At lunchtime, a restaurant isn’t necessarily short on customers. What it often lacks is the ability to serve everyone at the right time. When the line gets longer and the kitchen is running at full capacity, every minute lost becomes a potential sale that slips away.
Click-and-collect changes this structural constraint. Orders arrive before the rush, production is organized in advance, and the flow of customers is no longer something the business has to simply deal with.
This type of online ordering isn't just another channel. It's a different way to fill your restaurant.
The growth of click-and-collect at restaurants isn't driven by technological advances, but rather by a very concrete shift in consumer behavior: customers want to decide when they eat.
Ordering before arriving, paying online, and picking up without waiting is becoming the norm, especially in the fast-food industry.
For a business, this creates an immediate advantage: the sale begins before the customer arrives.
This time shift changes everything. It helps smooth out demand, reduce peaks, and increase overall capacity without expanding the room.
Takeout and delivery are ancillary channels that are now driving the sector's growth.
Today, more than 60% of consumers say they regularly use a digital channel to order a meal, whether through click-and-collect, delivery, or an app.
In other words, a significant portion of sales no longer begins at the counter, but on a screen.
When click-and-collect is properly integrated, it has a threefold impact.
First, the register gets a break. Some orders are no longer placed at the physical counter but are instead placed online. The staff saves time taking orders.
In many restaurants, this channel also has a direct impact on order value: the average order value can increase by 15 to 25 percent, thanks in part to greater clarity regarding the menu offerings and a more seamless online personalization experience.
Next, the kitchen becomes more visible. The orders come in ahead of time, which makes preparation easier and reduces the number of unexpected issues.
Finally, service capacity increases without changing the size of the restaurant. The same space yields greater output.
This last point is crucial. Click-and-collect does not replace the dining room: it increases service capacity without expanding the restaurant's physical space.
👉 See also: How to Promote Your Online Order?
When this becomes a problem, it’s not the concept of “click-and-collect” itself that’s at issue, but rather how it’s integrated into the restaurant.
A system that is not properly integrated with operations does not create additional capacity. It simply adds another layer of complexity to the existing service.
This actually has the opposite effect of what was intended: it slows down the organization and hinders workflow during peak hours.
In practice, this always plays out the same way:
The result: teams don't gain capacity; they waste time.
During peak hours, this fragmentation takes its toll immediately: orders pile up, errors increase, and the kitchen loses control of the workflow.
Simply implementing a click-and-collect service does not guarantee better performance. What matters is how it fits into the restaurant’s operations. Four factors are key.
The first stage at which a click-and-collect service loses sales is even before the order is placed.
If the process is slow, confusing, or too long, the customer will give up.
In practical terms, what does an efficient ordering process look like for your customers?
Every extra second or hesitation along the way has a direct impact on the conversion rate.
In fact, studies by the Baymard Institute show that, on average, nearly 70% of users abandon their online shopping carts, mainly due to friction in the checkout process and during payment.
It's not the number of options that determines performance, but the simplicity of the choice.
The second critical issue is an internal one.
A "click-and-collect" service can quickly become counterproductive if the kitchen is caught off guard instead of planning for it.
In a well-organized restaurant, online orders aren't just an "add-on." They're integrated into the production workflow.
In reality, this involves:
Without this clear organization and the teams taking the lead, click-and-collect ends up complicating the service just when things are picking up speed, leading to errors and delays.
The challenge, then, is not to produce faster, but to produce more intelligently.
A modern restaurant no longer sells through just one channel. It sells in-store, via click-and-collect, and sometimes through delivery.
If these data streams are separated, the system quickly becomes unstable.
We then observe the following:
The restaurant owners we work with don't talk about technical convenience. They talk about efficiency, reducing errors, and the ability to handle peak demand.
Even if it's well-designed, a click-and-collect service is useless if customers don't see it.
In many restaurants, service is available, but it remains invisible when it comes time to make a decision.
It’s simply a matter of reminding people that it’s there—and, above all, that it makes life easier.
The goal isn't to add "extra" communication, but to trigger a reflex: to think about click-and-collect at the same time you think about placing an order.
👉 See also: Online Ordering: 9 Reasons to Skip Platforms for Your Restaurant
Not all click-and-collect solutions are created equal. Some simply allow you to take online orders. Others are designed to support long-term business growth.
Before making your decision, ask yourself these four questions.
One of the main benefits of click-and-collect is that it creates a direct sales channel.
Every order provides you with valuable information: visit frequency, top-selling products, purchasing habits, and average order value. This data helps you better understand your customers and implement targeted loyalty initiatives.
Conversely, some platforms provide you with little insight into your customers and limit your ability to re-engage them.
Before you set up your system, make sure your solution allows you to store and analyze this data.
A business may start with just a few orders a day and then see its volume increase rapidly. It may also expand its delivery service, open a second location, or broaden its product offerings. Your solution mustbe able to keep up with this pace.
Switching to a different solution a few months after its deployment involves not only a financial cost but also a waste of time and a loss of bearings for the teams.
The right choice, therefore, is to anticipate future needs rather than simply responding to current constraints.
Click-and-collect generates a significant amount of data. It’s a real goldmine—provided you can turn that information into decisions.
A restaurant owner needs to be able to determine when orders are at their peak, which items generate the most revenue, and which time slots require more kitchen staff.
This information is particularly valuable for adjusting schedules, updating the menu, or measuring the impact of a marketing campaign.
At Innovorder, this management approach is an integral part of our click-and-collect solution. The goal is not just to take online orders, but to give restaurant owners the tools they need to understand their business and continuously improve it.
With click-and-collect, everything comes down to the very last step. A customer can browse your menu, fill their cart, and choose a pickup time slot—and then abandon their order if they can’t find their usual payment method.
This is particularly true of digital meal vouchers, which are now widely used to pay for lunch.
For a restaurant owner, the issue is simple: every payment method that isn't available can result in lost sales.
Integrate meal vouchers directly into the online ordering process thereby removes a barrier to purchase, streamlines the customer experience, and maximizes the click-and-collect conversion rate.
In practice, payment is an integral part of the ordering experience. An effective click-and-collect service isn’t just about offering in-store pickup; it must allow customers to order, pay, and pick up their meal without encountering any obstacles.
Click-and-collect cannot be effective if it is not integrated with the point-of-sale system.
When connected, controls are automatically centralized, and teams work in a single environment.
This immediately reduces the risk of errors and improves coordination in the kitchen.
Guillaume, a Smash Smash franchisee in Bordeaux, sums it up this way:
"The Innovorder checkout system is like a control tower: it automatically processes all my orders, whether they come from the kiosk, delivery, or click-and-collect."
This centralization is fundamentally transforming the way a restaurant is managed.
In an independent restaurant, complexity is limited. In a chain, it’s part of everyday life.
Any changes to the menu, prices, or promotions must be updated across multiple locations.
Without a centralized tool, this involves repeated and time-consuming steps. With a unified system, everything is deployed instantly.
Abdullah, director of franchise development at NBK, explains how this works:
"In the back office, I can create my menu and easily replicate it across all my locations. And in an instant, all the restaurants can have it on their cash registers, their kiosks, and their Click & Collect systems."
The main benefit is not just operational. It is also strategic: ensuring the network’s overall consistency.
👉 See also: 7 Tips for Increasing Your Restaurant's Online Orders
Setting up a click-and-collect service is just the first step. You then need to be able to understand what it actually brings to your business.
The approximately 2,500 restaurant owners we work with often ask themselves the same questions: Which time slots generate the most orders? Which items sell best through click-and-collect? At what order volume should we increase kitchen staff? Is the average order value higher for online orders than for in-store orders?
This information allows you to look beyond simple revenue figures. By analyzing order data, you can, for example:
All of these figures are powerful tools to help you make better decisions.
That is precisely the approach taken by Atlas by Innovorder: to give restaurant owners a clear picture of their business so they can plan ahead, adjust their operations, and turn click-and-collect into a real revenue booster.
Click-and-collect doesn't just shift existing sales. It creates new opportunities for consumption.
When implemented correctly, it increases the restaurant's overall capacity without requiring additional resources.
This is what the real-world experience of several retailers shows.
Field Zoom
“I’ve increased my sales by 50% thanks to delivery and click-and-collect.” Peggy, BCHEF franchisee.
Click-and-collect doesn't just make operations more convenient. It also helps capture additional business and increase overall volume without changing the restaurant's structure.
👉 See also: Click & Collect, delivery drivers…: How should you organize your restaurant?
After reading this article, it’s impossible to view “click-and-collect” as just another service adopted to follow the trend. For many restaurant owners, it has become a way to serve more customers without expanding the restaurant or increasing operational burdens.
But simply adding an online ordering module to your website isn’t enough. That’s where the real difference lies: Do orders automatically get sent to the register? Do your teams know what to prepare and when? Do you have a clear picture of what this channel is actually bringing in?
At Innovorder, we’ve found that the businesses that get the most out of click-and-collect are those that have integrated it as a full-fledged sales channel, just like dine-in or delivery. This makes the service run more smoothly, keeps teams better organized, and allows the business to generate additional sales without expanding its physical space.
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Switch to a click-and-collect service that actually drives sales. Contact an Innovorder expert.
This step is crucial and must not be neglected, otherwise all your efforts could be reduced to nothing...
On the front door, at the counter, on your menus, or even in the bathroom! You are free to make your self-promotion wherever you want, with a poster that can be seen and not forgotten.
The most important thing is that your customers know that they can now order online from their favorite restaurant!
For your most connected customers, social networks, like Facebook or Instagram, are a real source of information. And more and more, finding information about your favorite restaurant goes through there.
So, if you manage your brand's accounts, be sure to mention that click and collect is now possible. Also, don't forget toinclude the link to the online ordering page.
If you already have a website, re-fill your takeout page and make it visible so that no orders are lost.
Finally, if your restaurant is listed on Google, and in particular on Google Maps, same battle: complete the description of your page Google My Business page with the appropriate information.
At this point, you've done the hard part!
But to make a lasting impression and attract even more customers, here's our final tip: focus on the customer experience.
Here are some examples to inspire you:
These details will not only delight or even surprise your customers, but there is a good chance that they will talk about their positive shopping experience.
What we wish you?
Let your concept be shared in photos on social networks by your customers and let them talk about you!
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With this advice, are you ready to go?
Talk to a consultant who will be able to guide you step by step until your project is a success!
