BentoBox offers website building and e-commerce software for restaurants. The platform includes a diverse set of tools to help hospitality businesses build an online presence and manage their daily operations.
This detailed BentoBox review provides everything you need to know about the software and how it functions. Being in the event management business, we’ll have a special focus on BentoBox’s event management and catering management tools.
BentoBox Review
In this review, we break down the platform’s various features, abilities, advantages, and disadvantages.
What is BentoBox?
BentoBox is a hospitality platform designed especially for restaurants. With a website builder, e-commerce functions, and tools and services, it offers tools to help restaurants build an online presence, attract customers, and drive revenue online.
While the platform is mainly focused on providing tools for marketing and selling online, its restaurant event management software also offers a solution to manage events at your venue.
BentoBox’s dashboard provides a centralized place for teams to handle restaurant processes and operations. Plus, the platform offers restaurant-specific tools to encourage engagement and attract interested customers online.
The platform is mainly focused on online marketing and building a storefront with a customer-facing presence. This is done through features such as a website builder, online ordering, merchandise sales, and digital gift cards.
Compared to a solution like Perfect Venue, there are many venue and event management features that BentoBox is missing like a calendar, the ability to send emails through the platform, the ability to charge cards on file, and more.
BentoBox Features
The platform’s features are mainly split into two categories. These are online ordering and website builder software. Within these two categories, there are various tools that hospitality businesses can use to attract customers and manage their restaurant.
Here is a breakdown of some of the main features that BentoBox has to offer:
Online Ordering
BentoBox offers the tools needed to turn your restaurant’s website into a fully-functional online storefront. You can process online orders, perform online payment processing, and set up an online storefront.
You can also generate and sell gift cards and take catering orders. There is a dine-in order and payment functionality as well as online ticketing for your events. In short, the tools provide a suite of options for restaurants to sell online.
Website Builder Software
Restaurants can create their very own branded BentoBox websites using the platform’s custom website builder. BentoBox has put thought into the layouts you can choose from, allowing you to add photos, call-to-action buttons, and booking buttons to create hospitality-specific designs.
In addition, the site builder supports SEO-optimized, mobile-friendly websites with responsive designs. This marketing feature helps to drive more traffic and traction to your website, allowing you to gain higher visibility on the search engine results pages (SERPS).
Some of the core features and tools you can access for your restaurant include:
- Website design
- Website management dashboard
- Website accessibility
- Search engine optimization
- Local listings
- Event management
In terms of customer support, an account manager is available to lead you through the entire process of building and managing your online presence. This includes a full-service setup, analytics add-ons, and personalized customer support.
While these are valuable features for restaurants wanting to build an online presence, we can’t help but notice several essential features are missing for events management. For example, the ability to manage events from your phone, a central events calendar, and e-sign functionality for contracts.
Available Integrations
BentoBox has a decent set of integrations available. It works with several third-party services to help your team work optimally within the platform.
Some of the main BentoBox integrations include:
- Facebook and Instagram to accept online orders through social media
- OpenTable, Resy, and other reservation platforms
- Mailchimp, MyEmma, and Constant Contact for marketing
- Most POS systems
- Ship Station and Shippo
- Stripe and Square for payments
- Google Analytics
- Doordash
- Epson and Star Micronics for printers
What are BentoBox Pricing Details?
BentoBox offers three pricing plans. These are:
- Essentials (a preset website and BentoBox’s various tools) at $119/month
- Plus (a custom website designed for your business and eCommerce tools) at $199/month
- Sell (gift card sales option and the ability to accept orders online for your restaurant) at $79/month
The prices you see online aren’t necessarily what you will pay, though. Additional add-ons can drive up the monthly cost and there is typically an added fee for managing multiple locations.
Pros
- All-in-one platform for building a restaurant website
- Industry-specific website design and layout
- Easily manage menus across multiple locations
- Less customization is required than a generic solution like Wix or Squarespace since BentoBox is hospitality focused
- Integrations with top restaurant-tech companies like OpenTable, DoorDash, and more
Cons
- Limited abilities beyond hospitality websites
- If your business is not a cookie-cutter restaurant, you may run into issues trying to customize the website
- Event management features are very basic and often $100+/mo extra (no calendar, emails, cards on file, etc)
- More expensive than generic website builders like Wix or Squarespace
- Limited number of document templates
Conclusion
If you run a restaurant and are looking for a great restaurant-focused website builder, BentoBox is for you. Although it does have some limitations in terms of flexibility it has many features that are geared specifically towards the needs of restaurants which makes it easier to get setup than a more generic solution.
However, when it comes to an event management platform, BentoBox is lacking and expensive. By not having basic functionality like a calendar, the ability to send in-app emails, charge cards on file, view analytics and more, it is only a good fit for restaurants with the most basic of event management needs.
If you’re looking for a more versatile and affordable event management solution for your restaurant, a platform like Perfect Venue is a far better option - with all of the key functionality and plans that start at $0/month, it’s a no brainer to give Perfect Venue a shot. Our team will happily walk you through a demo as soon as you’re ready to learn more. Otherwise, try the platform out for free to see if it's the right fit for you and your business.
