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The present invention relates to systems for web-based restaurant ordering or other retail ordering. More particularly, the invention relates to systems for automatically submitting online orders from a customer to a business using an order engine to optimize online ordering efficiency and to automate online ordering for the business.
In today's fast-paced world, many people do not always have the time to cook at home nor the energy to dine out. Instead, they turn to carry-out and/or delivery restaurants. Typically, to place a carry out order a customer will either telephone the restaurant and place an order for pick-up or delivery, or stop by the restaurant to place the order and wait for the food to be prepared. Both of these methods have their downsides. For example, customers often call in to restaurants with a menu in hand, but the menu is one that has been lying around the house for years and is incorrect and outdated. Some restaurants are noisy and there are often significant communication problems, first verbal with the customer and then the cook or chef must decipher the employee order-taker's handwriting. Thus, resulting orders may not even turn out to be what the customer intended, resulting in a large margin for error and customer dissatisfaction throughout the process.
On the restaurant side, the nature of a telephone call demands immediate attention and this is often frustrating for employees fielding many calls and trying to serve the orders at the same time. It is also frustrating for customers if they sense that they do not have the employees' undivided attention. In sum, telephone ordering between a customer and a restaurant can be a frustrating and error-prone process, one that is not good for business.
As a result, there have been many attempts at in-house ordering systems to reduce error. For example, many fast food restaurants have graphical cash registers with icon representations of food items to avoid entry errors. The register then sends the order directly to the cooks to avoid transcription errors. However, no such level of automation currently exists in the carry-out world, where the telephone is still the primary means of communication.
Other ordering systems require the direct involvement of a restaurant owner in the form of a sign-up to a service and a relationship with the take-out order provider. The order is generally placed via a web page or a mobile application on the take-out service provider site or mobile application. However, this system requires the restaurant to sign-up for a dedicated take-out service which requires the issuer of the order to look-up and type in a full order and hope the restaurant will honor the order upon receipt.
Additionally, take-out ordering requires a plurality of challenging preconditions for both the customer and the business. For example, the customer must have access and knowledge of the business's menu. This requires the customer to find a physical menu or obtain a copy of the menu online which is time consuming and does not guarantee the customer has the most up-to-date menu. Further, the customer is required to know how to place an order. Some businesses have websites that customers can directly order from, however, other businesses may not even have a website and the customer is required to directly call the business to place an order. Customers are also required to know the location of the business they wish to place an order from relative to their present location. Knowledge of the distance between the customer's current location and the business determines whether the business will deliver, for example, or whether the customer is willing to travel to the business to pick up the order. The business, on the other hand, is required to determine the appropriate means of distributing order related information to the customer which can be time consuming and increase operational costs.
Thus there is a need for a system and method for a service provider to offer restaurants an online ordering service for their customers that is more efficient and error-free than call-in ordering.
The present invention overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks by providing a system and method for automatically submitting an online order from a customer to a restaurant, without requiring the business to sign-up for a service prior to receiving orders. Input data and customer data is used by an order engine to select a deployment platform, such as social media networks, search engines, mobile applications, and related websites, for a user interface. The user interface automatically populates the restaurant's menu options and business data, allowing the customer to seamlessly build an order without redirecting the customer to a dedicated page or impacting the current design of the restaurant's menu. The order engine submits the order to the restaurant via a non-verbal communication platform. An automated confirmation call is generated to the restaurant confirming receipt of the order. From the confirmation call the restaurant may choose to repeat the message, accept the order, connect to the customer, connect to the service provider, decline the order, or opt-out. The order engine allows the restaurant to monitor online orders and to, optionally, enroll in the above services for subsequent online orders.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a system for automatically submitting an online order from a customer to a business is disclosed. The system includes a processor configured to access a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to act as an order engine provider. The order engine provider carries our the steps of providing a user interface displaying offerings available from the business despite the business having no previously-established business relationship with the order engine provider. The order engine provider then receives, through the user interface and from a potential customer of the business, an online order indicating customer identification data and selections of offerings by the business. The online order is submitted from the potential customer to the business. The order engine provider also provides at least one response option for the business to communicate acceptance of the online order, the business having no previously-established business relationship with the order engine provider. Then, based on the at least one response option selected by the business, a status of the online order is determined that can be monitored by the order engine provider or the business.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a system for automatically submitting an online order from a customer to a business is disclosed. The system includes a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium having stored there on at least one of input data and customer data configured to be analyzed by an order engine. The system also includes a processor configured to receive the input data and the customer data. The processor is also configured to access the non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium to execute the order engine to determine one or more deployment platforms for the order engine to receive the online order. The deployment platform provides a user interface having displayed thereon the input data related to the business. The customer data from the user interface and items to be included in the online order are received from the input data provided on the user interface. The online order is then submitted via a non-verbal communication platform to the business. One or more response options related to the online order are provided for the business to select, and a status of the online order is determined based on the one or more response options selected by the business. The status of the online order can be monitored by the processor or the business.
The foregoing and other aspects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which there is shown by way of illustration a preferred embodiment of the invention. Such embodiment does not necessarily represent the full scope of the invention, however, and reference is made therefore to the claims and herein for interpreting the scope of the invention.
This description primarily discusses illustrative embodiments as being implemented in conjunction with restaurant menus. It should be noted, however, that discussion of restaurant menus simply is one example of many different types of unstructured data items that apply to illustrative embodiments. For example, various embodiments may apply to unstructured listings from department stores, salons, health clubs, supermarkets, banks, movie theaters, ticket agencies, pharmacies, taxis, and service providers, among other things. Accordingly, discussion of restaurant menus is not intended to limit various embodiments of the invention.
Referring now to
As described in more detail below, the order engine 20 may be configured to receive the input data 12 and consumer related data 14 to determine which deployment platforms 22, such as search engines or social media networks, for example, the business's online ordering interface should be provided on in order to improve online ordering efficiency and increase online orders. As will be further described, the business input data 12 may include, but is not limited to, the business menu including a plurality of business offerings, the business location, the business phone number, the business fax number, the business delivery hours, the business pick-up hours, photographs of the plurality of business offerings, feedback data, and the like. The consumer related data 14 may include, but is not limited to, the consumer's first name, the consumer's email address, the consumer's street address, the consumer's phone number, an estimated delivery time for the online order, an estimated pick-up time for the online order, and the like.
The order engine 20 may include a deployment platform selector 24 that chooses, based upon, but not limited to the business input data 12, the consumer related data 14 and, as will be described, feedback from the business 26, which deployment platforms 22 to provide the online ordering interface on for customers to build and submit an online order (i.e., delivery order, take-out order, and the like) to the business. A dynamic order resource manager 28 may be configured to receive consumer related data 14 that corresponds to the consumer activity generated on the targeted deployment platforms 22 and determine which deployment platforms 22 increase online orders for a particular business (i.e., a restaurant). Based on the quantity of online orders, the order engine 20 may adjust the deployment platforms 22 to increase the business's online orders.
Referring now to
The business input data may also include a location of the business as shown at block 106. The business location 106 may include a business and/or home address, city, state, zip code and country, for example. A business phone number and/or fax number, as shown at block 108, may be another form of business input data retrieved at process block 102. In addition, a business email address, as shown at block 110 may be yet another from of business input data. Business hours, as shown at block 112, is business input data that may include the business's normal operating hours, specific delivery hours, specific hours for take-out orders, and the like. The business hours 112, along with the other business input data, is provided to the order engine 20 of
The above-described business input data described with respect to blocks 104, 106, 108, 110, and 112 is used by the order engine 20 of
Several deployment platforms are available for the order engine to choose from at process block 114. Some non-limiting examples are provided in
Once the deployment platform(s) has been determined at process block 114, the order engine may provide the online ordering interface to customers on the deployment platform at process block 126. An example online ordering interface is shown in
Returning to
To build the online order at process block 130, the customer may be provided the restaurant menu 202 on the user interface 200, as shown in
Still referring to
Returning to
The user interface 300 may provide a summary of the online order 316 with an estimated total for the selected menu items, for example. In addition, the user interface 300 may display the business input data 302 for the business, including the business name, business address, business phone number, and business hours (not shown). A name section 304 may also be provided for the customer to enter a name to be associated with the online order. Similarly, a phone number section 306 may be provided on the user interface 300 for the customer to enter a phone number in case the customer would need to be contacted about the online order. An email section 308 may also be provided for the customer to provide an email address to be associated with the online order. The email address may be required prior to the customer submitting an online order, such that a confirmation email from the order engine may be sent to the customer. The customer may manually enter the customer related data into the name section 304, the phone number section 306, and the email section 308 of the user interface 300. However, if the customer has an existing customer account, as determined at decision block 128, or the customer generated a customer account at decision block 134, the customer related data may automatically be populated on the user interface 300.
Still referring to
With reference again to
However, if the order engine determines that the business has previously received online orders from the order engine at decision block 150, the order engine simply submits the online order to the restaurant via a communication platform at process block 152. To provide a more seamless experience, the communication platform provides contact information through a medium allowing written communication, for example. Thus, the recipient (i.e., the business) of the online order can process the order reliably, without requiring verbal communication. Some non-limiting examples of communication platforms for submitting the online order at process block 152 include email, as shown at block 156, such that the order engine sends an email containing the online order to the business. Alternatively a fax, as shown at block 158, including the online order may be sent to the business's fax machine from the order engine. Similarly, the order engine may send the online order to a printer, as shown at block 160, located at the business. Or, the order engine may send a text message, as shown at block 162, including the online order to the business.
Once the order engine submits the online order to the business at process block 152, the order engine generates an automated confirmation call at process block 164. The automated confirmation call may be generated, for example, to ensure someone at the business is made aware of the online order. The automated call may provide information related to the online order such as, the take-out service company providing the order, and the method through which the restaurant should have received the order (i.e., fax, email, print, etc.) at process block 152. The automated call may also provide information related to the online order such as, a common identifier for the customer issuing the order, such as the customer's first name 140 obtained at process block 138. Additionally, or alternatively, the time at which the customer will come and pick up the order or time desired for the delivery may be information that is provided by the automated confirmation call. Lastly, in one non-limiting example, an estimate of the amount to be paid for the online order may be provided in the automated confirmation call to the business at process block 164. By providing the amount of the online order, the order engine (i.e., service provider) can instill more confidence that the automated confirmation call is legitimate and that the business should attend to the online order.
Once the automated confirmation call to the business is generated at process block 164, the order engine determines if the confirmation call was received by the business at decision block 166. For example, if the automated call fails due to a busy signal or the detection of an incorrect phone number for the business, the order engine determines that the call was not received at decision block 166. Thus, if the call is not received at decision block 166, the order engine may attempt to submit the online order to the business again at process block 152. This process may continue until the order engine determines that the automated confirmation call is received by the business at decision block 166. However, if the order engine continues to determine that the confirmation call was not received by the business, the online order may be sent to a specialist that will attempt to reach the restaurant manually to update the status of the order. If the specialist cannot get through to the business, the consumer who issued the online order may be notified of the failed attempt to get his/her order through. Thus, the order engine does not issue a confirmation to the customer until confirmation that the business has received the details of the order via the communication platform is determined at decision block 166.
If the order engine determines that the automated confirmation call is received by the business at decision block 166, response options are provided to the business at process block 168. The response options include, but at not limited to, repeat the message, as shown at block 170, accept the order, as shown at block 172, connect to the customer, as shown at block 174, connect to the service provider (e.g., the order engine), as shown at block 176, decline the order, as shown at block 178, and opt-out from receiving future online orders from the order engine, as shown at block 180. Once the automated confirmation call has provided the response options to the business at process block 168, the order engine receives a response from the business at process block 182. The response from the business at process block 182 may be one or more of the response options provided at process block 168.
Turning now to
However, if the business chooses to accept the order, as shown at process block 185, the order engine may be configured to automatically send an order confirmation message to the customer via the communication platform, as shown at process block 191. The order confirmation message may communicate to the customer that the online order will be processed by the business. The communication platform used to notify the customer may be email, phone, or text message, for example. Once the order confirmation message is sent to the customer at process block 191, the customer can expect the online order to be delivered at the pre-specified time (i.e., if the order was scheduled as a delivery). If the online order was a take-out order for pick-up, the customer can arrange to pick-up the order at the time identified on the user interface 300 of
At process block 186, the business may choose to connect to the service provider. For example, if the business is hesitant about the online order received by the order engine, connecting to the service provider can reassure the business that the online order received at process block 152 of
At process block 187, the business may choose to connect to the customer. Before the order engine connects the business to the customer, the order engine may be configured to contact the customer via one of the communication platforms, as shown at process block 194, to verify that customer would like to connect with the business. If the customer confirms the connection at decision block 195, the order engine connects the customer and the business to complete the online order transaction at process block 196. However, if the customer does not confirm the connection to the business at decision block 195, the order engine may automatically notify the customer via the communication platform that the online order will not be processed by the business at process block 193, and the order engine may suggest that the customer contact the business directly.
Lastly, at process block 188, the business may choose to opt-out from receiving further online orders from the order engine. Once the business opts-out, the order engine may automatically notify the customer via the communication platform that the online order will not be processed by the business at process block 198, and the order engine may suggest that the customer contact the business directly.
Once the online order is complete, the business may decide to enroll in the services provided by the order engine. The business may contact the service provider operating the order engine from the enrollment information received at process block 154 of
If the business decides to enroll in the services provided by the service engine, the business may receive synchronous feedback with asynchronous ordering to bring more take-out traffic to the business. This can be accomplished by configuring the order engine to track business metrics, such as recording the quantity of consumer orders related to the different deployment platforms that the online ordering interfaces are provided on, as well as, tracking revenues received from the consumer orders. As a result of the consumer orders, consumer related data 14 shown in
In one non-limiting example, search engine data, such as keywords searched by consumers on the deployment platforms, may be consumer related data obtained and used by the dynamic order resource manager to generate a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy for the business. The SEO strategy may include, for example, generating a list of business specific keywords based upon some, or all, of the business input data obtained at process block 102 of
Once the SEO strategy is generated, the deployment platform(s) is determined for the online ordering interface. The deployment platform may include, but is not limited to, search engines, social media networks, mobile applications, and business related websites, as previously described. Thus, the SEO strategy can bring more take-out traffic to select businesses, and the take-out service provider can optionally drive more traffic to take-out web-pages, for example by purchasing relevant keywords for the business. By driving traffic to specific businesses and in conjunction with limits on orders for a particular business, the take-out service provider can sign-up more businesses for its service. In one non-limiting example, the SEO strategy may use customizable Java Script based menu widgets. The Java Script may run in the customer's browser. Additionally, or alternatively, if the Java Script is a Google Chrome Extension, the online ordering interface including the business's menu could be returned with the search results entered by the customer.
The take-out service provider can optionally provide businesses the ability to enable ordering capability directly from the business's own website, mobile site or Facebook page, mobile applications (e.g., running on the IOS or ANDRIOD operating system), and the like. Thus, the order engine can provide the business with an SEO friendly stylized widget powered menu, for example, on its website having built-in take-out functionality. Furthermore, if the take-out service provider powers menu widgets on third party company websites or drives content in mobile applications, for example, it can further expand the reach of its service by enabling take-out widgets on these online properties or mobile applications.
In another non-limiting example, the order engine can provide a unique identifier, such as a number, for each business that it has stored in the remote content source 10 of
However, if the third party chooses not to work with the order engine to obtain the unique identifier corresponding to each business, a program or application or script may be used to determine the unique identifier or otherwise connect the order engine with the content. The script may be a Java Script, for example, that automatically determines the unique identifier for each business by scanning the content provided by the third party. Thus, the third party can run the script so that menus, for example, can be provided for the businesses referenced in the third party's content.
In yet another non-limiting example, if the third party chooses not to use the unique identifier or actively participate in connecting the content with information, such as menus, available using the unique identifier, a user-side script, application, or widget, for example, may be used. For example, if the user is accessing an online newspaper from a computer, the client-side script, application, or widget will scan the content of the online news paper to identify businesses and access the unique identifiers corresponding to each business. Once the unique identifiers are obtained, the order engine may provide the menu for the business to the user.
The above described script, application, and/or widget used to identify businesses included in the third party's content is not limited to online newspapers. Additionally, or alternatively, the script, application, and/or widget may be deployed in web browsers as a browser extension. For example, the browser extension may be a Google Chrome Extension that provides a user the ability to hover over a web-link, for example, to return the menu corresponding to one or more businesses displayed by the web browser. Thus, the user may be provided the business menu and the ability to place an online order for the business through the order engine.
The above described systems and methods enable businesses, such as restaurants, to receive more business via existing communication methods and provides the opportunity for a restaurant to enroll in a take-out service. An additional benefit to the resulting service is that it allows the take-out order service's company to acquire new restaurant customers for its services at a low cost and at scale provided the prerequisites are met.
The present invention has been described in terms of one or more preferred embodiments, and it should be appreciated that many equivalents, alternatives, variations, and modifications, aside from those expressly stated, are possible and within the scope of the invention.
This application is based on, claims the benefit of, and incorporates herein by reference in their entirety U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/818,736 filed on May 2, 2013 and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CROSS-MEDIUM AUTOMATIC TYPESET MENUS, FRICTION-FREE ORDERING, AUTOMATIC WEB PRESENCE CREATION, AND AUTOMATED SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING” and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/818,713 filed on May 2, 2013 and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATED DATA CLASSIFICATION, MANAGEMENT OF CROWD WORKER HIERARCHIES, AND OFFLINE CRAWLING.”
Number | Date | Country | |
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61818736 | May 2013 | US | |
61818713 | May 2013 | US |