How to Set Up a Phone System to Handle More Takeout Orders

For busy restaurants and take-out businesses, a good phone system is the secret ingredient to running smoothly — especially during peak times like Friday nights or public holidays. Missed calls and long hold times can have a direct impact on your revenue, making getting the most out of your Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system essential.

From call forwarding to custom hold features and seamless integrations with the best restaurant point of sale (POS) systems, modern VoIP systems offer multiple ways to help you manage escalating orders efficiently. However, if you’re committed to never missing an order, you need to know which features to look out for and set your phone system up accordingly.

This guide explains how you can get your VoIP system to keep up with ordering demands in simple steps. We also outline some key VoIP features you should know about, to help you keep your customers satisfied — even during the busiest rush.

Why Busy Food Businesses Should be Using VoIP Over a Landline

For busy takeaways looking to maximize their orders, traditional landlines no longer cut the mustard. A standard phone line can only handle one call at a time, leaving other customers to hit a busy tone or hang up.

Its old-fashioned setup also makes it poorly equipped to meet the needs of modern food businesses, especially those where delivery and takeout orders make up a bigger slice of revenue. 

VoIP systems help restaurants and delivery businesses overcome these challenges. They allow managers to handle multiple calls simultaneously, reroute calls during peak hours, and streamline communication, with smart features like SMS order updates and POS integrations. 

VoIP systems offer tons more flexibility the landlines, too. Unlike traditional phone systems, which are limited to a physical location, they run over the internet, enabling staff to make and receive calls from virtually any device, from tablets to smartphones. This allows employees to stay connected from different locations, ensuring no customer call goes unanswered. 

Features like real-time analytics, voicemail-to-SMS and order-tracking integrations also help to automate key processes and unlock valuable insights. By taking one more thing off their plate, managers can stay focused on the task at hand, whether it be running the kitchen or managing the front-of-house, instead of juggling calls.

How to Set Up Your Phone System To Handle More Takeout Orders

With takeout and delivery orders on the rise, restaurants and food businesses need to make sure their VoIP system is capable of handling escalating demand.

Here’s how to set your phone system up for success, in six simple steps.

1. Assess your current needs

Before upgrading or making changes to your business phone system, you should evaluate how your business currently handles calls. You can do this in a variety of ways, including:

• Tracking call volumes at different times: Identify your business’s peak hours, such as Friday dinner rush or weekend lunch, to determine when extra lines or staff may be needed.
• Logging how many calls go unanswered: See when customers are most likely to get voicemail and check why calls are being missed.
• Measuring customer wait times: Check how long customers have to wait during busy times, and whether long waits are impacting order volume.
• Identifying common call reasons: Log what most calls are about, whether it be checking menu items, making orders or checking delivery statuses. 
• Assessing staff availability during peak hours: Check whether workers are overloaded during peak times or whether they’re able to handle calls with ease. 

By identifying your pain points, you’ll be able to determine which VoIP features are the most important, such as call forwarding tools to reduce customer wait times or implementing auto-attendants to ensure no order is missed during peak hours.

2. Set up a smart auto-attendant

An auto-attendant acts like a virtual receptionist by answering incoming calls, providing callers with menu options, and directing customers to the correct department or staff member.

The capability can provide a lifeline to busy food businesses that would otherwise rely on staff to filter the call purpose themselves. For example, a pizza shop could set up the auto-attendant to say “Press 1 for takeout, 2 for delivery, or 3 to speak to a member of staff”, automating the routing process and ensuring the customer reaches the right team without unnecessary delays. 

An auto-attendant can also provide callers with useful information, such as opening hours, online ordering options and daily specials. By addressing potential queries directly, this function helps to reduce the reliance on phone lines and keeps staff focused on other tasks.

3. Use a call queue

Call queuing is a feature businesses can use to place incoming calls into a waiting line when staff are busy. 

The tool is particularly useful for high-volume takeout restaurants, as it reduces the chance of customers dropping off when they hear a busy tone. Call queuing can also reduce stress for your staff by relieving them of the pressure of responding to calls immediately.

For example, a busy burger joint could use the feature to place callers in a line during peak lunch or dinner hours, ensuring every customer gets through, while allowing staff to focus on important tasks like managing in-person orders, and prepping and cooking food.

A robust call queue feature can even provide estimated wait times or promote online ordering to keep customers engaged while they wait, increasing the chances of them finalizing their order. 

4. Enable mobile access for managers

Managers aren’t always on location to answer calls. By enabling mobile access for select workers, restaurants can ensure no call is left unanswered, even when staff members are away from the counter or out making deliveries. 

Aside from helping managers deal with customer queries, VoIP apps also let staff manage key communication tasks remotely, from checking voicemail messages and reviewing call logs to sending SMS delivery confirmations. 

For example, during a dinner rush, a Thai restaurant could automatically forward calls to its manager when lines are busy. Whether they’re out on a delivery or a supply run, the manager could then confirm the order remotely and notify the kitchen to reduce wait times, and send a confirmation to the caller to let them know when the delivery is on its way.

5. Consider useful add-ons

While VoIP systems are powerful on their own, their potential is amplified when they’re combined with other useful restaurant systems. For instance, third-party integrations can help restaurants streamline commission channels and manage high volumes without missing a beat. 

By integrating your VoIP system with SMS and instant messaging platforms, restaurants and food businesses can receive and send messages through their main business number, taking pressure off phone lines, and allowing staff to reply in a way that’s more convenient for them. 

Integrating your VoIP service with one of the best POS systems should be a no-brainer, too. By syncing the two systems, phone orders are automatically transferred to the POS, reducing the time associated with logging them in manually.

When a regular customer calls, POS systems can also display useful customer information, such as previous orders and delivery addresses, helping staff process orders more efficiently. 

6. Review and refine your system regularly

Things move fast in the hospitality industry, and your needs are unlikely to be the same one or two years down the line. For example, customer demands and expectations may evolve, your workforce might rotate, and your restaurant or takeout business might introduce new menu items or promotions. 

Therefore, to ensure your VoIP phone system is always capable of meeting your demands, it’s important to review its effectiveness at regular intervals. To do this, we recommend checking the following metrics quarterly or biannually:

• Testing your call flows: Call your business during busy hours to better understand the customers’ user journey. 
• Gathering feedback: Ask your front-of-house team how the system works for them. You can also ask customers how satisfied they were with their ordering experience. 
• Checking network performance: Check whether your Wi-Fi connection is working strongly, across the clock. 
• Analyzing call data: Review all logs for missed calls, peak hours and average handling time, to understand when your phone system is under the most pressure.

After you’ve completed your regular review, implement changes based on its results. For instance, if your network dips off during critical hours, consider switching network providers. Or, if customers are consistently hitting busy tones when they’re trying to order, upgrade your VoIP software to unlock smart auto-attendant or call forwarding features.

VoIP Features That Streamline Takeout and Delivery

Modern VoIP systems are stacked full of tools that help restaurants handle escalating order demands efficiently. Here are some features you should be aware of, alongside examples of how they can be used in the real world.

Should You Consider Switching VoIP Providers?

The truth is, not every VoIP system will be able to meet the needs of busy food delivery businesses. So, if your current phone system can’t handle your ordering demands, it’s worth switching to a system that can.

We’ve reviewed the best VoIP providers, prioritizing factors like call handling features, costs, and integrations, to help busy business owners find the best fit for them.

Based on our research, systems like RingCentral offer powerful multi-level interactive voice response (IVR) systems to help busy restaurant and take-out businesses filter calls seamlessly, while 8×8 lets you make unlimited domestic calls so you can call suppliers and follow up on enquiries without breaking the bank.

Learn more about how the best phone systems compare in our side-by-side comparison table.

If cost is your number one concern, read our detailed review of the cheapest VoIP systems.