Make Restaurant Delivery a New Part of Your Business

Does your restaurant offer delivery? Should it? Delivery may be a great way to take advantage of the continuing “nesting” trend. But it’s important to go in with a plan so your core business doesn’t suffer and your delivered food experience is up to par with what your in-restaurant diners receive.

What should you offer?

Choose dishes that will travel well so your high-quality standards will be retained. Some meals that serve beautifully at the table could degrade substantially by the time they arrive at the customer’s home.

Consider the container.

There are many options you can experiment with to determine what will work best with the type of food being delivered and external impacts such as weather. Perform test runs in a variety of containers before you formally launch. Look for temperature retention, spill prevention and appearance so you work out any kinks before offering delivery.

How should you deliver?

Using your own delivery people provides more control for you, but it can also increase your overhead. You’ll have to train people, figure out when to have them on standby and pay and manage them. An established third-party service will have systems in place to ensure efficient service, but you will be sharing the service with other area restaurants and will have to depend on their standards.

There’s an app for that.

You can partner with vendors such as Grubhub or UberEATS which are familiar names in most households. Alternatively, there may be local options in your city or you can add a widget to your existing website (be sure it’s optimized for mobile!). Any of these options make it simple for customers to order right from their smartphones.

Get the word out.

When it comes to marketing your delivery service, take a two-pronged approach. Begin with efforts to increase awareness you offer delivery. This can be achieved by adding information about your delivery service to your existing marketing. You can try marketing pieces like table tents so in-house diners will see delivery is now an option. You also want to grab attention when people are hungry and ready to order dinner. Consider PPC advertising that will serve digital ads to your target audience or create marketing efforts around popular ordering-in events.

Get the latest advice from your restaurant recruiter!

Not sure if you are ready to add something new to your business? Give us a call. Our restaurant recruiting specialists keep up with the latest developments and best practices in the hospitality industry. We can help you plan for the future and hire the people who will execute on your vision successfully. Contact us today to learn more or start your restaurant executive search.

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