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This Take Out Restaurant Took Out High Fees in Exchange for Growing Profits with Front Eats
Mar 12, 2024
Smyrna, GA
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How No.1 China Brought in High Online Order Sales with No Commission Fees with Front Eats
DISCLAIMER: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be used as legal, accounting, tax, HR or other professional advice. You are responsible for you and your businesses' legal and regulatory compliance. Contact your attorney, accountant, or any other relevant professional for specific advice related to your own needs and circumstances.
NO.1 China is a small QSR restaurant located in Smyrna, GA, just about 20 minutes away from Downtown Atlanta. The popularity of Chinese take out restaurants have been consistently rising over the past few decades, being nearly cemented into the cultural weave of America's food scene. Due to this, Chinese take out restaurants, not unlike NO.1 China, do well on online ordering and delivery platforms.
Many third-party online ordering platforms today, however, are full of hidden fees, high commission fees and require paying more for higher relevancy in search results. Front Eats, in turn, works for merchants just like the owner of NO.1 China.
NO. 1 China’s owner has stated that Front Eats is not just simple and easy to use but also helped increase their own brand awareness and customer base. Since the three months of implementation, NO. 1 China saw an overall revenue increase of over $15,000 and an order volume of 484 orders total.
"Front Eats makes it easy for me to fulfill orders for my customers and get them to order straight from me, not some third-party online ordering platform with big commission fees."
- Owner of NO.1 China
These results are incredible due to the fact that the direct link to their Front Eats online ordering page was not even directly available on NO. 1 China’s Google My Business Profile but only available via their official restaurant website. In addition, NO. 1 China also has many other third-party platforms in use and linked via their Google Business Profile. This shows that Front Eats is able to viably compete with other third-party online ordering platforms even with less general visibility.
So why would customers choose to order from Front Eats over any other third-party platform?
One reason could be due to the no commission fee model that Front Eats employs for all restaurants using the platform. It is no secret that major third-party online ordering platforms take out large commissions for every order, forcing restaurants to charge more for orders purchased through these platforms. These costs can pile on for the consumer with delivery costs, miscellaneous fees and tips all adding up to almost a 40% premium on menu costs compared to dining in. Front Eats is a more economical solution for all parties by having low fees that incentivize restaurant customers to order via the platform while restaurants can keep more of their hard earned revenue.
While these statistics are impressive, what is more impressive is the amount of loyalty member conversions NO. 1 China has been able to gain since opening their Front Eats online ordering page.
Overall, NO. 1 China has been able to see a conversion rate of 13% for new loyalty members, which means the chances for having repeat customers has increased significantly.
With no extra monthly fees attached to the Front Eats’ loyalty program, NO. 1 China can easily promote their loyalty program at no additional cost as an effective way to gain and retain loyal customers. These statistics also show that Front Eats is an effective tool to help restaurants grow their online presence, gain more revenue and in turn increase their loyal, repeat customer base.
Loyalty programs in restaurants have been on the rise with large franchises like McDonald's having popular loyalty programs for consumers. Front Eats allows restaurants to have customizable point based loyalty programs that incentivize diners to convert into repeat customers. For NO.1 China, loyalty member conversions even exceeds order conversions. This means that most if not all customers who order via Front Eats have become loyalty members. Furthermore, NO.1 China has a large pool of loyalty members to market to via Front Eats.
Loyalty member information is all accessible via Front's back office, Front Tab. Here, NO.1 China's owners can view all loyalty member statistics, create custom tags and directly market to their loyalty members via the contact information in their loyalty account profiles. Thus, even if loyalty members don't order immediately after signing up, there are many more chances for order conversion with Front Eats' loyalty and marketing capabilities.
SweetHoney Dessert is a popular Hong Kong dessert shop franchise with locations all throughout the US and world. The Colma, CA location of SweetHoney Dessert began using Front Waitlist late last October (in 2023) to better serve their customers.
In mid-October of 2023, a Juicy Seafood franchise location in Baton Rouge began implementing Front’s waitlist systems, Front Waitlist, in their restaurant’s operations. Over the course of nearly 5 months, Front Waitlist was able to not only help The Juicy Seafood maintain a more organized, streamlined and efficient front of house, but also retain more customers and build a more responsive customer base.
New King Buffet had used many different online ordering platforms including major 3rd party online ordering platforms. With the implementation of Front Eats for New King Buffet, sales had quickly increased with an order volume of 207 orders within a two month period. This means that they have averaged 103.5 orders per month since utilizing Front Eats with their average revenue being well over $10,000 per month. Their success is not just because Front Eats was listed as their recommended online ordering system via their Google My Business profile, but also because their customers are truly their own, not the third-party platforms’.