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Best WordPress WooCommerce Alternative for Restaurants

Looking to set up a food ordering system but don’t want to mess with all the technical stuff? We’ve got you.

No setting up, no coding, no issues. A complete out-of-the-box restaurant ecosystem starting at $49/mo.

A Complete Restaurant Ecosystem in One Place

Unlike general eCommerce solutions like WooCommerce, we’ve created UpMenu specifically to fit the needs of restaurant owners. With UpMenu, you’re getting:

  • A dedicated online ordering system that allows you to save up to 30% on delivery fees
  • A restaurant website and mobile app
  • An online reservation system
  • A digital restaurant menu (QR code menu included!)
  • In-app tableside ordering
  • Marketing tools, including SMS and email marketing, loyalty programs, gift cards, and a full-blown restaurant analytics system (fully integrated with Google Analytics)
  • Google ordering 
  • Customizable website and mobile app templates for those who like to be in full control

Lean Back, Relax, and Let Us Set It up for You

No need to worry about any technicalities. We know you’re busy. Unlike other eCommerce platforms where you need to build the whole system by yourself, we’re giving you a ready product. All you need to do is sign up and let the magic happen.

best woocommerce alternatives for restaurants free setup example photo

Before You Ask ‘But Why UpMenu?’

Features & Business Benefits
UpMenu
WooCommerce
Free set up
$0 - We will set it up for you for free

$450+ If you’re not capable of setting it up yourself, you’re going to have to pay a developer to do so (approx. $150/h)

A fully functional, ready-to-go website
V You get a fully functional website on day one

You have to build the website yourself or pay a developer to do it for you

Restaurant mobile app
You get your branded own mobile app
You can customize the app to fit your brand

No mobile app included

Marketing tools & analytics
Ready to go from the start

Developer help is required to set everything up correctly

Online ordering system
A fully-functional online ordering system from the get-go

Developer help is required to set everything up correctly

Table reservations
Take online and on-site table reservations

Paid plugins and developer’s help required

QR code menu for tableside ordering
Your customers can order directly from your app
QR code menu included

Not available

Loyalty program included
All the tools required to start a loyalty program are included in the price

Paid plugins and developer’s help required

Email marketing included
Email marketing tools are included in the price. Send special offers and keep in touch with your audience

Paid plugins and developer’s help required

SMS marketing included
SMS marketing tools are included in the price. Send last-minute offers and maximize your sales

Paid plugins and developer’s help required

Gift cards system included
Gift cards system included in the price. Create an additional source of revenue from day one

Paid plugins and developer’s help required

A Complete Online Ordering System

Your own branded online ordering system allows your customers to order directly from your app and website. This means you’re able to skip the ghastly (up to 30%!) 3rd party commissions and capitalize on your business a hundred percent.

Your Own Restaurant Website and Mobile App

There aren’t any other WooCommerce alternatives that can offer you this much for so little. 

Developing a functional mobile app alone can cost you anywhere from $40,000 to $60,000. Developing a fully functional WordPress site for your WooCommerce business is going to cost you a couple of extra grand. With UpMenu, you’re getting all of that for as little as $49 a month.

A Comprehensive Restaurant Marketing Solution

best woocommerce alternatives for restaurants: restaurant marketing

A high-quality website and app are great, but they alone won’t make your restaurant a success. We’re set on giving you all the tools you’re ever going to need to succeed. That’s why with UpMenu, you’re getting an entire marketing system.

  • Email marketing
  • SMS marketing
  • Loyalty programs
  • Gift cards
  • Feedback system and reputation analytics

Seamless Online Reservations

Plan ahead and fill the tables. You don’t need any plugins to get all the extra features. Give your customers the comfort of hassle-free online reservations and increase your turnover.

Mobile Menu With Tableside Ordering (QR Code Menu Included!)

Get this: a customer walks by your restaurant. There’s a QR code waiting to be scanned at the entrance. Curious, the customer scans the code. Suddenly, he finds himself inside your app, getting a 25% off of his first order. The mouthwatering pictures of your food combined with a discount are simply irresistible. 

What’s more, your customer can order directly to the table and pay for his order – all in one app! Guess what—you’ve just won yourself a new customer.

Customizable Website and Mobile App Templates

Customize your app and your website to match your restaurant’s image. Upload yummy-looking photos of your food and your logo, change styles and colors, and keep your branding consistent.  

Why Restaurateurs Choose UpMenu

Play Video

During these 10 years of cooperation, we have saved $1.5M. This would be the cost if we only used 3rd party portals with a 15% commission.”

~ Andrzej Pelc-Gonera – Owner of the Sushi Kushi, King Kong and Ramen Shop restaurant chains.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

When it comes to finding the ideal eCommerce platform for your online business, WooCommerce often stands out as a popular choice. As a powerful WordPress plugin, WooCommerce has established itself as the most popular eCommerce plugin within the WordPress platform. However, in a realm where options abound, it’s worth exploring whether there are alternative solutions that may better suit your needs. 

From specialized platforms like Easy Digital Downloads to a variety of other feature-rich eCommerce plugins and dedicated eCommerce website builders, there are indeed alternatives to consider when it comes to selling online. In this article, we’ll delve into various eCommerce platforms beyond WooCommerce and explore their features, advantages, and suitability for different online business requirements.

Here are some of the main alternatives worth considering:

1. UpMenu: The top option if you’re a restaurant owner. UpMenu offers an entire food ordering system that includes a branded website and mobile app, QR code menu, table reservation, marketing system, and more for as little as $49/mo. Importantly, you’re not only getting a complete restaurant ecosystem, but you can also have the whole thing set up for you completely free of charge.

2. Shopify: One area where Shopify is often considered better than WooCommerce is in terms of simplicity and ease of use. Shopify provides a user-friendly interface and a streamlined setup process, making it an ideal choice for beginners or non-technical users who want to quickly set up an online store without extensive technical knowledge or configuration. Shopify’s fully hosted solution also eliminates the need for users to manage their own hosting environment, making it a simpler option for those who prefer a hassle-free eCommerce platform.

3. Magento: Magento is often considered better than WooCommerce in terms of scalability, advanced features, and customization options. It is designed to handle large catalogs and high traffic, making it suitable for businesses with complex eCommerce requirements. Magento provides advanced functionality, such as powerful product management, flexible pricing options, multi-store capabilities, and robust B2B features. With a large community and extensive customization options, Magento offers a comprehensive solution for businesses seeking a scalable and highly customizable eCommerce platform.

4. BigCommerce: BigCommerce is often considered a better choice than WooCommerce due to its ease of use, built-in features, and scalability. It provides a user-friendly interface, responsive themes, and comprehensive tools for managing products, orders, and payments. With built-in integrations for popular payment gateways and shipping providers, BigCommerce simplifies the setup process. Additionally, it offers a strong focus on scalability, ensuring that your online store can grow alongside your business. BigCommerce’s all-in-one solution eliminates the need for separate hosting or plugins, making it a convenient and efficient choice for businesses of various sizes.

5. OpenCart: Opencart provides a user-friendly interface, making it easier for users to set up and manage their online stores compared to WooCommerce. It offers a wide variety of extensions and themes, allowing for extensive customization and flexibility. Opencart is particularly suitable for small to medium-sized businesses in industries such as retail, fashion, electronics, beauty, and home goods. It also works well for businesses that require multi-store functionality, as Opencart allows users to manage multiple stores from a single dashboard. The platform’s simplicity and scalability make it an excellent choice for businesses looking to establish an online presence quickly and efficiently.

6. PrestaShop: PrestaShop stands out as a user-friendly eCommerce platform, providing a straightforward setup process and an intuitive interface. It offers a wide range of features and customization options, allowing businesses to tailor their online stores to their specific needs. PrestaShop is suitable for small to medium-sized businesses in various industries, including fashion, beauty, electronics, home goods, and more. It offers advanced capabilities for managing products, inventory, and customer relationships. With its strong focus on internationalization, PrestaShop provides multi-language support, multiple currency options, and tax rules for businesses targeting global markets. Additionally, PrestaShop has a thriving community and a marketplace offering various modules and themes to enhance the functionality and design of online stores.

7. Squarespace: Squarespace offers seamless integration of website building and eCommerce features, making it an excellent choice for small businesses or individuals looking for an all-in-one solution. With its user-friendly interface and professionally designed templates, Squarespace allows users to create visually appealing online stores without the need for extensive technical knowledge. Squarespace provides built-in eCommerce features such as product management, inventory tracking, and order management, making it suitable for businesses in various industries, including fashion, art, crafts, and lifestyle. Additionally, Squarespace emphasizes mobile commerce by offering responsive design templates and mobile apps for managing and serving customers on the go. With its focus on aesthetics and simplicity, Squarespace is a compelling option for businesses seeking a visually stunning online store with integrated eCommerce capabilities.

8. Wix: Wix provides an all-in-one solution for website creation and eCommerce, making it a user-friendly option for businesses or individuals looking to establish an online store quickly and easily. With its intuitive drag-and-drop editor and a wide selection of visually appealing templates, Wix allows users to build visually stunning online stores without the need for coding knowledge. Wix offers built-in eCommerce features, including product management, inventory tracking, and secure payment options, making it suitable for various industries such as fashion, crafts, beauty, and more. Additionally, Wix’s App Market provides a range of apps and extensions to extend the functionality of your online store. With its simplicity and emphasis on design, Wix is an attractive option for businesses seeking a visually appealing and user-friendly eCommerce platform.

Each of these WooCommerce alternatives has its own strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to evaluate your specific requirements and choose the platform that best aligns with your business needs, budget, and technical expertise.
Unlike WooCommerce and any other eCommerce site alternatives, UpMenu is a complete food ordering system rather than just an online store. WooCommerce is just a WordPress plugin and requires you to host a WordPress website. To set it up, you have to build a website from scratch and purchase and install multiple WordPress plugins. When you consider the hosting, development, and maintenance costs of a website, you might be looking at a staggering total. Since it’s not tailored for restaurants, you’re going to have to make it one. And even then, i’s going to be far from perfect. 

On the other hand, UpMenu is a complete out-of-the-box solution. It includes a food ordering system, a mobile app and menu, an entire restaurant marketing system, loyalty programs, a QR code menu, gift cards, and far more. In other words, you’re getting a complete solution for a fixed price. Importantly, you don’t need to code a website or pay developers to set it up for you. The system is set up by UpMenu developers… and it’s completely free.

Whether you’re looking to build an eCommerce online store or to build an ordering system for your restaurant, there are plenty of WooCommerce alternatives out in the market. Some of the biggest cons of WooCommerce is that you’re going to be needing a lot more than just a single WordPress plugin to make it work. If you’re looking to be running the entire restaurant system from your WooCommerce platform, you’re in for a ride. Since you have to set up everything on your own, chances are you’re going to be looking at a lot of system errors unless you pay a developer to set the system up for you. There are also plenty of paid plugins you’re going to have to purchase to make it functional.

The real costs of using WooCommerce, an eCommerce functionality plugin for WordPress websites, for an average business with third-party web hosting, can be estimated as follows:

  1. Third-Party Web Hosting: Costs for third-party web hosting can range from $5 to $100+ per month, depending on the hosting provider and plan chosen.
  2. Domain Name: Typically costs around $10 to $15 per year.
  3. WordPress Theme: WooCommerce offers free themes, but premium themes designed for eCommerce can range from $35 to $129 or more.
  4. WooCommerce Extensions: These plugins enhance eCommerce functionality and can include inventory management, payment gateways, shipping options, and more. Costs for these extensions vary, ranging from free to several hundred dollars per year for premium options.
  5. WordPress Plugins: In addition to WooCommerce-specific extensions, other WordPress plugins may be required for additional functionality. Costs for these plugins can range from free to several hundred dollars per year for premium options.
  6. Security: Security measures such as SSL certificates or security plugins can range from $10 to $500+ per year, depending on the level of security needed.
  7. Developer Fees: Developer fees can vary based on the complexity and scope of work. Costs can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, depending on customization, setup, and ongoing support requirements.

Estimated Total Annual Costs (including developer fees):

  • Minimum Range: $300 to $500+ per year (basic hosting, domain, free theme, free plugins, minimal security, minimal developer fees)
  • Maximum Range: $2,000+ per year (premium hosting, domain, premium theme, premium plugins, advanced security, significant developer fees)

    Please note that these costs are estimates, and the actual expenses may vary based on individual business needs, customization requirements, geographic location, developer rates, and any additional factors. It’s advisable to carefully evaluate your specific needs, obtain quotes from developers, and review pricing details from hosting providers and plugin/theme developers for a more accurate estimation of the total costs involved.

    When considering using WooCommerce for a restaurant website, it’s essential to weigh its suitability. While WooCommerce is a popular eCommerce website builder for WordPress websites, there are alternative options to consider.

    1. Best WooCommerce Alternatives: While WooCommerce is widely used as an eCommerce store, it’s not perfectly optimized for restaurants and has to be adjusted manually to fit your business. If you’re a restaurant owner who’s simply looking for a complete, fully functional solution for your restaurant, you might want to consider using a dedicated food ordering system instead. 
    2. Ecommerce Website Builder: WooCommerce, as an eCommerce website builder, provides a range of features to create a customized online store. However, evaluating alternative platforms can help identify if they offer more restaurant-focused functionalities out of the box.
    3. WordPress Website: WooCommerce integrates seamlessly with WordPress websites, allowing for a cohesive online presence. However, if you don’t already have a WordPress site or prefer a different CMS, exploring alternative platforms might be worthwhile.
    4. Customer Support: WooCommerce offers customer support resources, including documentation and community forums. However, other platforms may provide dedicated support channels, including live chat, phone support, or 24/7 assistance, which could be valuable for restaurant businesses with time-sensitive needs.
    5. Unlike WooCommerce: Considering the unique requirements of a restaurant, it’s important to assess if WooCommerce meets specific needs, such as table reservations, menu management, online ordering, or delivery tracking. Alternative platforms might offer these functionalities more seamlessly.
    6. Free Version: WooCommerce provides a free version with basic eCommerce capabilities. However, keep in mind that additional costs may arise for premium themes, plugins, extensions, or specialized restaurant features, depending on the desired functionality.
    7. Multiple Currencies: WooCommerce allows for multi-currency support through plugins, enabling businesses to accept payments in various currencies. However, it’s crucial to ensure that the chosen currency management solution integrates smoothly with your preferred payment gateways and meets the needs of your restaurant.

    In conclusion, while WooCommerce is a popular choice, exploring alternative eCommerce platforms that cater specifically to restaurants might be beneficial. Consider factors such as specialized features, customer support, pricing structure, and ease of use when determining the best fit for your restaurant’s online presence.

    There are many apps that allow users to take restaurant orders, such as Uber Eats, Grubhub, and DoorDash. That said, these aren’t traditional restaurant ordering systems, and they simply allow customers to place orders from restaurants for delivery or pickup. 

    There are apps dedicated apps like UpMenu that allow customers to order their food online as well as on-site directly to the table.

    Disclaimer: before starting such a project, you should consider whether building your own system is the best solution. Depending on your needs, it is probably going to be more cost-effective to use a dedicated food ordering system

    The cost of building a restaurant ordering system can vary widely depending on the features and complexity you want to include. Here’s a rough breakdown: 

    1. Basic App Development: For a very basic system (order placement, menu display, and payment processing), you might expect to pay anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000 for a competent developer or agency. This is a simplified scenario and doesn’t take into account other costs like project management, design, or advanced features.
    2. Intermediate App Development: If you want to include more features such as GPS tracking, push notifications, customer reviews, or user profiles, the cost could increase to anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000.
    3. Advanced App Development: A fully-featured system with custom UI/UX design, customer loyalty programs, AI-based recommendations, complex back-end integrations, and high security could cost from $60,000 to $200,000 or more.

    Remember, the costs above are very rough estimates and can vary significantly based on your specific needs, the agency or developers you choose, the complexity of your app, your geographic location, and many other factors.

    Additionally, there will be ongoing costs to consider, such as:

    • Maintenance and Updates: Software needs regular updates and maintenance to fix bugs, add new features, and keep up with operating system updates. This can cost about 15-20% of the initial development cost annually.
    • Hosting: If your app requires server-side components, there will be costs associated with hosting the app.
    • Marketing and Promotion: To attract users to your app, you will need to spend money on marketing and promotion.

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