What’s an Online Order Aggregator? Here's why your restaurant needs one

Many consumers started using food delivery apps more frequently during the pandemic. Even as the world reopens, they still value the convenience of food delivery apps and continue to use them. Forty-two percent of Americans and Forty percent of British surveyed by Deliverect order food delivery three times a week, even with inflation rising.

By 2029, the entire food delivery app industry could reach a market size of $320 billion, according to Business of App’s Food Delivery Report 2022. China ($27.3 billion), the United States ($22.4 billion), and Europe ($9.2 billion) had the highest total revenues for food delivery in 2021, and those numbers are growing everywhere in the world. 

Online delivery services can help restaurants and dark kitchens scale up their customer base without hiring and retaining their own delivery staff. No surprise, then, that 75 percent of the independent U.S. restaurant operators surveyed by Technomic in 2022 offer online ordering via a third-party marketplace. Many chain restaurants and dark kitchens also use third-party delivery apps. Since most regions have multiple delivery apps available, many businesses of all sizes work with multiple apps to expand their reach. 

During a typical service, your kitchen might field orders from DoorDash, Uber Eats, Glovo, TakeAway, and several other sales channels. With orders coming from multiple sources, how can your staff keep all these orders straight and ensure that operations continue to run smoothly, especially during holidays and other peak times?

That’s where online order aggregators can help.  

What’s an online order aggregator? 

Also called an order integrator, Deliverect is one—this tool automatically aggregates all your online orders from different sources. All your orders print in one location, so you don’t have to run multiple systems or manually enter orders into your POS. Instead of guessing which app your customers are using, you can be on all of them—and reach more customers—without the extra hassle of managing each one separately. 

Setting up is a breeze. Deliverect has over 400 integration partners and counting, so connecting your existing digital food tools—like point-of-sale systems (POS), stock management tools, online ordering websites, and delivery platforms has never been easier.

Why does my restaurant or dark kitchen need an order aggregator? 

Single-location cafés, restaurants, and ghost kitchens use order aggregators to keep their operations running smoothly so your staff is as efficient as they can be - whether you are a small business or a mid or large-chain restaurant. Order integrators help chain restaurants manage orders at multiple locations in a simple and streamlined fashion. 

Here are some of the additional benefits: 

• Manage labor costs. Manually accepting and managing each online order as it comes in is time-consuming for your staff. Order aggregators like Deliverect automate this process, taking orders and sending them to the relevant printer in the kitchen. Order integrators can save you money on labor costs. Restaurants using Deliverect, on average, report a 25% reduction in labor costs. Deliverect can also streamline and automate operations, freeing your staff to focus on what they do best: preparing food and serving excellent customer experiences. 

• Reduce human error. When running multiple systems in separate siloes, it’s easy to make order errors or miss an order, ruining the customer’s experience. In fact, Deliverect surveyed American and British consumers and found that incorrect orders were the second biggest frustration with food delivery after long wait times. Restaurants using Deliverect can reduce food order errors by up to 80%.

• Easy menu management is valuable for restaurants and cloud kitchens of all sizes, especially those with multiple locations. Update menus with a few clicks. Sync all your products, stay on top of your inventory, and quickly update menus across multiple channels. Run out of something? Snooze that temporarily to avoid frustrated customers. You can also run promotional deals and feature popular items at the top of your online menu.

• Access valuable analytics and reporting. Order integrators can automatically generate visual reports with sales data across your channels. This could help you pinpoint which menu items are underperforming, uncover new marketing opportunities, and understand demand. These metrics can help you grow your restaurant or ghost kitchen.

Bottom line: An order integrator is critical to keep things running efficiently if you use third-party delivery apps or if you also have your own online ordering system. It not only prints all orders in one location and reduces order errors, but it can provide valuable metrics for planning your next move. To close it off with another great benefit: your staff has never been happier.