While reality TV programs on cooking networks portray the restaurant and bakery industry as glamorous, the truth is that it’s a lot of hours of hard work. What they don’t show are the years it takes to rise to the top as a restauranteur and the challenge of remaining planted firmly at the top once you arrive there.
A successful restaurant or bakery owner knows that they must continuously evolve, mastering new technology that provides an ever-increasing level of customer experience. Without that, customers turn to Facebook, Yelp, and Google to leave scathing online reviews.
EmailMeForm knows the struggles you face. We work with hundreds of restaurant and bakery owners, building the online forms that help you deliver the best in class customer service that today’s customers demand.
Today, we will showcase five living, breathing forms that restaurant and bakery owners have implemented using our form builder. Take a look.
Bakery or Restaurant Order Form
Whether you’re selling scrumptious cakes and cupcakes or encouraging customers to order takeout or delivery lunch ahead of time, an order form is an indispensable tool.
An order form takes the pressure off of your business in three different ways.
First, let’s imagine a customer is hosting a large business meeting at her office. She decides to order in lunch for the team.
By placing that large delivery order by using an online form instead of calling, your front desk is not on the phone creating manual tickets and processing credit card payments.
This streamlined process enables the staff to do what they do best—serving customers that are in the restaurant. And, it doubles as your payment form. You can be confident knowing that you store your credit card payment form data away from hackers in the EmailMeForm Vault.
Second, the online order form helps to eliminate any errors in order placement. There’s no chance of your staff miskeying an order and causing a re-fire, wasting time and money—and making the customer happy.
Finally, an online order form takes the pressure off of your production staff.
Let’s imagine that a customer wants to purchase several dozen cupcakes from your bakery. If they walk in to make the purchase, they could wipe out your daily inventory—sending you scrambling to bake cakes for the second time of the day.
Spread the word about ordering ahead on your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and you’ll have customers trained to start using your order form in no time at all. We love how Origin Bakery sets expectations by clearly communicating the order cutoff times on the order form. Great work!
Employment Application Form
In October 2018, The Michelin Guide reported that the food service industry has a skyrocketing annual turnover rate of over 70 percent. The article goes on to explain that restauranteurs report staffing as one of their top priorities.
Without employees, you cannot serve customers. This alarming statistic means that restaurant and bakery owners spend volumes of hours recruiting, training, and working with employees. It also suggests that restaurant and bakery owners hire new staff on a continuous basis.
Creating an online employment application form can help you attract new applicants via your website or social media channels.
Unlike walk-in applications, the online employment application form will be ready and waiting to help you recruit 24/7/365.
Implementing this new step of your hiring process will help you increase productivity so you’ll free up time to work with your existing staff and amplify your company’s overall customer experience.
We like that Yummy Yummy Mongolian Grill & Sushi includes a mandatory checkbox certifying that the applicant is making truthful statements. Nice job application form!
Did you know that the EmailMeForm online form builder also allows you to add a digital signature field if you wish?
Table Reservation Form
Across America, it seems like it’s increasingly difficult to compete with the casual walk-in dining restaurants. Yet, to distinguish yourself as the upscale alternative, it’s a service you must offer.
Let a table reservation form do the manual labor on your behalf.
It benefits the customer because they can access your table reservation form whenever they need it. This feature becomes especially important for restaurants open evenings only. You don’t need to pay to staff the front desk and do nothing but answer the phone all day.
A table reservation form benefits you, the owner, because you can utilize this online form to drive sales and to ensure you have your facility staffed adequately.
Plus, it’s a fantastic marketing tool! Knowing that tables book in advance creates a sense of urgency, and can trigger a change from “thinking about reserving” to “reserved” in the mind of your customer, making you more money.
We found the table reservation form offered up by Chateau Nightclub & Rooftop very smartly done. Because they are reserving a limited number of prime tables at a premium price, their form clearly states different levels of investment for various budgets.
Venue Registration Form
Does your restaurant have a venue for meetings, conferences, or wedding receptions?
Consider allowing online bookings using a registration form. Implementing this form can help you book more special events and minimize paperwork.
When you ask users to give you a specific date and time, it creates “limited-time urgency.” This makes the users want to send their information over and secure the space for their event date. They fill in a form, and you can contact them back to confirm and build a personal connection.
Here is how this procedure makes you more productive.
Once you’ve confirmed the event booking, you can email the guests an invoice and payment form, getting your cash quicker. Not only can you receive credit card payments, but you can also connect your form to QuickBooks or other accounting apps to keep your receivables clean.
You can also require the renters to confirm that they understand your rental policy via a digital signature.
We are crazy about the Tirzah Venue Registration Form because it includes rental details, a link to their policies, and an electronic signature field. On top of that, they put their personal stamp on their form with their logo and an image.
Customer Evaluation Form
Except for locations in high-volume tourists zones, repeat clients are the lifeblood of your restaurant or bakers. These people are the ones who return time and again to celebrate milestones, birthdays, and graduations under your watchful care. Whether they are ordering celebratory cakes or treating their friends to a dinner party, you treat them like family and treasure the relationship.
What if there were a way to build even more of these relationships? There is, and you can implement a Customer Evaluation Form (aka Feedback Form) to get there.
Not only is a customer evaluation form essential to assuring that your customers receive stellar service, but it is also one of the best ways to collect data for email marketing.
Here’s how this works in the foodservice industry.
You customize our customer evaluation form template and publish the link. Add a bit.ly or QR code that prints on the bottom of the customer’s receipt. When they complete the survey, you will offer them the opportunity to opt-in to receive updates, menu changes, and news about your business. Boom—you just collected email data.
People love to give their opinions, so they like surveys.
Furthermore, you will obtain data for following up for the customers who share opportunities for improvement with you. Strengthening relationships by service improvements is vital for a successful bakery or restaurant.
Instead of a customer’s survey, we are sharing our food evaluation template for your convenience.
EMailMeForm and the Restaurant and Bakery Industry
We work with hundreds of restaurants and bakeries, just like yours. We understand your needs, so we provide you with the tools that will help you put your online forms to work for you asap!
Some of the features you’ll love include the following:
- Collect payments easily
- Lock up credit card data in Vault
- Connect payments to your QuickBooks account
- Integrate forms with your social media accounts
- Obtain digital signatures
- Easy to use online form builder
- Advanced security measures (like encrypted forms)
More than loving the forms, you will enjoy the increased productivity, extra time you can spend on leveling up your business, and security for your form data.
Deborah Tayloe
Deborah is a blogger and freelancer who often writes for EmailMeForm. When she’s not blogging, you’ll probably find Deborah working on DIY projects around her home in North Carolina.
