At the Asian restaurant, guests don't have to queue to pick up their order.

At the end of 2019, Rice & Noodles opened its doors for the first time in the Almby district of Örebro. An Asian food concept with a wide menu where everything is cooked from scratch with quality and care. Just over a month later, in January 2020, owner Philip Luu opened his second location on the other side of town.

In that space, located between McDonald's and Subway in Västhaga, we sit down with Philip to talk about his latest restaurant concept — where he chose to bet on an app for the takeaway side of the business.

"We wanted to create the option to take orders remotely. We've cut down the number of orders coming in over the phone. We noticed it straight away once we got the app going."

How big a share of your sales is takeaway?

"At Västhaga it's between 80–90% in the evenings and at Almby up to 95–98%. But at lunch we have more in-house traffic at both places. Then it's about 30% who sit in and eat."

Did you weather Covid-19 well thanks to a healthy takeaway side?

"Yes, we've done well. You can tell that people want to minimise their time in the space — a lot of people avoid coming in to order, and that's where the app is good. The older guests at Almby can stand and wave outside and shout in their order," Philip laughs.

Has the situation made you rethink things?

"We're careful about distance, avoiding queues, and keeping the spaces clean. Both in the kitchen and in the guest areas. Extra focus on hygiene."

Shorter queues, less stress

Keeping distance and avoiding queues is something that's become easier thanks to the app, Philip says.

"We set a prep time on the order that the guest can see in their phone. You don't get the same queue forming because the guest only comes in when the app tells them the food is ready to pick up."

The staff also benefit from not having a long line of hungry visitors at the counter.

"It's good for us too. It can get a bit hectic when there's a long queue, because you want to deliver faster and reduce the guest's wait. Since we set a time for the guest, we know what window we have to work in and we don't stress in the same way.

We usually set 10 minutes for prep. When we then mark the order as ready, sometimes the guest is at the door within 10 seconds," Philip laughs.

What do your guests think?

"They think it's great and very smooth. They don't have to stand and wait. If you've called and ordered, you still have to queue to pay. You can't just skip the queue we already have at the counter because you've called ahead. In the app it's all paid and done, so you just pick up your food — the guests like that."

"Part of the operation"

Philip and his colleagues at Rice & Noodles have worked with the app since it launched in April. Right now it's only open for takeaway orders, but there are plans to offer digital self-service for guests eating in.

"I've been thinking about letting guests order in the app while they're in the restaurant and pick up at a collection station. Then you can sit straight down at a table and skip the queue to order," Philip says.

Are there other plans coming up?

"We're working on getting Swish going. I think that'll help, since guests get more payment options."

Do you see any challenges?

"I think there'll be more and more app orders in the future, but it takes a bit longer for some people to get used to it. Younger guests we've noticed will happily try ordering in the app straight away. I think we need to market it a bit more.

But in our case, the app has become part of the operation. It'll replace phone orders, I think. We can cook the food, pack the order, handle plating, and take new orders all at the same time."

With such a high share of takeaway orders, you can understand that time gets freed up by not having to handle phone calls.

"Both we and the guests save time," Philip concludes.