About Texas de Brazil
In 1998, Texas de Brazil opened in Addison, Texas after the founders spent time traveling in Brazil. They saw an opportunity to bring churrasco culture to their home state of Texas, and have since expanded to 60 locations across the US and internationally. The family-owned restaurant serves savory meats cooked over an open flame and carved table-side for guests.
"People come to our restaurant to get a taste of Brazilian cuisine along with the Southern hospitality that Texas is known for," explained Jad Izzedin, Executive Brand Director of Texas de Brazil.
The Challenge
Because Texas de Brazil is such an experiential restaurant, the owners focused the majority of their resources on driving dine-in sales. "For a long time, delivery and pickup took a back seat because in-store sales were driving 99% of our revenue," Izzedin said.
But once the COVID-19 pandemic shut down dine-in service, the Texas de Brazil team needed to quickly flip their business strategy to strengthen their online presence and increase off-premise orders.
It was awesome to be able to add a new way for guests to order our food in basically one week — and have it turn into 20% of our off-premise sales.
The Solution
"We knew that once we were able to open up again, takeout would help us survive through this tough time," said Izzedin. Texas de Brazil already worked with several delivery partners, but also wanted to enable guests to place orders directly on their own website. That’s when they discovered Online Ordering, DoorDash’s commission-free online ordering platform.
"Compared to other online ordering platforms, DoorDash seemed more honest and transparent to work with," explained Izzedin. "Plus, the software is really nice."
Within a week of their initial conversation, DoorDash built a Texas de Brazil-branded ordering interface so they could accept online orders on their website across all locations, commission-free. There are no monthly software fees for Online Ordering; instead, businesses pay payment card processing fees of 1.75% of the total transaction amount + AU$0.30 per order. On pickup orders there are no other fees. On delivery orders, you pay AU$5.50 per delivery to DoorDash to fund the cost of a Dasher delivering the order.
The Results
One month after launching Online Ordering, Texas de Brazil saw a 58% increase in DoorDash sales. "We were taken aback by how much we were able to bring in," said Izzedin. "It used to be 2-3 takeout orders per night. Now we’re getting 40 per night at some stores." Today, 20% of Texas de Brazil’s off-premise sales come from Online Ordering, commission-free.
Most of these sales are incremental — as Online Ordering enabled Texas de Brazil to reach a new kind of customer who visited their website and ordered online. And thanks to DoorDash’s built-in upsell features, Texas de Brazil found that the average ticket size for DoorDash app and Online Ordering orders was more than 20% higher than a competing platform’s.
Looking ahead, Izzedin will continue to drive Online Ordering orders with targeted promotions and discounts as off-premise remains a major part of their business strategy.
