There are many local businesses and offices - accounting agencies, real estate companies, non-profit groups, law firms, etc. - that bring in catered meals on a regular basis.

Whether it’s a board meeting, an extended client session, or employee luncheon – it’s often desirable for them to have it catered in.

The receptionist or administrative assistant is often responsible for placing these types of orders.  Make sure these local businesses (and their office assistants) know your restaurant offers online ordering.  Once they experience the ease and convenience of ordering online, they will return again and again.

Andrea Snyder of Urban Cookhouse, with multiple locations in Alabama, says that online ordering results in larger orders, especially at the catering level.  "When these large orders come in via telephone, customers often try to negotiate, which cuts into our profit margin.  Catering orders coming in online, however, obviously bypass that process.  The customers are happy to trade saving a few dollars for the convenience NetWaiter provides them."

Make sure your local businesses know your restaurant is the best bet (and most convenient) for their catering needs!

Delivery Areas

Coming soon, your restaurant will have the ability to customize more specific delivery zones.

Within the NetWaiter Management Console, restaurants will be able to 'draw' and configure custom delivery areas on a map.  Each delivery zone can be configured with a simple click-and-drag function to encompass the exact area in which delivery is available.  As allowed now, restaurants can configure more than one delivery zone, each with its own associated settings, such as a delivery fee and an estimated delivery time.  The new delivery area configurations provide restaurants in densely populated locations the ability to configure their zones more precisely.

The current delivery zone options, based on a radius, will remain available to restaurants offering delivery based strictly on distance.  

Holiday Hours

You can now configure your holiday hours for the entire year.

Just in time for Easter - a new feature is now available in the Location Information section of the NetWaiter Management Console that allows restaurateurs to customize hours for annual holidays.  The Holiday Hours feature allows restaurants to indicate special holiday hours or if they are closed for a particular holiday.  It also allows for the creation of custom holidays throughout the year that a typical calendar might not recognize.

This new feature alleviates the need for restaurants to re-adjust their normal open/close hours each holiday.  If the Holiday Hours are configured, it will automatically account for them.  It’s an ideal tool to accommodate Thanksgiving or Easter, both of which have different dates each year.  Do you close early on New Year’s Eve?  No problem, you can configure that as well.