Al Fresco’s, a renowned pizza, pasta, and steak chain in Vietnam, faced a major challenge when its old website and eCommerce system crashed and became inoperable during the COVID-19 social distancing period. The urgent need was to quickly establish a stable, fast-delivery online sales channel to maintain revenue and retain customers.

SoftWorld was selected as the partner thanks to our proven ability to deliver rapid implementations. In just 2.5 months, we successfully developed a comprehensive Web & Mobile App Ordering system fully integrated with Loyalty features, seamless POS synchronization, and centralized management across the entire Al Fresco’s Group, delivering a breakthrough in revenue right during the most difficult time.

SoftWorld’s Solution Implemented for Al Fresco’s

Beyond building a comprehensive online ordering system, SoftWorld partnered with Al Fresco’s to develop a powerful Loyalty program that enabled the brand to achieve a breakthrough during the social distancing period, while laying a solid foundation for sustainable growth across multiple brands within the group. The specific details of the solution are as follows.

Multi-Channel Ordering Platform Integrated with Loyalty

In just 2.5 months, SoftWorld successfully developed and launched the complete system, which includes:

• 2 Mobile Apps (iOS & Android) and 5 dedicated Websites tailored for the various brands under the Al Fresco’s Group (AFG).

• A single unified backend that centrally manages all brands, customer data, orders, and the Loyalty program, making it extremely easy to scale by adding new brands in the future without rebuilding the entire system from scratch.

• Deep integration with POS systems at each store, delivery partners, multiple online payment gateways, and a Facebook Chatbox that enables fast ordering with no limit on the number of stores.

A standout strength of this solution is the balanced development of both mobile apps and websites, featuring a fully responsive design (web-friendly across all devices). This ensures customers enjoy a seamless, consistent experience whether they are ordering from a smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

Key Features

The most outstanding advantage lies in the exceptional features that deliver a superior experience on both the brand’s website and app.

For Customers Experiences

The system is designed with the customer experience at its core, offering maximum convenience, excitement, and high personalization:

• Flexible Multi-Channel Ordering (Web & App): Fully supports Pick-up, Delivery, customers can easily select the most suitable option in just a few steps.

• Comprehensive Loyalty Program: Automatic point accumulation after every order, tiered membership system (Standard / Deluxe / Premium), personalized vouchers, and exclusive promotions tailored based on actual purchasing behavior.

• Diverse Online Payments & Fast Delivery: Supports multiple popular payment gateways and seamless integration with delivery partners to ensure orders reach customers as quickly as possible.

• Engaging & Unique Experiences: Standout features like Build Your Pizza and Point Challenges create fun, memorable interactions that keep customers coming back.

With the Build Your Pizza feature, customers can fully customize their pizza to their personal taste, choosing crust type, sauce, toppings, cheese amount, and more, all through an intuitive and visually appealing interface.

This not only helps customers make decisions faster but also strongly encourages higher-value purchases, as they can instantly visualize exactly how their personalized pizza will look. As a result, average order value often increases, and the ordering process becomes far more enjoyable and engaging.

The experience doesn’t stop there. The Point Challenges program introduces exciting tasks such as inviting new friends to sign up, redeeming points for favorite dishes, and more. These challenges allow customers to earn rewards quickly, encouraging repeat purchases, strengthening brand loyalty, and increasing overall engagement and interaction with the brand.

Most importantly, the interface is designed with an optimized layout, sharp and appetizing food imagery that looks “mouth-watering” at first glance. This creates an immediate sense of craving and significantly enhances the overall dish selection experience.

For Operations & Management

The backend is optimized to support efficient chain management, minimize errors, and save time:

• Managing multiple brands on a single unified platform: Not only can Al Fresco’s be managed, but the AFG Group can also easily oversee its other sub-brands such as Pepperonis, Miss Qs, Japas… without needing to use multiple separate systems.

• Automatic Order Synchronization to POS: Every order from Web, App, or Chatbox is instantly pushed to the POS system at each store, ensuring fast and accurate order processing.

• Flexible Menu Management: Easily create item groups, set up promotions, and configure operating hours specific to each store or brand.

• Centralized Management on a Single System: All orders, customer data, and Loyalty programs are managed from one unified backend, allowing the operations team to monitor and adjust everything effortlessly.

• Seamless Multi-Channel Synchronization: Ensures menus, promotions, Loyalty programs, point balances, and more remain consistent and easy to update across all channels without requiring separate operations.

All of these management features are built and powered by the OOD Platform, SoftWorld’s proprietary ordering and loyalty solution, specially designed for the F&B industry. This platform delivers centralized control, flexible scalability, and seamless integrations, enabling restaurant chains like Al Fresco’s to operate more efficiently than ever before.

Real Business Value Delivered to Al Fresco’s

The most visible value of the solution is that the brand was still able to achieve a significant “revenue hit” during the social distancing period. At that time, the market was increasingly shifting toward the habit of ordering food online.

Thanks to a stable online channel, fast delivery, and a seamless ordering experience across both mobile apps and websites, Al Fresco’s not only maintained but actually experienced strong revenue growth when traditional channels were restricted.

At the same time, the comprehensive Loyalty program, combined with interactive features, significantly increased the repeat customer rate, encouraging repeat purchases, boosting visit frequency, and enhancing the lifetime value (LTV) of customers.

During that same period, the system automatically collected customer reviews after every order. Combined with the premium experience across both web and app, this helped Al Fresco’s receive a large volume of positive feedback, boosting credibility and deepening customer loyalty. As a result, it created long-term value for the AFG brand.

In just 2.5 months, the system enabled Al Fresco’s not only to survive the challenging social distancing phase but also to achieve a remarkable revenue breakthrough. This clearly demonstrates that a well-designed, correctly implemented, and rapidly deployed solution can become the decisive factor allowing a business not just to endure, but to thrive and even surge ahead during the most difficult times.

This is precisely the sustainable competitive advantage that every F&B chain needs in a constantly changing market environment.

If your business is looking for a reliable partner to turn challenges into growth opportunities for your restaurant chain, SoftWorld is ready to support you with a proven multi-channel online ordering and loyalty solution backed by real-world success cases.