Guide to maximising profit from your takeaway business

Foodhub, the online portal channelling takeaway orders across the UK, presents top 10 tips to make the most of your food and drink offer

Takeaway food businesses have been cashing in on the increase in demand prompted by the Covid-19 crisis. However, if you look at your bottom line at the end of the month and wonder how to give your business a boost, there are a few things you can start doing today.

At Foodhub, we have created our Top 10 Tips for maximising profits from your takeaway business; advice garnered from our extensive experience in running one of the most successful takeaway delivery brands in the world.

1. Time is money and therefore you need a reliable and efficient system for your takeaway that doesn’t fail you whatever the hour of the day.

We recommend you get a point of sale system that is comprehensive enough to help you run your takeaway’s operations and also helps in advertising your business. (See: Touch2Success Point of Sale system)

2. Go Social or go home. These days, social media platforms are bustling with tonnes of tasty food images that really can persuade even the thriftiest of people to spend a few extra pounds.

Takeaways need to connect, engage and convert their customers into spending loyalists. And they can do it through Social Media. So, if you want steady growth in the food orders rolling in, then get your social accounts in order and start talking to your customers.

Consider online advertising too – it really works!

3. Use SEO to boost your business without spending a penny. When it comes to marketing your business, one of the most organic and effective ways to improve your search visibility and drive more hungry customers to your website to order from your menu is to perform a thorough search engine optimisation. Set up your on-page SEO correctly and get experts for off-page SEO.

4. Competitions. From boosting your sales to driving engagement and generating more footfall, there’s so much that a simple competition can do for your business.

Competitions not only build brand awareness and entice your customers to participate but they also make sure customers have something to look forward to.

Lucrative rewards in the form of discounts and offers are a sure-shot way of upping your game. Use your social media channels to host your competitions.

5. Open a new realm of possibilities with Google. Set up your takeaway’s Google My Business account so that whenever someone looks you up on the world’s biggest search engine, they can find a knowledge graph with your business details in the sidebar.

You can put a Google Map pin in for your location, collect brownie points (ratings based on user reviews), review feedback from your customers, and use Google to drive more footfall to your takeaway.

6. Nothing destroys a food business like a bad review. All your marketing efforts can go to waste if you do not have a good reputation management strategy in place.

You need to keep a constant eye on feedback, reviews and everything that’s being said about your business so that any potential crisis can be headed off in advance. There are so many online tools to help manage your online reputation and experts who can amplify your efforts to build a sterling reputation online.

It has become common for customers to look up a restaurant or check out reviews of the takeaway before ordering. So, while listing your restaurant on popular sites will give you the desired visibility, positive reviews and feedback from existing customers make a significant impact on attracting potential customers.

It is imperative for you to treat their feedback with the utmost care and show them that you care enough to listen to them and respond where appropriate.

7. Use traditional advertising too. While online advertising has given a whole new dimension to marketing your business, don’t forget the traditional methods that are still much loved, appreciated and seriously effective.

With classic strategies that involve flyers, local radio ads, banners, billboards on buses and the like, you can achieve more than you imagine. When you cross-promote your business on both online and offline platforms, wonders happen!

8. You can’t buy love so show it by offering your customers some exciting loyalty programs. With every purchase or visit, offer loyalty points for customers to redeem against purchases from your takeaway business. These programs will show your customers how much you value them and bring them back for more time and time again.

There are lots of tools that are affordable, simple to set up and fun for your customers. It’s time to spread more smiles and win more hearts!

9. Email and SMS Marketing: One strategy that never fails to reach your customers and entice them to spend is emails and SMS marketing. Once you have your customers’ email address or phone number, you can send offers, deals, newsletters and so much more to keep them engaged and your business front of mind.

You can send them blogs that are rich with backlinks for your website via email, and let them know that you always have something cooking up!

The other great way to get honest reviews and make your presence felt on the web is to let food bloggers try your food. Their experience and reviews will win you more engagement and lead to more conversation than you can imagine. A tried and tested formula to spread some hype about your business!

10. Get on a popular food portal. Foodhub is your best bet for bringing all of the above recommendations into one easy-to-manage location.

Unlike other food delivery websites, Foodhub doesn’t charge a commission on orders and have been ranked as one of the top 5 food delivery portals in the UK.

The reason why most of the takeaways listed with Foodhub are so happy is because they are able to save a lot on commission and can, in return, offer better deals to their customers, leading to more profit for themselves.