How to reduce in-house calls, increase online orders

Labor shortages still plague the restaurant industry post-COVID. The industry is down 750,000 jobs (roughly 6.1% of its workforce) from pre-pandemic levels as of May 2022, according to the National Restaurant Association. In the first quarter of 2022, customers mentioned "short staffing" three times more often in their Yelp reviews than the previous year.

Hazlnut has found that 18% of all calls are missed and three out of four of those callers were trying to place an order. Of those that do get answered, they are put on hold an average of 60 seconds, leading to a poor customer experience, fewer return visits and a loss of potential revenue.

Rerouting those callers was the focus of a webinar "Embrace post-COVID opportunities in your restaurant" hosted by Pizza Marketplace and sponsored by Hazlnut.

Teaching viewers how were Dick Sikes, co-founder and CEO of Hazlnut, and Steven Edwards, co-founder and COO of Hazlnut. The speakers were accompanied by Solomon Davis, digital strategy and operations consultant for Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken.

Halznut's HazlVoice: Lite helps direct callers to a company's website with the press of a button. It improves order accuracy and gives the customer autonomy over their ordering experience. It also frees up time, enabling a restaurant's staff to spend more time engaging with in-store customers.

With the press of a button, callers can be texted the company's website to order online, or they can press another button to speak with a representative. It takes them directly to the ordering page and they can start adding items to their cart.

"We've seen really good success with this," Sikes said, "with 20% to 30% of all calls being directed to digital orders. … It's not only a better experience for the customer who ends up placing their order online — it improves their order accuracy, it's a quicker process and there's no hold — but it also improves the experience for others who don't even opt for the link but want to call the store."

Edwards said automation is the next step in restaurants' tech journey, both back of the house and front of the house, including AI voice ordering.

"When you call in to a restaurant, you're actually talking to a bot, but you're talking to them in natural language and it'll take your order altogether," Edwards said.

Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken is one brand using Hazlnut's HazlVoice. Davis said his brand has experienced the pinch of labor shortages, including recruitment and retention. His company has taken a look at how it hires and has turned to job fairs in alternative communities from which Uncle Remus doesn't typically pull, including seniors. Technology has also helped the brand.

To accommodate including calls and the rise of pick-up, Uncle Remus encourages customers to place their orders ahead of time and to use the company's website. It keeps the register staff from having to answer phones at the same time they're dealing with customers in-store.

"Now I can tell the team that 50% of people who call us are requesting that link," Davis said, "and so the data link has been huge for us."

To watch the webinar on demand, click here.