How Can Restaurants Start Their Delivery Service?
We are living in an age where technology has made everything convenient and accessible. This has led to a change in consumer trends nowadays, who are now accustomed to getting exactly what they want without even having to leave their homes. This is true for shopping as well as ordering food. Technology has made it possible for consumers to order their favorite food and have it delivered to their doorstep.
Consumers now prefer to dine out less and order delivery at home, especially during the fall and winter seasons. This increase in the number of people ordering delivery is making it vital for restaurant owners to have a working, effective, and efficient delivery service in place to maximize their revenue. If you are a restaurant owner who wants to start a delivery service for his/her restaurant, you have come to the right place. Below we have mentioned how restaurants can start their delivery service:
Set Up An Online Delivery System On Your Website
The first thing that any restaurant will have to do to start their delivery service is set up a beautiful website and add an online ordering system for the restaurant. It is very important that the website is beautifully designed, responsive, and works perfectly on both desktop and mobile devices because mobile users have increased throughout the past few years.
When you enable your website to take orders, you are taking the first step in setting up your delivery service. Do remember that this is not an easy task and you will have to hire a team of developers who hold expertise in this field. Ensure that the whole food ordering system is integrated into your POS system and things like confirmation and update emails, and designating delivery parameters such as delivery fee, are also done correctly. A well-built and properly integrated food ordering system can do wonders for a restaurant.
Create A Delivery Menu
Once you have set up your website and enabled it to receive online orders, the next step is to create a delivery menu that is meant specifically for online ordering. The first thing you will have to do while creating a delivery menu is feature your best sellers on the first page. You can find out your best sellers by evaluating which of your menu items are in demand and then feature them on the first page to gain the attention of consumers.
You can then start with your regular menu including seasonal foods, drink items, meal kits, desserts, etc. While you are creating a menu for online ordering, make sure to write a short feature description and add some photos of each of the items on the menu. This will surely make a huge impact on consumers. Also, keep making changes to the menu regularly as you add or remove new items.
Determine Delivery Driver Options
Next up, it is time that you determine delivery driver options and organize a proper delivery system for orders. You have two options available; either hire full-time delivery drivers or utilize your current employees and employ them as a part delivery drivers.
If you choose to hire full-time delivery drivers, you will have to post the job description on social media platforms and different job board sites. It will be a tiring process to scrutinize the candidates and their motor vehicle reports but if your restaurant is very busy, this might be the right choice. If you have some employees at the restaurant that are under-utilized, you can ask them to become part-time delivery drivers. By doing so, they will be able to earn a few extra hundred bucks and you won’t have to worry about hiring a new person.
Make sure to provide delivery drivers with the right equipment for food delivery and also reorganize space a bit so that in rush hours your restaurant is not a mess.
Train Your Staff
Training your staff is also important so that the whole food ordering and delivery process is carried out smoothly. Your food delivery system revolves around your staff, who have to process everything, right from accepting the orders to preparing them and getting them out for delivery. You should provide proper training to your staff and also create a training manual from which they can refer to any time. Provide training sessions for each position so that every staff member is well aware of his/her role which includes learning the ordering system, processing orders, preparing food for delivery, container packing, etc.
Training your staff is very important, as is evident from the fact that companies like McDonald’s take staff training very seriously to avoid making customers unhappy and getting customer complaints through their McDVoice customer satisfaction program.
Spread The Word Out
After you are done with everything, make sure that you get the word out. You will have to let your consumers know that your restaurant is open for online food ordering. You can do this by promoting it on your website and also on your restaurant’s social media pages. Make sure that you order some incentive in the form of a discount or deal to customers who order through the internet to enhance your sales. Dollar General also employed a similar strategy with its DGCustomerFirst program by providing free incentives to customers who filled out their customer satisfaction survey.
Spreading the word out is very important, especially on the internet and in your local community because these are the two places from where you will be getting most of your online orders. So make sure that you do it the right way.