Brought to you by Uber Eats

Millions of people in the food industry have been hurt by the COVID-19 crisis, especially local and smaller restaurants, and have been looking for other ways to reach their customers.

Due to this, we have seen a massive resurgence in the adoption of digital mechanisms by restaurants to deliver food via technology apps, especially during the level five lockdown when sit-down restaurants weren’t allowed to operate.

We have been amazed by the resilience of the restaurant industry. However, it is a long road ahead and it’s more important than ever to band together to support our local and smaller restaurants. Our team has been working around the clock to do everything we can to support the communities we serve and have been investing in measures that will help restaurant partners to attract customers and increase order volumes.

Entrepreneurial restaurateurs can leverage technology trends to tackle challenges and take up opportunities and, by so doing, thrive even during times of weak economic growth. A prime example of leveraging new technology trends is by using food delivery partners such as Uber Eats.

For restaurant owners, this results in the ability to expand the business and increase the number of orders, without having multiple additional costs.

Lwandile Ndala from Wandies Place in Soweto has been operating on the Uber Eats app since its launch in Soweto in 2019. The lockdown has affected Wandies hugely. “As a buffet restaurant that mainly attracts international tourists, due to the pandemic we had to lay off staff and run the business mainly on deliveries since tourism is slow at the moment.” However, Lwandile states they have seen an increase in orders online as they have been able to still reach their customers via the app.

Another cost reduction comes in the form of staff count, as there is no need to hire any delivery staff, as this is all done by delivery partners that can access the Uber Eats app to make these deliveries. Uber Eats enables them to run their businesses while the app provides them access to a new market.

One such example is Grill Baby in Cape Town that is dedicated to the highest quality halaal ingredients, unique international flavours and sustainable packaging. While the pandemic has hit them hard, thanks to the Uber Eats app they have been able to reach new customers while still delivering to their existing client base.

Restaurants are also able to quickly and easily test out new food trends with their original menus via the online menu on the app, without having this impact their physical restaurant. This means easy new meal testers without a physical menu change.

For example, Wandies was able to use data and customer feedback provided by the Uber Eats app, to get a sense of what customers enjoyed more from their menu, therefore, allowing them to make sure it’s always available. “We are also looking to expand our dishes to cater for students as there is a huge increase in student accommodation in our area, so this will be an opportunity for us to increase our client base.”

Uber Eats houses a large sum of critical data that can be mined effectively into trends, needs and opportunities for various restaurants. By using Uber East’s data analytics tools, restaurants can tap into local market gaps or seasonal tastes, which in turn may attract more consumers and help the business evolve with the changing trends and tastes, continuing its relevance and profitability.

An italian eatery, Nonna Mia, based in Norwood and Parkhurst in Johannesburg, whose offering is steeped in tradition and heritage, taking inspiration from nonna (which means grandmother in Italian) and her original recipes, has been using the Uber Eats app for four years now.

A manager at Nonna Mia explains: “The Uber Eats data informs our business strategy by allowing us to build on our strengths, address our weaknesses and refine our offering to ensure we are in line with consumer demands.”

He also adds: “While we were affected by the lockdown at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Uber Eats assisted us in ensuring our business continued to run, and we were able to serve our customers throughout. We found particular value in the promotions run through the app.”

Uber Eats will help onboard and guide all new restaurant-partners and, together with data and analytics, aid in the growth of their business. The approach is extremely hands-on and Uber Eats works with the restaurant to create the best possible service offering outcome.

As a business, we will continue to take actions that support delivery people, customers and our business partners, both large and small.

Follow ubereats_za on social media, visit https://www.ubereats.com/za or check your Uber Eats app to explore the local faves in your area and look out for more local deals running until 2 May to support your fave restaurants. #Supportlocal #UberEatsGetsIt