The nascent Indian restaurant industry, spurred by economic development and a growing middle class, it is on the precipice of sudden and rapid expansion! The industry is worth over 75,000 crores growing at 7% annually. Of 1.5 million restaurant outlets, only 3,000 is organized. The organized sector is growing at an annual rate of 16%. Last year, food and restaurant sector received $256 million in private equity funding, $500 million in 2006, and $1.5 billion in 2011, growing a 30% annually to reach $6 billion by 2016.
Online revenues are a big influencer of revenues. Bad experiences can be shared on social media much quicker than by word of mouth. In India, Zomato, Burrp, Ask Laila, Just Dial, and Snapdeal are the majorly used internet websites. Zomato has 41,000 listings in 12 cities which garners 35 million hits a month and 850,000 downloads in four cities. Burrp, is its major competitor with 11 million page views a month. Burrp grows more than 100% every year revenue wise. Zomato makes $160,000 in revenue each month.
Dine Desk was a website that launched here in India, which was a foreign website providing services such as table management, guest data, feedback, and history. It has mobile and Ipad enabled applications and marketing tools like social media, email marketing, and third party integrations.
What a lot of websites can implement is the use of large visuals which are bigger, more detailed, and well, it sells! It makes consumers hungry for more. The saying a picture is worth a 1,000 words is true we’re in a visual world.
There are a lot of restaurant websites that still have PDF menus, and hard to navigate mobile websites. Now you can create a responsive website which is available on a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop. Websites that have the capacity to provide internet ordering save on travel costs and people spend more time online and looking for convenience. The capacity for online reservations allow people to call away from business hours which especially important for the office crowd. Awareness of a web footprint increases reviews and ratings.
Savvy restaurant owners understand the value of being on Facebook and Twitter. Next time you try a new place, see if you can find a Facebook page for it first. There is a vast pool of young people who access such social media sites daily. Social media sites can enhance your business by creating a personality, giving it a character in the tweets and statuses you use, as well as proving discounts and information on what type of merchandise is up to date that people should know about (such as a daily special or happy hour).
Whether you like it or not, technology is here to stay. It will continue to make an impact on the restaurant industry for the foreseeable future for India‘s restaurant industry is growing leaps and bounds, and indeed we love our food! There is incredible room for expansion and growth in terms of building user friendly interfaces which can be used in multi-platforms, accelerate convenience by providing online reservations, and providing a customer experience not yet experienced here, customer loyalty cards, where users are given incentives for repeat sales.
Disclaimer: The picture above is for only representative purposes and is taken from Google Images
– Sonia Dhaliwal