Dragon King delivers hospitality beyond the dining room with Uber Eats
September 20, 2024 | United States
Showing hospitality is about more than bringing good food to the table. It involves making your guests feel welcome and addressing their needs in the moment. But how can you show that hospitality when your restaurant is solely focused on delivery and pickup? For Dragon King, a small chain of Chinese restaurants that’s 100% takeout and delivery, hospitality means ensuring that every delicious entree and side of fried rice is delivered fast and fresh and that every customer feels appreciated and valued. We spoke with Mr. Chen, owner of Dragon King, about how he’s delighting customers and growing his business with the help of Uber Eats.
Dragon King, by the numbers
7
locations in New York70%
of all sales are Uber Eats orders10k
orders from new customers via Uber Eats in Q1 2024Serving up success, one order at a time
How did Mr. Chen go from working as a grill cook to owning 7 bustling Dragon King restaurants across Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens in New York City? Two decades of hard work and a consistent focus on tasty food and great value. But when it comes to expanding his business, Mr. Chen knows he can’t do everything by himself, especially as his business gets busier.
Uber Eats plays a vital role in attracting new business and maintaining Dragon King’s strong local presence. Orders on the app were up by more than 45% in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the previous quarter. The extra business generated through Uber Eats has been so substantial that Mr. Chen had to hire 3 additional staff members at his busiest location to manage the influx of orders. But for Dragon King, this increase in business goes beyond simply adopting Uber Eats. Mr. Chen has also embraced Uber Eats ads and offers, which have been crucial for Dragon King’s ongoing growth and success.
Accelerating growth with Uber Eats ads and offers
At first, Mr. Chen wasn’t sure if Uber Eats ads and offers would help his business grow, but, in his words, “they turned out to work very well, and our customers love the deals too.” With targeted advertising on Uber Eats, Dragon King reaches new audiences who might not have discovered the restaurant otherwise. In fact, Uber’s marketing support and a series of successful ads and offers helped him attract, he says, “more than 10,000 orders from new customers in the first quarter of 2024” across all locations. This approach not only brings in new customers but also helps turn first-time diners into regulars. By consistently delivering high-quality food and service, Mr. Chen ensures that once customers try Dragon King through an Uber Eats promotion, they keep coming back for more.
“Uber Eats ads and offers have helped me grow my restaurants. I earn a little less per order because of the fees, but they bring in new customers who spend more on each order, so overall it’s been good for my business.”
—Mr. Chen, Owner, Dragon King
Uber Eats Manager provides easy access to important information
Mr. Chen starts most days by checking reviews and reports on the Uber Eats Manager dashboard. He particularly values the Uber Eats customer reviews and store-level performance reports to help him keep tabs on operations at each of his 7 locations. When opening a new Dragon King restaurant, Mr. Chen keeps menus, ads, and promotions consistent among locations and implements a standardized playbook that includes training on the Uber Eats Orders app. From order expediters to kitchen staff, every position in every location follows the same standards. So if he needs to move people around to different locations, he can. And it’s easy for him to oversee everything.
Breaking down barriers with multilingual support
Mr. Chen’s story is a true embodiment of the American dream, growing from kitchen staff to restaurant owner, but his success hasn’t come without challenges. For restaurant owners like Mr. Chen, whose first language isn’t English, navigating business interactions in English can be tricky. When he learned that Uber Eats has a multilingual team, Mr. Chen was excited to start working directly with his dedicated account manager, Ting C. “Uber Eats is the only delivery company with a Mandarin-speaking team, which is very helpful for me and my wife,” says Mr. Chen, who adds that there are lots of other restaurant owners like him. He now speaks with Ting weekly about data and marketing. “I greatly value having language support and account support,” he says.
Using Uber Eats reports, Mr. Chen can track how each store is doing and compare their performance. He relies on this data to make smart decisions across all of his restaurants. “I couldn’t do this myself without the data Uber gives me,” Mr. Chen says. By partnering with Uber Eats, he can simplify operations and grow his business faster. And that means he can keep doing what he loves: showing hospitality to his customers, one tasty spring roll at a time.
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