What to think about when providing your own delivery service

Since 2016, restaurant delivery management software provider Orderlord, has been collaborating with Preoday to ensure that food and drink ordered through Preoday’s platform is delivered to happy customers. Orderlord’s platform manages the entire delivery process, from taking the orders from the kitchen to telling the delivery drivers where to go, and when.

Delivery is growing

Together, we have provided joint support to restaurant clients across the world, supporting independent businesses and chains alike. Offering delivery in conjunction with a digital ordering platform isn’t just for big chains and it’s on the rise – UK delivery services, for example, are expected to expand rapidly, with spend set to increase by 17% to £656m by 2019, according to NPD Group. 

If you’ve identified a need for delivery in your restaurant business, you may be considering how to best provide this to your customers. We talked to Orderlord to discover what advice the team could give to restaurants on offering delivery to customers.

Like any new operation, successful delivery is a question of logistics. Customer expectations are high – they want their food quickly, and for it to be just as good quality and as fresh as they would find in your restaurant. Today’s consumers are not forgiving of cold food or sloppy packaging.

Orderlord’s top 3 tips:

• Ensure you have a stable internet connection – As simple as it may sound, it will be critical in ensuring that deliveries run smoothly.
• Have great drivers – You want drivers that know your brand, know your food and get to know your regular customers. It is worth investing in good delivery staff as they represent your brand.
• Have clear processes – You can have the best software and best drivers in the world but if you do not have clear processes in place internally, it is not going to work. The restaurant management needs to think about a host of scenarios including their drivers’ remits; how they should prioritise different drivers; who is in charge if something goes wrong; what the lines of communications are between restaurant staff and the drivers; and how to manage the orders .

The most common source of chaos in a delivery service is when staff and/or drivers do not understand the system, or are not using it correctly, so make sure that they are aware of and understand any new technology that you introduce. Let staff know about new software or hardware from the beginning, so that they are bought in to what the business is trying to achieve and are happy with how it works.

If you are a restaurant considering a digital ordering platform or delivery, get in touch today – hello@preoday.com.

About Orderlord

The Orderlord software is based on order tracking and real-time order updates. This is designed to create a more efficient process and enable restaurants to take full control over their delivery service. Orderlord provides a variety of different ordering functionalities including management software with automatic dispatching, kitchen screens, apps for delivery guys, order tracker for customers, lightweight POS and reports.