5 Ways To Transform Your Customer’s Takeout Into a Real Dining Experience

The decor, background music, and lighting are just a few of the elements that create a restaurant’s ambiance. Help your guests recreate your venue’s atmosphere by curating a Spotify playlist that complements the food that you serve, and make this easily accessible by sharing it on your website.

Consider pairing that with a small selection of table decorations, like tea lights and flower arrangements in partnership with a local florist. These goodies can be made exclusive for delivery orders for a small add-on fee.

How your food is plated reflects the level of care and quality of your restaurant, and makes for a memorable first impression. Though plating a dish perfectly may be more difficult to do with takeout, sourcing the right kind of packaging can help your food make it to the customer’s door without being a cold and sloppy mess.

Pay attention to how you package and present individual components of the dish, especially sauces and soups that might spill over on the delivery journey.

Communicate your restaurant’s messaging through branded napkins and takeout boxes, which help deliver subtle hints of a dine-in experience.

This can be as simple as stamping a take-out bag with your restaurant name or slapping on a sticker with the company logo.

Part of the enjoyment of dining in has always been the opportunity to learn about drink pairings from staff. On your takeout menu, highlight your signature spicy margarita next to your Baja fish tacos, or the smokey pinot noir with the peppercorn steak. Consider offering half bottles of wine for take-out diners, which are perfect for parties of two to enjoy a glass with their meal.

This fun-sized bottle of wine is ideal for its portability and encourages your customers to be more bold and adventurous with their wine pairing without having to commit to a full bottle.

Make the takeout experience more than just about unboxing the food by engaging your guests.

On a thank you note, invite guests to engage and interact with your restaurant via a scannable QR code, which could lead them to fun recipes of your signature dish or cocktail, the story behind your restaurant, or inspiration behind a certain dish.