Archive for the ‘Merchant Experience’ Category

The Potential for iPhone Ordering

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

There’s new iPhone sales numbers out from Apple today, and they’re huge. We use iPhones here at orderTopia, and are big fans. But even we’re surprised at how popular the iPhone has become. Apple sold 7.4 million iPhones in the past quarter. And Mary Meeker has a new presentation out talking about how the iPhone has been of the fastest adopted pieces of technology hardware ever.

I think both of these stories are indicators about the potential for iPhone and mobile ordering. We’re still building out our cloud-infrastructure that will be the backbone of our native iPhone app, but stories like these just push us even harder to get to market. We’re psyched to be developing for the iPhone, and can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on.

orderTopia’s mobile ordering iPhone app is going to be the way to connect your restaurant to the millions of iPhone users. Learn more about orderTopia’s iPhone ordering solutions at our website.

iPhone, Mobile, and Online Shopping for Retail Stores

Friday, September 25th, 2009

We just uploaded another video to the orderTopia YouTube channel! This video explains how orderTopia can directly help retailers grow their business and their store’s sales. No longer are a retail store’s sales limited to in-store customer traffic. With orderTopia, a retailer’s potential customer base grows from customers who can walk in the door, to everyone with a computer, Smartphone, or iPhone.

Next we’ll show you how how to sign up for user and merchant accounts on our website.

Restaurant Online Ordering (and Retail!)

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

One of the coolest features of orderTopia will be our online ordering suite.

orderTopia will offer seamless online restaurant ordering.  What does seamless online ordering mean?  It means creating an excellent shopping experience for the customer, and a smooth fulfillment process for the restaurant.  For the customer, our website will be easy to use, fun, and very functional.  Find what you’re looking for (or find something new!), order, and pay–all online.  All you need to do is pickup your order (or wait for delivery).  For restaurants, orderTopia’s online ordering will be an extension of their store that integrates seamlessly into their existing POS system.  When a customer orders a cheeseburger online, the order ticket will look just like a cheeseburger ordered at the store. orderTopia is all about extending your brand and your storefront, without creating additional tasks or changing the way your kitchen works.

orderTopia will also offer online ordering for retail stores, which may seem like an odd combination, food and retail.  But when you think about it, retail catalogs are actually pretty similar to restaurant menus.  A list of items of for sale, with descriptions (maybe pictures), prices, and a few other customization options.

One of our goals in offering online ordering to retail stores is to give the funky little boutique an awesome e-commerce site to match its brick and mortar storefront.  Maybe the cool little store on Main Street can’t afford to pay $15,000 for a top notch e-commerce engine.  But they can afford orderTopia at $35 a month. They’ll get a customizable storefront to extend their store’s brand and design, complete with all the bells and whistles to do big business online (iPhone ordering, Smartphone ordering, Social Media integration, and more).  Online ordering for retail stores means offering your products to customers who never would have been able to visit your store.

Next up, I’ll talk about our mobile ordering solutions.

Exciting Times for Restaurants

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

I was reading the Dining section of the New York Times online earlier today, and the restaurants I read about keep getting more and more interesting.  I think now is a great time to be a restaurant customer, and it’s one reason I’m so excited about orderTopia.  Everything about restaurants is getting better:  increased usage of local ingredients, better designed stores, more advanced kitchen equipment.  And of course,  great food coming out of the kitchens.  Perhaps the food offerings have always been this good in America, but I feel like we’re in the middle of a restaurant renaissance.  I’m constantly reading about new restaurants or chains that sound like great concepts.  Which is why it’s a great time for orderTopia.  One area restaurants have been slow to change is their technology.  orderTopia is going to offer restaurants all kinds of new services that haven’t been available before.  We’re going to start rolling them out at the end of this year, but you’ll hear about them first here on the blog, and also on our website.

Partnering with FireFly POS

Monday, July 20th, 2009

As I wrote in our last post, we’re super excited about having Elevation Burger as one of our partners for the beta-testing of orderTopia. One of the things that’s important to Elevation Burger, as well as any restaurant, is having an iPhone ordering and online ordering software suite that complements their existing POS system. A major piece of this is having iPhone orders and online orders automatically routed to the correct kitchen and receipt printers.  Mobile and online orders will increase the amount of food your restaurant sells, but they shouldn’t make you change the way your kitchen operates.\n\nElevation Burger uses FireFly POS for its in-store point of sale systems. We’ve partnered with FireFly to offer an integrated mobile and online ordering solution.\n\nThis means that iPhone, Smartphone, and online orders for Elevation Burger will be the same as orders made at the register inside the store. iPhone cheeseburger orders will look just like in-store cheeseburger orders. The same goes for online and Smartphone orders. Restaurants won’t have to change their kitchen processes at all (except to prepare for more orders).\n\nWe’re going to start looking for new restaurant partners soon. If you’d like to learn more about adding iPhone, mobile, and online ordering to your POS system, send me an email.

Meeting with Potential Beta Tester

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

We’re talking with an exciting up and coming restaurant chain based in NOVA/DC about partnering with orderTopia for beta testing. We’re headed up to Arlington early next week to give them the big pitch. Fingers crossed! I think this could be a great partnership for both sides.