“The online ordering app has saved us almost a staff member’s salary. We don’t know why more restaurants don’t use it.”

Charming Thai

Costs down, business up

“We have been using the YQme online ordering app since May 2016 and it has so many benefits. We used to use Delivery Hero, eat now and Menulog but we didn’t find them very useful at all in terms of support and pricing – they were getting quite expensive. And I think at the end of the day it’s all about their brand, not about our restaurant, our Charming Thai brand” explains Jason, co-owner of Charming Thai restaurant on the Central Coast of NSW.

“When we moved to our own branded app, at first you have to explain it to customers, because when you say ‘have you got our app’ they think of Menulog, and we say no our app…and they download it and they love it. We explain that YQme is a young Aussie company based in Manly, but operating all over Australia. Customers love it, it is so easy to use – we have lots of customers who say the reason why they come here is because we actually have our own online app, so convenient and easy.

The other day this lady came in and said ‘oh my god I love this app, it’s great, I just ordered for the first time today on the train, and my food is ready to pick up on my way home from the station’. The number of YQme orders have increased dramatically, we used to have probably about 20% of take-away and delivery on online in the early days, and it has gone up to about 40% of our business.”

Charming Thai, established in 2013, is a proud part of the NSW Central Coast community in Charmhaven.  It is a very popular restaurant, serving the freshest authentic Thai food, providing dine-in, takeaway and home delivery seven days a week lunch and dinner. “We are the only Thai restaurant on the Central Coast of NSW offering delivery in traditional Thai tuk-tuk. Our customers are like family, we see about 90% of our customers at least once a week. We also supply local schools and hospitals with lunches as well.”

Saves money, promotes efficiency

“I highly recommend YQme to other businesses who want to save costs, who want to run their business efficiently. We have not had a single day it was not working since we got it. Before our own app, we used to have a full-time person on the phones, especially Friday and Saturday nights – it used to ring every 20 secs….some customers would complain they had been on the line so long, couldn’t get through.

We put a flyer into every single take-away bag to let them know about the app, we tell them ‘don’t wait on the phone, order online’. And now the number of phone calls are at least half, most orders now come online, So the app has saved us almost a staff member’s salary. It also creates more efficiency in the kitchen with clear orders printed out (not handwritten, which takes time and is also sometimes not clear).

Business portal and menu changes

With the business portal, I love the fact that I can go in there and change the menu instantly. We can also add specials, modify descriptions, and if we run into any problems, we get support pretty much on the spot. Most of the items we have on the menu here have been tested by passing it through the specials section on the online app – if it’s not selling at all then there’s no point in having that on the menu.

I find it very easy to use, we are able to manage our own customers and use the customer database to promote events, specials, quiet times. Other services we used in the past don’t give you access to your own customers! Every year we run a report of our Top 10 customers and send them a thank you gift.

As a business owner, I find the financial function in YQme business portal is very useful. I’m able to run reports, and at the end of the year I am able to send some reports from YQme portal to my accountant directly.

One of the huge benefits of being with YQme is that I am able to manage costs. I can manage my business from overseas when I am away – I can see orders coming through and can say ok tonight is busy, got 45 orders here, so can manage staff. We can do the graph when is a busy night, what orders…that’s why I thought to myself we could actually move everything onto the YQme ordering system so it’s easier to manage…resources, the data  insights…. cash flow …menu planning.

We’ve spoken to other business owners and we’ve said how good YQme is and encouraged them to try it….. you have your own branded app, so you are building your business and brand (not someone else’s). So yes, I highly recommend YQme to other businesses who want to save costs and run their business effectively.”