Question 1

Are there other factors that influence how restaurants and stores show up on the list?

Accepted Answer

Some factors may temporarily influence a restaurant's or a store's position on the business list, such as quality or popularity.

Bistro.sk may also move a restaurant or store down to a lower position when we know their orders are less likely to be delivered to customers within a reasonable timeframe due to factors like weather, crowds at a particular location, opening hours, holidays, and the business's or delivery service's capacity. Both Bistro.sk and the restaurant or store can temporarily 'close' a business on the platform if it is too busy, which is quite common.

Sponsored results
brandName} offers a paid sponsorship service called 'TopRank', allowing restaurants and stores to improve their visibility by moving up their rank in the 'Best match' search results. This improved visibility is in proportion to the ranking they would otherwise have on Bistro.sk based on the ranking factors listed above.

For example, a 4-star restaurant or store could appear below a 3-star place if the customer is further away, so that place may wish to boost its visibility by using TopRank. It is also possible that a restaurant or store may want more orders on a certain day of the week, so they will use TopRank in an effort to increase their orders that day.

While TopRank is a great tool for restaurants and stores, the primary goal of our ranking system is to show our customers the most relevant restaurants and stores. Restaurants and stores have limitations on improving their visibility using TopRank. For example, it will be too costly for business #150 in an outer suburb to use TopRank and obtain the number 1 position for the entire city.

We also restrict the number of spots a place can move up the list to ensure that even when places are using TopRank, customer feedback will always directly influence their position in the business list. We want to reward restaurants and stores that provide excellent service to customers while offering customers the best food-ordering experience possible.

Favourites
You can save restaurants and stores as a 'Favourite'. Your favourite places will appear at the top of the listing so you can find them easily.

Testing
From time to time, we may run tests or experiments to monitor and improve our service, which may temporarily impact the business order.

Question 2

What is the status of restaurants and stores listed on Bistro.sk?

Accepted Answer

Bistro.sk provides an online ordering and delivery platform that lists more than 15.000 professional third party restaurants and stores across Slovensko, where consumers can place their orders. We ask restaurants and stores listing on our platform to provide us with their company information, and this enables us to make a declaration that they are a professional trader (and not a consumer) to the best of our knowledge. If you are in Slovensko, you will find this declaration within the "info" section of each restaurant's or store's page.

Via the platform, Bistro.sk acts as a technical intermediary allowing restaurants and stores to provide products (such as meals) for delivery and/or takeaway. The contract for the supply and purchase of the products is between consumers and the restaurant or store from which an order is placed. In some cases, Bistro.sk is also responsible for the delivery.

Question 3

How are the search results ranked?

Accepted Answer

How are the search results ranked?

We use several different criteria when we’re deciding which restaurants, shops and businesses we will highlight.

On the homescreen of our apps and website, we’ll often shine the spotlight on certain businesses. We do this to make it easier for you to find the businesses and items we think you’ll be interested in, whether it’s re-ordering an old favourite or discovering something new. We do this based on:

What kind of food or items they sell
The time of day
The popularity of different cuisines or kinds of shops in your region
Your order history
The business’s customer rating and performance
The business’s delivery area and times
Strategic partnerships between us and businesses
Sponsoring

The order of businesses

After the homescreen section as discussed above the order in which businesses appear on our platform is subject to a wide variety of factors that interact in a dynamic way. Our goal is to show our customers the businesses that they are likely to order from, in a way which is fair for businesses connected to our platform, whilst optimising for a great ordering experience. We’ve designed a ranking algorithm that balances the needs of our customers, our partners and our couriers.

In addition to the default sorting which is referred to as the ‘’best match’’, customers can use filters to make their selection more specific, for example by only displaying certain cuisine types. Customers can also use the sorting options that are available, which will allow customers to sort their results on selected criteria, such as delivery fees. Filters and sorting options affect the order and types of businesses displayed to a specific customer based on how well those businesses meet the applicable filtering, sorting, or searching criteria of that customer.

The search results for the ‘’best match‘’ sorting and the position where companies appear on our platform is influenced by the following factors:

Organic

The search results are displayed based on a weighted average which is influenced by various factors. The parameters as described below all impact a business's organic position, and each parameter comes with its own weight. The search results are then shown in descending order, where businesses with higher organic position will appear first.

Distance to the customer - (around 50%): we prioritise businesses that are closer to the customer’s delivery address to ensure waiting times are short and that couriers only need to travel short distances for delivery. When selecting ‘Pick-up’ instead of ‘Delivery’, we sort all businesses based on distance. When a business is too far from the customer, this parameter does no longer contribute to a businesses position in the search results.

New customer retention - (around 40%): The capability of a business to convert new customers that return to place additional orders on our platform within a short time frame is an important factor for determining the position of a business. Businesses with this capability will appear higher up in the search results, as we value businesses that attract new loyal customers.

Operational performance - (around 10%): the operational performance of a business on our platform is measured via a variety of factors including order volume, reorder rates, successful orders and accuracy of order updates provided to customers. The better the operational performance the higher up the search list a business will appear as this helps us predict the probability of an order reaching the customer without any issues.

New businesses

Up to 20 new businesses temporarily receive an improved position in the search results. To help these businesses get started as well as for us to evaluate their performance, they receive a higher position for their first weeks. Where there are more than 20 new businesses operating in an area, the selection is randomised. We indicate new businesses with the ‘New’ label.

Sponsoring

In addition to the organic search results, we offer sponsorship services to our businesses in return for payment or other commercial conditions. Where enabled, this sponsorship service improves the organic position of a business on our platform. The effect that these sponsorship services have greatly depends on the businesses organic position and how each business uses the service. For example, where there are many restaurants operating in the same area, several restaurants could use the service to improve their positions to stand out. However, businesses are limited in the extent they can improve their position in the search results as the amount of improvement is linked to their original organic position. We want to ensure that even when businesses are using our sponsored services, the other ranking parameters will maintain their influence on a business’s position in the search results. Businesses using the sponsorship service can be recognised via the ‘sponsored’ label displayed on their listing.

Other factors

We may temporarily move businesses down the search results if we know that their orders are unlikely to be delivered within a reasonable time frame due to capacity issues at the business or our delivery services, for example due to severe weather conditions. In addition, both we or the relevant business can decide to temporarily "close" a business on the platform if it is too busy. This means the business will temporarily disappear from the search results. For chain businesses that operate multiple locations that can deliver to a customer's location, we show the closest by open location first and display other locations further across the list. We do this to ensure we can offer customers a wide variety of options to choose from.

Apart from the main ranking parameters as explained above, there are other parameters or circumstances which can influence the search results. For example and from time to time, we may run tests or experiments to analyse and improve our service, and these may have an impact on the search results.

Question 4

How does Bistro.sk highlight and rank businesses and items on its apps and websites, and in my search results?

Accepted Answer

We use several different criteria when we’re deciding which restaurants, shops and businesses we will highlight, as well as the items they sell.

We do this to make it easier for you to find the places and items you’ve enjoyed ordering from in the past, as well as to show you new businesses and items we think you might like.

For example, we do this by using data from your order history which we might gather from your account or cookie data (where you’ve accepted the applicable cookies). We also have businesses and items you might like based on data from the businesses on Bistro.sk, as well as our own research. We also offer businesses the chance to pay to promote themselves or their products on Bistro.sk.

On the homescreen of our apps and website, we’ll often shine the spotlight on certain businesses. We do this to make it easier for you to find the businesses and items we think you’ll be interested in, whether it’s re-ordering an old favourite or discovering something new. We do this based on:

What kind of food or items they sell
The time of day
The popularity of different cuisines or kinds of shops in your region
Your order history
The business’s customer rating and performance
The business’s delivery area and times
Strategic partnerships between us and businesses

When ranking your search results, we order the restaurants and shops in such a way as to make it easier for you to find the places you’ve enjoyed ordering from in the past, as well as enabling you to discover new places at the same time. We take the following criteria into consideration:

Whether the business has paid Bistro.sk to be promoted and receive a higher ranking
Your order history, such as the cuisines and items you’ve ordered before, as well as the businesses you’ve ordered from
The time of day
The business’s opening hours
If the business is new to Bistro.sk
How busy the business might be

You can read more about how we display and organise businesses on our apps and websites in the search results.

We’ll also shine the spotlight on certain dishes or items in a restaurant or shop’s menu. We try to make these dishes or items relevant to you, based on your order history, but sometimes we are paid to promote brands and their products. We use the following criteria to choose what we highlight:

Item popularity
Whether there’s an image of the item
What type of item it is
The item’s price
The time of day

When we show you additional items when you reach the checkout, those items are selected by:

How similar they are to the items you’re ordering, or how well they complement them
Any paid promotions that a brand might have agreed with Bistro.sk to showcase their items

Question 5

Why do some places have 'Sponsored' under their names?

Accepted Answer

Typically, we determine a restaurant's or a store's ranking by its distance from the customer, quality of reviews and popularity. The higher the restaurant or store scores in these three areas, the better its ranking order will be.

However, restaurants and stores can pay to appear higher in the business list. When a restaurant or store does so, we indicate this with the word `Sponsored'. Distance, reviews and popularity still affect the position of a sponsored restaurant or store.

General

Are there other factors that influence how restaurants and stores show up on the list?

Related articles

What is the status of restaurants and stores listed on Bistro.sk?

How are the search results ranked?

How does Bistro.sk highlight and rank businesses and items on its apps and websites, and in my search results?

Why do some places have 'Sponsored' under their names?

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