Cloud kitchen, a term that has made a lot of noise in the restaurant industry in the last two year and is on its way to becoming the go-to business model for someone venturing into the food business. In recent times, brands such as swiggy, amazon are betting on cloud kitchen like never before. For instance, swiggy intends to invest 250 cr (source: YourStory) and bring up about 1000 cloud kitchens across the country. Cloud kitchens come with a lot of moving parts from kitchen operations to delivery management & they require an efficient operation. This can be automated and handled with care by a cloud kitchen software.
We made an analysis of cloud kitchens that are already established in the industry and came up with a checklist that can help one evaluate software to ease their cloud kitchen operations. Here they are the basic questions to ask before you buy your cloud kitchen software :
1. Can your software accept orders from food aggregators?
Cloud kitchens are dependent on delivery as a business and it is a no brainer that the software you choose has to be integrated with online ordering portal such as Swiggy, Zomato, UberEats, Foodpanda etc. The more number of aggregators they are partnered with the easier it is for the cloud kitchen to increase the number of the orders they receive and scale business.
Almost all POS solution provider offer this in the recent time, but if your cloud kitchen software provider is not offering this then it is time to switch the software or do not choose it!
2. Can you do menu changes for your brand on food aggregator portals?
This may sound complex but in simple terms, it means that if you make a change of your menu in the POS system it should be reflected in your online menu on the aggregators. 6 out of 10 cloud kitchen we interacted with stated this as a basic requirement for a cloud kitchen. The key reason was that cloud kitchen usually operates as multiple brands in the same kitchen. This lets them have access to multiple kinds of inventory and they experiment using the same to make interesting dishes.
For this experimentation to be successful, there is a need for menu level integration so that cloud kitchens can experiment with new dishes and pricing as and when they need.
Therefore, Go for a cloud kitchen software that lets you change menu, price and gets reflected on the aggregator’s portal.
3. Can you process orders from your own website/APP?
As we know cloud kitchens rely heavily on the aggregators, they are constantly looking to break the chain by having their own ordering website and mobile app. Once a cloud kitchen becomes an established brand they intend to pull customers to their own website and app. This is possible as the consumers are attached to the taste and even if they are not listed on the aggregator they know that there is a loyal customer base that will order from their app/website.
The cloud kitchen software that you choose to should be able to handle orders from the website/app that you build in the near future as your business scales.
4. Does the software have a dynamic kitchen inventory management?
One of the biggest challenges of running a food business is managing accurate inventory and avoiding wastages. This requires proper planning and tracking of ingredients that are used in the daily kitchen operations. POS systems of today have recipe management and daily production planning but lack the same when it comes to doing it for online orders. This is a major area of concern for a cloud kitchen that is dependent on online orders.
Therefore, Choose a cloud kitchen software that does your inventory management in real-time and gives you insightful reports to better you kitchen operations
5. Does it have a CRM & lets you run marketing campaigns?
Cloud kitchens are hidden from the real world and make noise in the market only with their business. This makes it all the more reason for them to utilise every opportunity that they have to make noise about the brand and the menu offered.
Your cloud kitchen software should allow you to run marketing campaigns to your customer base about the new dishes or offers that you have
The key thing to any successful marketing campaign is the customer base you have and the insights you get from the reports. The software should have in-depth reports about your customer about their ordering frequency, most ordered dishes, the timing of orders etc. These details lets you optimise and target the right set of audience for your campaigns.
Cloud kitchens are here to stay for a long time and the market is adapting to the trend rapidly. For a fast-paced business model such as cloud kitchens, operations are the backbone and technology can strengthen their operation without any hassle. Check out our solution specifically designed for cloud kitchens and know why more than 300+ cloud kitchen businesses trust us!
