout than dine-in. Don’t get us wrong, accuracy is important for both. But a takeout or delivery order usually can’t be sent back to the kitchen. Keeping that in mind, be sure your staff thoroughly checks each meal that comes out of the kitchen and ensures it matches up with the correct order — especially for takeout.
4. Improve on packaging
There’s almost nothing worse than getting halfway home only to realize that your mouth-watering green Thai chili coconut curry spilled on the car floor. Not only is it a mess that needs a good cleaning, but to add insult to injury because you’ve lost some excellent grub. No doubt, the right kind of packaging could have helped prevent this very unfortunate scenario.
With takeout, it isn’t just about what you’re serving but also how the meals are packaged. As you know, it’s essential to take into account the types of food you’re serving when choosing the packaging to hold it. It’s good to ask yourself questions like, “Do we serve foods that can easily spill, like our Thai curry situation?” “Do our to-go salads need a special container so they stay cold and crisp?”
It’s also a good idea to do a trial run with some sample packaging products. Fill up the containers with different food and travel with those items from one location to the next. Be sure to give them a good test ride by jostling the packages around. Look at the final products after the mock takeout adventure and decide which packaging solutions hold up best.
Now, there are other things to consider with packaging. What you opt for needs to fit within your budget and stay true to your brand essence. If you’re a sustainable, eco-minded operation, styrofoam packaging might not be a good fit. But some renewable options can get on the pricey side, so there’s a give and take and often a fine line to walk between your bottom line and brand identity.
5. Focus on the pickup experience
In our takeout-loving society, there can be some bottlenecks during in-house pickup situations. A helpful pointer is to evaluate your takeout space multiple times during peak dayparts. Sit and observe the entire flow of your to-go operation. Pay attention to how well the kitchen operates and where both back- and front-of-the-house employees are needed most often. In addition, note the length of the customer line and any frustrations that popped up.
With this information in hand, it may be easier to brainstorm a solution to improve your customers' experience. Gaining better efficiency is one way to accomplish this goal. If the kitchen is backed up and can’t pump out takeout meals in a timely manner, maybe adding a temporary second prep line with portable equipment during peak times is the answer. Or are staff not able to keep up with distributing takeout orders while also serving in-house guests? Self-serve heating display units with self-regulating temperature and humidity controls could be helpful. Heated or cold shelves are also an accommodating option.
Or consider an automated pickup locker like Hatco’s Flav-R 2-Go® Locker Systevm. These units hold meals within a secure, temperature-controlled cubby. And get this, once the customer or delivery driver is ready to grab the takeout meal, they just tap the screen, enter a unique code, and like magic, the appropriate door opens with their ready-to-eat meal. One of the best things about this unit is that it doesn’t need constant employee monitoring. It can also be set up in a completely separate area from your dine-in operation, which could really boost your takeout vibe.
Shape the perception.
Experiences matter because they can help shape our perceptions and guide our decisions. Incorporate some of our tips and help your customers gain an excellent takeout experience each time. Interested in learning about how Hatco can help? Contact us or find a qualified sales representative here.
