DoorDash’s New Tool Helps Restaurants Build Websites
Storefront will enable participating restaurants to control their own customer experience.
Need to Know
- The new function, called Storefront, will allow participating restaurants to create websites “at the click of a button”, DoorDash says.
- DoorDash estimates 40% of its partner restaurants do not currently have websites.
- The goal is to provide an online presence where patrons can view menus, pictures of items, and order food.
- Restaurants using DoorDash are more likely to have remained open during the COVID-19 lockdown, delivery service reports.
Analysis
Restaurant delivery service DoorDash revealed a new function this week that will allow restaurants to build their own websites, in an effort to help businesses continue to thrive amid the coronavirus crisis.
DoorDash Storefront, which is part of a program called Main Street Strong, will allow restaurants to create their own websites offering takeout and delivery, with deliveries still fulfilled by DoorDash couriers. Restaurants will have oversight over the customer experience, and will not pay a commission to DoorDash on orders they receive via Storefront.
In a post announcing Storefront published on its official blog, DoorDash wrote that, by the company’s own estimates, 40% of its partner restaurants do not currently have their own websites. As online ordering has ramped up in the wake of COVID-19 lockdown measures, DoorDash’s latest function is aimed at helping restaurants continue to weather a new industry climate that favors online retail and commerce; in the same blog post, DoorDash estimates that restaurants using DoorDash have been four times more likely to remain open.
For restaurants that would rather have DoorDash manage their digital ordering experience, the company is expanding its Weblinks program. DoorDash will offer 0% commission on all Weblink orders, both delivery and pick up, until the end of 2020 for restaurants with five or fewer locations.
Also part of Main Street Strong is an initiative from DoorDash called Local Restaurant Saturday, which will see the service waive all delivery fees on local restaurant orders on Saturdays throughout the month of June.
DoorDash is currently waitlisting interested restaurants for Storefront and will roll out the service widely in July.
