Patent Publication Number: US-2004044578-A1

Title: Online networking system for efficient operation of restaurants and method therefor

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention relates to an online networking system for an efficient operation of restaurants and a method therefor, and more particularly, to an online networking system for an efficient operation of restaurants and a method therefor in which customers order and pick up lunch from restaurants that have been registered as favorite restaurants on a website in the Internet, and food material providers present an estimation of food materials on the website for the restaurants to order food materials based on the estimation.  
       [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art  
       [0004] A plurality of methods for online business related to restaurants have been introduced; however, these methods cannot solve the following problems.  
       [0005] First, there are problems about ordering food. Most restaurants have a serious problem in how to serve as many customers as possible during lunchtime in the circumstances of limited equipment and staffs; in particular, the problem is more serious for restaurants located downtown and office districts where most sales occur during lunchtime. If a waiting line is long due to delays in handling orders, customers grow impatient and restaurants cannot expect the increasing of sales. In addition, after the staffs have prepared for lunchtime, dead times occur for waiting lunchtime customers.  
       [0006] Generally, most lunch customers buy lunch from two or three favorite restaurants that are located within a walking distance, and such customers are inclined to choose the same favorite menu generally. Accordingly, although the orders of the regular customers can be handled in a short time, the regular customers also have to wait in line for a long time in order to pick up their orders.  
       [0007] To prevent such inconveniences, customers order food from restaurants via telephone or facsimile and pick up the food after a predetermined time.  
       [0008] However, when the restaurants are very busy, it is difficult to respond to the orders via telephone and even experienced counters could miss options by mistake so that food may be prepared incorrectly.  
       [0009] Moreover, in the case where customers order food via facsimile, the customers have inconveniences of writing the contents of orders and sending the written orders via facsimile. If customers are unfamiliar with the menus of restaurants, such a method cannot be practiced. In addition, if the restaurant lacks the materials for the food ordered via facsimile, the effort of ordering food via facsimile is in vain.  
       [0010] In the other method for ordering food, restaurants build websites and take orders via e-mail. However, building and operating a website are equipment and cost consuming and a person in charge for managing the website must be hired. As a consequence, most restaurants are not confident with the effects of websites, thereby not building an online ordering system via the Internet.  
       [0011] Second, there are problems about purchasing food materials. After lunchtime, restaurants have to check for exhausted food materials and order food materials that will be used the next day. In this case, it is difficult for restaurants to have exact price information on various food materials. In addition, comparing the prices of food materials suggested by a plurality of food material providers is time and labor consuming.  
       [0012] In order to compare the prices of food materials and order the food materials before a delivery order closure time, i.e., generally around 4 o&#39;clock in the afternoon, a person in charge has no enough time to check the food materials left or needed after a busy lunchtime and call a plurality of food material providers or salespeople to compare the prices of the food materials one by one. Since a plurality of people in charge of purchasing food materials may try to call salespeople around the delivery order closure time, it is difficult to contact the salespeople who are mostly driving a car and to talk to them for a long time even when the connection is successful.  
       [0013] In addition, even if the food material providers provide the price estimation of food materials via facsimile, it is difficult to compare the prices of every material one by one and decide on the purchasing because the food material packing units and the listed order of the materials are different each other according to food material providers.  
       [0014] Therefore, the person in charge of purchasing food materials does not compare in detail the prices of the food materials, but finally order the food materials only for preventing interruptions in being provided with food materials the next early morning. Accordingly, a chance for saving costs by purchasing food materials at the lowest prices is lost.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015] To solve the above-described problems about ordering food, it is an objective of the present invention to provide an online networking system for an efficient operation of restaurants and a method therefor. Accordingly, customers visit the website of an online networking system service provider in order to register by themselves their favorite restaurants by inputting telephone numbers of the restaurants, which are members of the online networking system service, so that the customers are directly connected to one menu list screen of all favorite restaurants pre-reregistered by themselves whenever visiting the website to order food. In addition, restaurants also receive orders to prepare food via facsimile or wireless devices and the customers pick up the ordered food at the restaurants.  
       [0016] To solve the above-described problems about purchasing food materials, it is another objective of the present invention to provide an online networking system for an efficient operation of restaurants and a method therefor. Accordingly, food material providers visit the website of an online networking system service provider in order to register by themselves their food material delivery restaurants by inputting telephone numbers of the restaurants, which are members of the online networking system service. When the food material providers present price estimation of food materials on the one-to-one price list which is pre-formatted in one unified table, the estimated prices are converted into the one-to-one prices sorted in order and compared with one another and an estimation representing the comparison results is supplied to the restaurants via facsimile, so that the restaurants can purchase food material at lower prices. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0017] The above objectives and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:  
     [0018]FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a configuration of an online networking system for an efficient operation of restaurants according to the present invention;  
     [0019]FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating processes for customers and food material providers to register at a website and input basic information in an online networking method for an efficient operation of restaurants according to the present invention;  
     [0020]FIGS. 3 and 4 are flowcharts illustrating processes for ordering food in an online networking method for an efficient operation of restaurants according to the present invention; and  
     [0021]FIGS. 5 and 6 are flowcharts illustrating processes for estimating prices of food materials in an online networking method for an efficient operation of restaurants according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     [0022]FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the configuration of an online networking system for an efficient operation of restaurants according to the present invention. An online networking system according to the present invention includes a service provider  10  of a website for providing an online networking service, a web server  11  for operating and managing a website, a restaurant customer  20 , a food material provider  30 , and a restaurant  40 .  
     [0023] The restaurant customer  20 , the food material provider  30 , and the restaurant  40  are connected to the web server  11  through Internet terminals  21 ,  31 , and  41  or through a facsimile  42  connected to the Internet network  50 , respectively. Here, the restaurant  40  is connected to the web server  11  through the facsimile  42  connected to the public switched telephone networks (PSTN) as well as through the Internet terminal  41 , such as a computer or a PDA, and the Internet network  50 . Therefore, the restaurant  40  receives information via e-mail or facsimile from the web server  11 .  
     [0024] The web server  11  includes a certification server  100  for processing registrations, changes, and certifications of members, a restaurant server  200  for managing general information on restaurants, such as names and telephone numbers and menu information, an order server  300  for providing information on the restaurants for restaurant customers which intend to order food, a food material estimation server  400  for receiving estimations of food material delivery prices from food material providers, a mail server  500  for receiving order of food and/or estimations of food material delivery prices, a facsimile server  600  for converting the order of food and/or food material delivery estimation prices into a facsimile document format to be sent through a facsimile of the restaurant, a charge server  700  for calculating rates according to the handling results of the order of food and the food material delivery prices, and an account server  800  for creating financial statements based on the purchases and sales data of the restaurant.  
     [0025] More specifically, the certification server  100  interacts with a member database  110  to process registrations, changes, and certifications of the restaurant customers  20 , the food material providers  30 , and the restaurants  40 . In addition, whenever the restaurant customers  20  and the food material providers  30  sign in the website after having registered favorite restaurants and food material delivery restaurants, respectively, by inputting the telephone numbers of the restaurants  40 , the certification server  100  connects the restaurant customers  20  and the food material providers  30  to the web pages of the registered restaurants  40  and allows them to use the services of the website.  
     [0026] The restaurant server  200  is formed of a database module  201  interacting with a restaurant/menu database  210  to store information on the member restaurants, such as name, address, telephone number, and menu, in the restaurant/menu database  210 , and a service management module  202  for supplying the result of processing the restaurant information.  
     [0027] The order server  300  is formed of a database module  301 , a restaurant information/order information search module  302 , an order module  303  for receiving the processing orders from the restaurant customers  20 , and a service management module  304  for supplying the results of processing the orders. Here, the database module  301  interacts with the restaurant/menu database  210  and an order database  310  to read the information on the restaurants, such as name, address, telephone number, and menu, from the restaurant/menu database  210  and display the information so as to store the order result in the order database  310 . The restaurant information/order information search module  302  respectively reads the information on the member restaurants selected by the restaurant customer  20  and the order history of the restaurant customer  20  from the restaurant/menu database  210  and the order database  310  as default to display the information on a screen or allow the restaurant customers  20  to search information.  
     [0028] The food material server  400  includes a database module  401 , a food material estimation information search module  402  for searching estimation information from the food material database  410 , an estimation module  403  for receiving the prices of the food materials suggested by the food material providers  30 , and a service management module  404  for supplying the results of processing the prices of the food materials. Here, the database module  401  interacts with a food material database  410  including items of food materials required in restaurants, a form for presenting the estimation, and delivery prices of the food materials to manage the food material database.  
     [0029] The mail server  500  receives e-mails about the order of food and the estimation of the food material delivery prices from the restaurant customers  20  and the food material providers  30 , respectively, and sends the e-mails about the order of food and the estimation of the food material delivery prices processed in the mail server  500  to the restaurants  40 .  
     [0030] The facsimile server  600  converts the order of food and the estimation of the food material delivery prices processed in the order server  300  and the food material server  400 , respectively, into facsimile document formats and sends them to the restaurant  40  via facsimile  42 .  
     [0031] The charge server  700  includes a database module  701  for reading an order history data for a specific period from the order database  310  and an operation module  702  for calculating rates of the member restaurants according to the results of processing the food orders. Here, bills created in the operation module  702  are transferred to the member restaurants  40  via the mail server  500  or the facsimile server  600 .  
     [0032] The account server  800  includes a database module  801  and an operation module  802 . Here, the database module  801  interacts with an account database  810  to manage account information, such as purchase data and sales data, supplied from the restaurants  40 . The operation module  802  creates various financial statements, such as balance statement and statement of profits and losses, based on the account database of the restaurants for a specific period, which is supplied from the database module  801 . The financial statements supplied from the operation module  802  are transferred to the restaurants  40  by the mail server  500  or the facsimile server  600 .  
     [0033] Processes of an online networking method for an efficient operation of restaurants according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 through 6.  
     [0034]FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating processes for restaurant customers and food material providers to register at a website and input basic information in an online networking method for an efficient operation of restaurants according to the present invention.  
     [0035] A restaurant customer  20  and a food material provider  30  connect to a web server  11  through the Internet network  50  in step A 101 . If the restaurant customer  20  and the food material provider  30  are members of the website, a signing in process of FIG. 3 is performed. If the restaurant customer  20  and the food material provider  30  are not members of the website, a process for registering as members of the website and inputting basic information are performed in step A 102 .  
     [0036] In the case of the restaurant customer  20  in step A 103 , the restaurant customer  20  inputs an e-mail address as an identification (ID), a password, and the telephone number of a restaurant to be registered as a favorite restaurant in step A 104 . Thereafter, the customer  20  inputs its office name, telephone number, and address thereof in a detailed information input window. Meanwhile, information on the restaurant  40  having the same telephone number as that input by the restaurant customer  20  is loaded from a restaurant/menu database  210  and displayed with the detailed information input window in step A 105 . The restaurant customer  20  inputs detailed information and checks the information on the restaurant to register the restaurant as a favorite restaurant in step A 106 . In order to additionally register other restaurants as favorite restaurants in step A 107 , the restaurant customer  20  inputs the telephone numbers of the restaurants in step A 108 . Thereafter, when the information on the restaurants is displayed on a screen in step A 109 , the restaurant customer  20  confirms the restaurants to register as favorite restaurants in step A 110 .  
     [0037] If a restaurant having the same telephone number as that input by the restaurant customer  20  is absent in the restaurant/menu database  210 , a list of restaurants having the same local number as the local number of the telephone number input by the restaurant customer  20  is displayed in a separate window from the detailed information input window. Accordingly, the restaurant customer  20  may select a restaurant from the list and register the restaurant as a favorite restaurant. Here, it is possible to search a restaurant by using the local number of the telephone number of the customer  20  or the name of a restaurant as a keyword.  
     [0038] In the case of the food material provider  30  in step A 103 , the food material provider  30  inputs an e-mail address as an ID, a password, and the telephone number of a restaurant to be registered as a food material delivery restaurant in step A 111 . Thereafter, the food material provider  30  inputs information on the food material provider  30  and a salesperson in charge of the restaurant in a detailed information input window. Meanwhile, information on the restaurant  40  having the same telephone number as that input by the food material provider  30  is loaded from a food material database  410  and displayed with the detailed information input window in step A 112 . The food material provider  30  inputs detailed information and checks the information on the restaurant to register the restaurant as a food material delivery restaurant in step A 113 , and creates an estimation table about food material prices for the restaurant in step A 114 . In order to additionally register other restaurants as food material delivery restaurants and create an estimation table in step A 115 , the food material provider  30  inputs the telephone numbers of the restaurants in step A 116 . Thereafter, when the information on the restaurants is displayed on a screen in step A 117 , the food material provider  30  confirms the restaurants to register as the food material delivery restaurants in step A 118  and creates the estimation table about food material prices in step A 119 .  
     [0039] If a restaurant having the same telephone number as that input by the food material provider  30  is absent in the food material database  210 , a list of restaurants having the same local number as the local number of the telephone number input by the food material provider  30  is displayed in a separate window from the detailed information input window. Accordingly, the food material provider  30  may select a restaurant from the list and register the restaurant as a food material delivery restaurant. Here, it is possible to search a restaurant by using the local number of the telephone number of the food material provider  30  or the name of a restaurant as a keyword.  
     [0040] Although it is possible that restaurants register with in the website as members and upload the information on the restaurants to the website through the Internet, this is a difficult task for most restaurants. Therefore, it is preferable that a service provider  10  of a web server receives the information on the restaurants via telephone or facsimile, and registers and uploads the general information and menu information on the restaurants.  
     [0041]FIGS. 3 and 4 are flowcharts illustrating processes for ordering food in an online networking method for an efficient operation of restaurants according to the present invention.  
     [0042] When a registered restaurant customer  20  signs in a website in step B 101 , the list of favorite restaurants and a main menu list and a sub menu list of the restaurants are displayed on one screen in steps B 102  through B 105 . Here, the screen is divided into a plurality of windows on which the name, main menu list, and sub menu list of each restaurant are displayed. The main menu list presents the names of most popular dishes as lunch and brief descriptions thereof, and the sub menu list presents the names of other dishes and brief descriptions thereof.  
     [0043] In order to change the list of the general restaurants in step B 103 , the restaurant customer  20  clicks on a my account banner to move to a my account web page. The restaurant customer  20  can delete and add favorite restaurants in the my account web page as shown in FIG. 4. In the my account web page, an order history, discounted amount, and saved amount of the restaurant customer  20  may be checked in steps C 102  and C 103 , and the address and e-mail address of the restaurant customer  20  can be changed in steps C 111  through C 113 . In addition, the restaurant customer  20  may add restaurants to the favorite restaurant list in steps C 121  through C 125  and delete restaurants from the favorite restaurant list in steps C 131  through C 135 .  
     [0044] When the favorite restaurant list does not require changing, the restaurant customer  20  chooses a dish from the menu windows of the favorite restaurants in step B 105 . In this case, the previously ordered options about the chosen dish are displayed on the screen in step B 106 . The restaurant customer  20  changes the options and number by clicking check boxes using a mouse and inputs comments and pickup time in step B 107 . Here, the pickup time is input when ordering food so that restaurants  40  can determine an order for preparing foods.  
     [0045] After inputting the order, the restaurant customer  20  puts the order in a shopping cart in step B 108 . When an additional order occurs in step B 109 , the process in steps B 104  through B 108  are repeated.  
     [0046] When the ordering food is completed, an order module  303  creates an order sheet in step B 110 . The order sheet is transferred to a mail server  500  in an e-mail type in step B 111  and converted into a facsimile document format by a facsimile server  600  in step B 112 . Thereafter, the order sheet is transferred to and printed by a facsimile  42  in the restaurant  40  in step B 113 . The ordered information is stored in an order database  310  and used as a reference for the next order of the restaurant customer  20  so that the restaurant customer  20  can order food more conveniently.  
     [0047] As described above, whenever a restaurant customer who has registered favorite restaurants on a website connects to and signs in the website to order lunch, the menu lists of all favorite restaurants are instantly displayed on one screen so that the customer can simply complete ordering by clicking on desired dishes.  
     [0048] In addition, since dishes other than the dishes previously ordered are displayed on the menu list screen, a restaurant customer  20  can easily order any dish of the restaurant that has been registered as a favorite restaurant.  
     [0049]FIGS. 5 and 6 are flowcharts illustrating process for estimating the prices of food materials in an online networking method for an efficient operation of restaurants according to the present invention.  
     [0050] When a registered food material provider  30  signs in a website, a list of food material delivery restaurants is displayed on a screen in steps D 101 . In order to change the list of the food material delivery restaurants in step D 102 , the food material provider  30  clicks a my account banner to move to a my account web page. The food material provider  30  can delete and add the food material delivery restaurants in the my account web page as shown in FIG. 6. In order to add a food material delivery restaurant in the my account web page, the food material provider  30  searches a restaurant, register the restaurant as a food material delivery restaurant, and inputs an estimation of food material prices on the one-to-one price list in steps E 102  through E 105 . In order to search other restaurants in step E 106 , the processes in steps E 102  through E 105  are repeated. In order to delete a food material delivery restaurant from the list of the food material delivery restaurants, the food material provider  30  selects the restaurant and deletes it. In order to delete other restaurants, the processes in steps E 111  through E 115  are repeated.  
     [0051] When the food material delivery restaurant list does not require changing, the food material provider  30  selects a restaurant from the food material delivery restaurant list in steps D 101  through D 103 . In this case, the previous estimation of food material delivery prices for the selected restaurant is loaded from the food material database  410  and displayed on the screen so that the food material provider  30  inputs changes in the estimation in steps D 104  through D 106 . When a plurality of food material providers completed inputting the estimations of the food material prices for one restaurant, an estimation module  403  converts the price estimations of the food material providers into the price estimations according to the one-to-one price list and compares the price estimations one by one in step D 107  to create a final estimation in step D 108 .  
     [0052] Meanwhile, it is possible that the food material server  400  provides an estimation table using the one-to-one price list for each food material so that the food material providers input the delivery prices according to the provided one-to-one price list.  
     [0053] The final estimation created in the estimation module  403  is converted into a facsimile document format in a facsimile server  600  and transferred to a facsimile  42  of a restaurant  40 . A person in charge of purchasing food material receives the final estimation in which the estimations from a plurality of food material providers  30  are compared according to the one-to-one price list. Accordingly, the person in charge of purchasing food material can order the food materials from the food material provider presenting the lowest price.  
     [0054] A customer who orders food by an online networking system for an efficient operation of restaurants and a method therefor can order food by clicking a mouse at least four times after connecting to a website due to having registered favorite restaurants in the website. In addition, the customer can easily order any kind of dish from the favorite restaurants that the customer has never ordered as well as dishes that the customer has previously ordered.  
     [0055] The customer orders food while watching the menu displayed in the menu list screen of the favorite restaurants so that the customer can order food correctly. In addition, the customer can order the same food with reference to the order history of the customer. Moreover, when the customer uses a wireless device, the customer can order food without using a computer so that a drive-through order is possible.  
     [0056] If a restaurant provides a discount service for the customers who ordered food before lunchtime, the customers can enjoy food at a lower price and the restaurant can increase sales due to increase of customers and efficient management of staffs.  
     [0057] Since registered customers can order food via e-mail and order sheets transferred via facsimile includes brief personal information on the customer, no-shows are remarkably reduced. Accordingly, loss in the sales by no-shows can be prevented.  
     [0058] A food material provider who presents an estimation of food material prices by an online networking system for an efficient operation of restaurants and a method therefor can input the estimation to a plurality of restaurants during non-rush hours, thereby promoting a larger number of restaurants. In addition, the food material provider can secure time for managing customer restaurants. Moreover, the food material providers can unaffectedly supply the estimations regardless of changes in their district salespeople or people in charge of purchasing food materials of the restaurants.  
     [0059] The restaurants can compare in detail the estimations of food material prices by a plurality of food material providers and order the food materials from the food material provider who presents the lowest price so that the restaurants can save money. In addition, the estimation of food material prices presents the prices of the food material with correct descriptions and options of the materials so that errors in ordering and delivering of the food materials are prevented even if the person in charge of purchasing food material or a salesperson of the food material provider is changed.