Client
Any true Londoner knows there are few contenders to match the Chinese restaurant group, Good Earth. Traditional, famous for its connection to its homeland, the restaurant has always been determined to educate customers on the true taste of Oriental cuisine.
Good Earth has created a thoughtful combination of original dishes and old favourites that keeps customers both intrigued and reassured. Through quality sourcing and wildly engaging flavours, Good Earth has stood out from store 1 to store 8.
Challenge
In late 2015, Good Earth was approached by some of the best marketplaces offering a customer base that couldn’t be matched even with the client list that Director Andy Kwok himself had built over the years.
Keen to give anyone their spot in the sunlight, Good Earth trialed with the likes of Hungry House, Deliveroo and Uber Eats. Andy’s team found that it increased their burden of cash flow as well as increased the difficulty of building their own branding.
With a fresh perspective needed, Andy approached Lineten with the hope of owning his own space to connect with his customer base. “We needed to build an online platform for our customers that would allow us to maintain control of our brand and cash flow with the added benefit of zero commission.”
What’s more, integration into a POS system brings lots of challenges. Restaurants need to rethink the whole operations design from the preparation of food to the delivery. Good Earth Group discovered that they could enhance customer experience and control the ownership of their brand through NOQU Online, POS Bridge and NOQU Delivery System (NDS), a digital online ordering platform that integrates with a delivery system provided by Lineten.
Solution
We created a branded online store connected to delivery provision and any POS system required, incorporating all three Lineten products: NOQU Online, POS Bridge and NDS.
This gave Good Earth an all-in-one mobile and web ordering solution that brings the restaurant front to customers any time, any place. It is designed to enable customers to gain access to the group’s restaurants and takeaways with the fewest number of clicks possible. Its intelligent design provides a slick and intuitive experience for customers which drives loyalty and repeat business.
Good Earth quickly saw the results, saving costs and enhancing customer visibility (in terms of customer profiling, order history, etc.) and their needs both online and offline.
Andy expected any operation connected to his establishment to enable it to work 10 times harder.
“With a huge shift of consumers ordering online, Lineten has allowed us to keep our business relevant and commission-free by providing our loyal customers with a smooth and convenient online ordering experience – from order placement to the home delivery, Lineten has provided us with a very elegant solution”
Prepaid orders remove the risks of wastage due to non-collection and customer queuing in store. With NOQU supporting many payment providers, we could ensure Andy was able to continue internal payment provision trials and seamlessly transact customer after customer. Some of our providers include: PayPal, Apple Pay, Worldpay, Judopay, Realex, Elavon and Global Payments. The online ordering platform utilises secure Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant international payment gateway services to allow access to the widest range of customer payment types.
How it works: https://order.goodearthgroup.co.uk/
Benefits
Easy ordering means repeat business
Online ordering has been a bonus to the restaurant industry. Data from the National Restaurant Association illustrates the challenges of imposing large technological shifts on customers. 42% of consumers say the ability to order online could make them choose one restaurant over another.
Technology has changed consumers’ habits and expectations. In the world of online ordering, convenience is king. It is so important to provide a great online purchase experience to customers. Customer experience could be considered as personalised order preferences, mobile payment, rewards and speedy delivery. Digital ordering is a big win to restaurants of all sizes – restaurant chains or individual restaurants. NOQU as the branded ordering platform enhances online user experience, allowing restaurants to build their own brand loyalty and to save on commissions.
“NOQU is a complete solution from ordering, processing, all the way through to delivery. It makes the online ordering very easy.”
Restaurants could enjoy continuous recurring revenues from loyal customers if they offer fast ordering flow, efficient delivery, and reliable customer service and food quality.
Integration made easy
Today, the implementation of technology like online ordering platforms, POS integration and dispatch systems is no easy feat for restaurants without partnering with a marketplace. Necessities like payment provider integration, network resilience and protection of customer data (referring to GDPR) are daily challenges.
In order to be sure that the above issues are covered, it’s vital that restaurants have a technical support team and partner in their corner, one that understands the risks and challenges within your industry and more. Good Earth felt they could lean heavily on Lineten to guide them through uncharted territory; ensuring where technically they felt under-resourced, we could support them.
Our technical team begin the process with a project kick-off and discovery lasting approximately 2-3 days per client depending on the scope of the project. Following the discovery, we go into a live project, managed by qualified PNP software project managers and our operations launch team to ensure all possible requirements from the first click to the last drop are dealt with accordingly.
Following the launch, our team provides a range of support packages ranging from simple technical cover to customer support communications with your end clients so while you sell and deliver, we manage your customer accordingly.
“In the early days when the platform was still bedding in and our staff was adjusting to a new system, Farrakh, Technical Director at Lineten, and his team were on hand 24/7 to help our transition,” said Andy.
He added: “Being a startup business, Lineten had the energy and enthusiasm of a new business that we were looking for with the added benefit of previous experience in setting up IT for Five Guys. They soon proved their commitment and efficiency and our online platform was developed quickly in close collaboration with our team – which was essential, as it was vital that the platform had to be tailored to our business. Of course now the Lineten platform is fully integrated into our operations all staff are trained and on the occasion when technical support is required, the tech team are quick to respond.”
Lineten provides a complete suite of system integration services for digital ordering. Full lifecycle support with local helpdesk and maintenance gives complete peace of mind.
