A local restaurant owner has invested in an online ordering system that allows customers to place orders from home and within minutes have them routed to the cook.

The system at Brian’s Cheesesteaks at 1129 Jeffreys Road is freeing up staff time and helping customers who place to-go orders get out of the restaurant quicker, owner Brian Vick said.

And customers who participate are receiving a 10 percent discount for placing orders online, Vick said.

“The customers like it,” Vick said. “They don’t have to wait. If they know they are going to come here tomorrow for lunch, they can order that food tonight. They can order food 24 (hours a day), 7 (days a week).”

The orders can be placed on Vick’s Web page.

Vick hired a firm FAMtastic Designs.com out of Kentucky to design the site.

It cost $1,500 to develop the Web page and $2,300 for the server that is necessary for the system. He also pays $200 in recurring monthly charges to keep the Web site ordering system running.

“I think it’s worth it,” Vick said. “We didn’t do it to make money. It’s not a moneymaker. It’s just to enhance the business.”

The ordering process happens in a split second, Vick said. The restaurant has the food ready for pickup within 15 minutes.

“The order goes right into the kitchen, so when a customer orders their food they ring themselves up at the same time. They are their own cashier, so to speak,” Vick said.

His web site is registered with GoDaddy.com.

“So when you contact Brian’s Cheesesteaks, the main server directs (the order) back to Embarq,” Vick said. “Embarq sends it through my modem. My modem sends it through the router. The router sends it to the server, and the server uploads the information back to the customer on the other end.”

Vick said the online ordering system is comparable with those one might find at a major chain restaurant like Domino’s.

“I’m doing what big boys are doing,” he said.

The ordering system allows the employees to focus on servicing customers in the restaurant, Vick said.

“It really saves on labor. (Employees) have more time in servicing the customer versus answering the telephone,” Vick said.

Last year, Vick invested $40,000 in a handheld computerized ordering system that is being used inside the restaurant.

The Write-On Handheld system by Action Systems Inc. transfers the customer’s order to the kitchen after a server taps a electronic stylus over the order.

The equipment has made his business much more efficient and is more than paying for itself, Vick said. Waitresses no longer have to jot down orders on paper and bring them back to the cook, speeding up the ordering process.

A credit card swiping device attaches to the hand-held computer, allowing the customer to pay for the order on the spot.