The restaurant trade closed its doors more than once during the pandemic. Many restaurateurs set up a delivery service from their own kitchen so they could keep trading. Reopening brought plenty of customers back to the dining room, but ordering in has now settled into their habits. According to an NPD Group study published in September 2020, orders for delivered meals in France are growing at 34%. More and more consumers order online and want the food brought to them. Setting up a delivery service in your restaurant brings real benefits and can grow your revenue. But how do you go about it? A service like this takes time, organisation and, above all, a series of steps. What are they? This guide sets them out, along with the growth a delivery service can open up for you.
What should you consider before setting up delivery in your restaurant?
You now know why a meal delivery service is worth having. If the idea appeals, here is our advice on getting the project right and giving your business a lift.
Build a specific menu for delivery
Adding delivery to a restaurant is an attractive prospect, but not every dish suits it. Reworking your menu and making a few changes is an essential step. Put together a selection of dishes you want to offer, ideally ones that are easy to prepare, to pack and to transport. Salads, burgers, pizzas and sushi are the menus most often delivered. That said, nothing stops you innovating and offering more elaborate dishes for delivery. You will be giving customers a restaurant experience at home.
Update your point-of-sale technology
Up-to-date technology is essential if your delivery system is to run properly. It makes taking orders, handling data and organising drops far simpler. You have several options here:
- The telephone
- The web
- An app (a third party’s or your own)
- A courier
- And so on
Also check your Wi-Fi network before you start delivering. The connection has to be solid in every corner of the restaurant, and above all wherever the tablet you use for orders will sit. Finally, make sure that device is working and well placed. Keeping it near the kitchen saves time and effort, and makes it easier for the person taking orders to talk to the people preparing them.
Organise your incoming orders
Without a decent tool, it is easy to lose track of orders. Mistakes creep into the preparation, drivers go to the wrong recipient, dishes arrive late, you miss calls. To avoid disaster, good organisation comes first. So get the right kit to manage online orders, preparation and delivery. There are integrated delivery platforms such as Deliverect, for example. As well as helping you manage orders, it sends them straight to a professional outside delivery service such as Shippr. > Go behind the scenes of the Deliverect and Shippr partnership Some of these tools even offer stock management, accounting or statistics. It is up to you whether you manage every order on a single device or work across several at once.
Invest in quality packaging
When it comes to prepared food delivered to the door, packaging is unavoidable. First and foremost it is a matter of safety, keeping fresh products in good condition. Remember that packaging is the first point of contact between you and your customer on an online order, so quality packaging is essential to a good first impression. It is also a useful marketing asset: it can carry your colours and your brand identity. Napkins can carry your logo too. Go for a design that is creative but also practical, so the food travels comfortably. Think about the details, and think about the dishes you are sending out. Should some products be packed separately? The customer experience is in the details. One more thing that heavily influences which restaurant customers choose: eco-friendly packaging. There are plenty of high-quality, sturdy ecological options for takeaway food today. Card is the most popular, followed closely by polystyrene and its excellent insulating properties.
Choose how you deliver
As a restaurateur, which delivery option should you choose? There are two:
- Deliver in-house
- Bring in third-party platforms to do it for you
IN-HOUSE DRIVERS
If you choose to have your own drivers in-house, there are a few things to account for:
- you will have to invest in vehicles
- you will need your own delivery platform
- you will have to handle communication and tracking with your recipients
This first option lets you control order management entirely, along with communication with customers. It also keeps service quality in your hands and avoids paying a premium to the platforms.
EXTERNAL DRIVERS
Bringing in a professional, on the other hand, gives your restaurant a professional delivery service. You get experienced couriers with the right equipment, so orders go out quickly and in the right conditions. The other advantage is a great deal of flexibility.
WHICH DELIVERY OPTION SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?
Who says choosing means giving something up? The two are entirely compatible. You can perfectly well have a dedicated in-house team and call on an outside logistics provider to help during volume peaks. Looking for a delivery platform to handle transport of your prepared dishes? Shippr does exactly that. With more than 500 professional partner drivers, delivering in various types of vehicle, we can meet any kind of need. AFSCA knowledge, refrigerated vehicles, refrigerated boxes — our drivers are equipped to deliver your dishes in the best possible conditions. Get in touch today to give your customers the best experience and grow your revenue.
Adapt how your staff work around the new delivery service
Your team has to be prepared and well organised before a delivery service starts. Divide the roles clearly so that deliveries do not get in the way of service in the dining room, and vice versa. In the same spirit, avoid giving one person several jobs. Whoever takes the order should not be the person cooking, and certainly not the person delivering. To keep things running smoothly, appoint a delivery lead. That person coordinates every part of the delivery process, may help prepare dishes, and makes sure everything is ready before the driver leaves. They are also responsible for checking each order before it leaves the restaurant. Apply the same system in the kitchen and front of house. When everyone knows exactly what their role is, they can concentrate fully on it. On top of that, train your drivers and make sure they understand how much their work matters. Dishes have to arrive intact, on time and with courtesy towards the customer.
Plan production and stay responsive
Knowing your own production capacity is essential to making a project like this work. With table service, for instance, you have all the information you need:
- You know how many people the room holds
- You already know how many sittings you do in each period
- Working out how many ingredients you need for a day is straightforward
But what about planning for delivery? In that case, you plan as the orders come in. Being responsive is essential, so you can prepare dishes quickly and get them to the customer as fast as possible. Avoid over-ordering supplies so you do not waste stock. That is exactly why you defined a delivery-specific menu earlier. If you need to, you can always hand stock management to software built for the job.
Tell people about your new service
Want the business to thrive? Then communicate. That means advertising in particular, to raise your visibility and attract more customers. Let people know you deliver, and keep customers informed as the service develops. Use every channel available:
- A delivery app
- Posts on social media
- Your own website
- And so on
Be professional
You know this already, but every business has to present a good image to its customers. On site, you can polish your service, satisfy your customers and build a real relationship. At a distance, delivery is the one and only moment of contact between your restaurant and your customers, so the quality of the delivery service is critical. Listen to your customers, stay open to criticism and advice, and of course be punctual. Small touches are also what wins consumers over — and they encourage people to order from you again. Slip something into the bag, for example:
- Offer a loyalty card
- Create a leaflet
- Include a discount voucher
- Personalise the order with a note saying “thank you” or “enjoy your meal”
- And so on
Why set up a delivery service in your restaurant?
The pandemic increased the use of home delivery, but it was not really new. Consumers had been favouring it for several years, because of the time and energy it saves them. As a result, a great many restaurants started building a delivery service, and the decision brings a number of benefits:
- Higher customer satisfaction: consumers want speed and convenience, and home delivery answers that need better.
- A wider reach: you extend your catchment area instead of being limited to the neighbourhood your restaurant sits in. Your delivery zone lets you reach a much bigger audience.
- Learning more about your customers: some data is easier to collect, such as which dishes consumers like most.
- More ways to grow revenue: the luxury of being delivered to has a price consumers are willing to pay. Keep table service running as well and you double your routes to growth.
Setting up delivery in your restaurant: broaden your offer and grow your revenue
Setting up a delivery service does not happen overnight. But adding it is a significant asset for your business. As well as growing revenue, having a delivery service opens up new opportunities. Imagine delivering office lunches while still seating customers and delivering to homes. Preparation and management can be demanding, but outside partners — for order management as much as for logistics — can help you handle it.
A same-day delivery specialist, Shippr offers a range of delivery options: moving foodstuffs between your restaurants, lunch box rounds, meal trays delivered to offices at lunchtime or for events, express delivery and more. Every job is done in the right conditions to protect your products, thanks to refrigerated boxes, refrigerated vans with temperature control and our professional carriers. To grow what your delivery service can do, talk to one of our business experts.
