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BlueCart 2016 Savings Report: Restaurant Online Procurement Survey Results

September 22, 2016

Mobile apps and the web have transformed the way consumers buy pizza, discover new coffee shops, and schedule a table at their favorite restaurant. But for the people running those restaurants and coffee shops, ordering from their suppliers has been in the dark ages of fax machines, phone messages, and handwritten orders on the back of a paper bag.

Fortunately, that’s all changing. A new generation of online restaurant ordering platforms are making it easy for restaurants to buy from all their favorite suppliers with the tap of a button. But do these new products really save time and money?

BlueCart, a leading online and mobile ordering platform for the restaurant industry, recently launched a formal research project to find out. We surveyed 13,000 restaurant owners to compare their real world experiences using the BlueCart platform to the traditional ordering methods they used before.

Our survey found that when restaurants switched from traditional ordering methods to online and mobile ordering via BlueCart, their orders were:

1. 5x MORE ACCURATE

2. 2x FASTER

3. And they CUT FOOD WASTE in HALF

BlueCart, an online and mobile wholesale ordering platform, launched a formal research project to quantify savings realized by restaurants that place wholesale orders using the BlueCart platform. From initial customer feedback, BlueCart’s team identified the following potential benefits which are quantified in the Savings Research Project below:

1) BlueCart enables buyers to use a single platform to communicate with all their suppliers, which saves time and effort.

2) BlueCart helps users to minimize human errors as evidenced by the decrease in the number of returned orders.

3) BlueCart facilitates operating with leaner inventories and thus, minimizing food waste from theft and perishability.

Increased Order Accuracy

Using a post facto survey design, BlueCart’s user base returned an average of 4.89 orders per week prior to the adoption of the BlueCart platform. After the adoption of BlueCart, the number of returned orders exhibited by our user base dropped to .87 per week. This represents a weekly drop of 82% in returned orders.

In our survey, restaurants using BlueCart returned an average of 4.89 orders per week prior to the adoption of the BlueCart platform. After the adoption of BlueCart, the number of returned orders dropped to .87 per week. This represents a weekly drop of 82% in returned orders.

Faster Ordering

Restaurants using BlueCart spent an average of just 43 minutes per week placing wholesale orders, less than half of the 1 hour and 41 minutes’ restaurants using traditional ordering methods spent placing orders. Based on the roles of our BlueCart’s user population, this equals an estimated cost savings of nearly $2 per order.

Less Food Waste

To assess the quantity of food waste saved, we studied restaurants using BlueCart to quantify the correlation between their user of online ordering and their overall food waste data. Due to increases in efficiency, better insights into order history, and a reduction in errors, our study showed that restaurants using online and mobile ordering platforms can run leaner inventories and reduce the amount of product lost to waste or theft each week by up to 52%, generating an estimated savings of $119 per week over traditional ordering methods.

Additional Data and Results

In an effort to quantify the benefits realized by restaurants on the platform, BlueCart surveyed 13,000 thousand people in the restaurant industry and combined that data with industry average salary information.

BlueCart users spent an average of 43 minutes per week placing wholesale orders versus 101 minutes per week for non-BlueCart users, a 57% reduction in time spent each week.

Additionally, 69% of BlueCart users spent 30 min or less doing their weekly orders, while 75% of non-users spend 60 min or more doing their weekly orders.

Based on the roles of our BlueCart’s user population and the national wage averages, the average time savings of 4.74 minutes per order equates directly to an average savings of $1.96 dollars per order.

To assess the quantity of food waste saved by the use of BlueCart, we sampled our user base to quantify a potential correlation between using BlueCart and a reduction in food waste.

Due to increases in efficiency, better insight into order history and a reduction in errors users can run leaner inventories and reduce the amount of product that is lost to waste or theft each week by 52%, generating a savings of $119 per week or $476 per month.

Survey Methodology

The survey asked 13,000 thousand respondents about their wholesale ordering regiment and current food waste statistics to better understand problems the restaurant industry faces and how BlueCart can address those problems that directly affect a typical restaurant's bottom line.

BlueCart understands that the restaurant industry balances on extremely thin margins. A couple of dollars here and there can be the determining factor between a great month or just getting by.

BlueCart helps restaurants run a cost effective business with an innovative set of tools designed to help make you more efficient and more profitable.

About BlueCart

BlueCart, an online and mobile wholesale ordering platform, launched a formal research project to quantify savings realized by restaurants that place wholesale orders using the BlueCart platform. From initial customer feedback, BlueCart’s team identified the following potential benefits which are quantified in the Savings Research Project below:

1) BlueCart enables buyers to use a single platform to communicate with all their suppliers, which saves time and effort.

2) BlueCart helps users to minimize human errors as evidenced by the decrease in the number of returned orders.

3) BlueCart facilitates operating with leaner inventories and thus, minimizing food waste from theft and perishability.

BlueCart launched in 2014 offering free mobile platforms to the restaurant and hospitality sector for the purposes of modernizing and improving the wholesale ordering process between buyers and suppliers. BlueCart received $4 million in Series A Funding and occupies offices in Washington DC, New York City, and San Francisco with over 15,000 businesses on its platform. Today, the company is a lucrative, award-winning SaaS start-up.

Visit BlueCart.com to learn more about how we are contributing to the minimization of restaurants’ food waste and the maximization of every dollar.