Click to eat: A digital dining guide

If being online has done anything for society, it's taught us that we can get pretty much anything we want whenever we want it and however we care to have it.

Restaurants have been a relative latecomer to feeding that online impulse, but major chains are investing time and money to give customers a way to select their meals online instead of over the phone, by fax or in person.

Dominos Pizza offers a "Pizza Tracker" that displays a status bar telling visitors to its online ordering site where their pie is in the process. Chipotle and Quiznos Sub Shop allow visitors to invite people to join by e-mail at work to order as a group. Papa John's even offers to sell magazines with each order.

The need for new sources of revenue, especially during the dip in the U.S. economy, is pushing chains down the digital road.

"It's another income channel and way to provide service to customers," says Steven Mark, a consultant for Straightforward Communications in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Growth in online ordering has been so strong for chains like Domino's, Chipotle, Subway and Papa John's that they are reallocating resources at their restaurants to handle online orders.

"People online tend to order at the time when restaurants are crowded," Mark says. "A restaurant is always busy at peak times, so online orders put pressure on them. It used to be that you had some control of traffic flow based on the number of seats in your restaurants."

Online ordering, which lets the customer decide in their own time how they want their food made, allowed Domino's to reduce customer service representatives but required them to increase the number of pizza makers and drivers.

About 20 percent of Domino's customers come from either online, mobile phone or TiVo. That number is expected to be 50 percent by the end of 2010. The company began offering online ordering three years ago.

Surveys show that ordering food through a Web site gives a feeling of control that leads to higher levels of customer satisfaction, says Rob Weisberg, vice president of multimedia marketing for Domino's. Customers also tend to buy more side items like cinnamon sticks or beverages than they normally would.

"We also find there's a significantly higher perception of the quality of the product, and even an improved perception of the niceness of drivers," Weisberg says. (That translates into bigger tips, by the way.)

Earlier this week, we took an informal test-drive of several chains' online ordering systems. There was much to like - online coupons and customization options, for example. And there were a few kinks in the system. Several suggested calling by phone to confirm orders. One declined to deliver after we had placed our order.

All the sites gave the option of paying ahead by credit card. Only Subway required payment by credit card before completing the sale - even though we picked up our food in person.

For first-time users of these sites, you'll want to plan for a few extra minutes of ordering time. Each requires that you register your basic contact information.