7 Simple Tips To Streamline Your Delivery Process

Thanks to a leap forward in delivery technology delivery restaurant orders are booming. But are business owners reaping the rewards?

Look out the car window, down any street in most of Australia’s cities and you’ll see cars and e-bikes zooming around delivering hot and cold meals to hundreds of thousands of customers around the clock.

Even prior to Covid, businesses were seeing a huge increase in turnover thanks to increased visibility and sales online through delivery services and delivery providing partners. But streamlining processes and ensuring restaurant ops and procedures are in place to ensure it runs as desired isn’t always at the top of every restaurant’s to-do list.

So, whether you are considering offering delivery for the first time or just looking to sharpen up the edges of your current strategy, here are a few tips and tricks to ensuring your delivery processes are as tight as your takeaway container lids.

Find the right partner

Even if you already have a few cars or bikes doing deliveries as part of your business, you can still benefit from bringing on help. Third-party delivery platforms such as Uber Eats offer a variety of models and services to help you reach your maximum potential. Restaurants can benefit from increased visibility on websites and apps while dedicated POS systems help to simplify processes, slash start-up costs and bolster brand recognition. Partners can also add and compliment your existing delivery strategy. Many also offer ‘pick up’ options too.

Get smart with your menu

Be sure to offer a curated delivery menu that is optimised for takeaway. Customers tend to pick items and combos near the top of the menu. Place high-margin or featured options there. Also allow for add-ons such as individual ingredients, sides, and beverages. Make sure your menu travels well so that the product arrives as if it’s fresh out of the oven. Instil cooking practices and ordering procedures that consider optimal cooking times. Put garnishes and condiments on the side and use containers that protect the integrity of your product from door to door.

Supercharge Your Ops

Create a standard operating procedure to check the contents of every order before it’s handed over to the delivery driver. When orders start flying in, it can be easy to let a few additions slip or a product fall off the top. Customers have a lot to choose from and instilling faith and confidence in a brand will go miles toward retaining customers. Offer direction and instruction to delivery partners and drivers to ensure your product arrives in the best possible condition.

Find Space

Think of your pass as two conveyor belts. One caters to dine in and is set up accordingly. The other should be set up to better cater to delivery. Create a clearly marked dedicated space for delivery drivers to pick up food within your premises. Put up signage to direct drivers to desired waiting areas which will prevent bottlenecks. Align your POS and ticketing system with these processes and you’ll find your delivery time to door decrease dramatically.

Learn To Love Meal-Deals

Offer family or meal packs outlining pricing, the number of people the meal serves, everything included in the meal, and any heating or re-heating instructions. Provide insulated containers to ensure quality control. Many third-party apps also offer restaurants the opportunity to create coupons or offers. Experiment with 2-for-1 or buy 1-get-1 to see additional revenue come through the till. Uber Eats merchants can use a variety of features to experiment with different types of offers and generally see huge interest and uptake of promo deals – which result in increased sales and orders through the restaurant.

Give Your Website a Refresh

Optimise your ordering experience by enhancing online ordering on your website. Make sure your online ordering solution is user friendly and easily adaptable to both desktop and mobile devices. Clunky, outdated, or old websites can severely deter new customers. Ensure you have the right tool for the job and invest in your website and apps. Alternatively, partner with a third-party provider who will do this for you.

Go Contactless

In the wake of the pandemic, behaviours have changed. Offer contactless curbside pickup at your premises to cater to some of your more cautious customer base. Streamline the pickup process by requesting the car make, model and colour, allocating dedicated parking spots for customers and clearly displaying a phone number for customers to call on arrival.