3 solutions for setting up home delivery in your restaurant
03 July 2024
Home meal delivery is on a roll.
In France, it represents 20% of foodservice sales (according to Statista Consumer Insights).
Well established in big cities, restaurant delivery services are now spreading to small towns and even the countryside.
For restaurateurs, it's a real boon.
They can increase their sales without having to expand the size of their restaurant. It's an extra service that's much appreciated by consumers, and also helps to build customer loyalty.
Provided everything goes smoothly...
Delayed delivery, lost orders, cold meals... find out how to avoid all these pitfalls and ensure an impeccable home delivery service!
#1 Launching your own home delivery service: a daring gamble
If you don't want to depend on delivery platforms and want to control your costs, you may be tempted to set up your own delivery service.
It's an option, but be careful, it's not the easiest way.
Complete control of your delivery service requires a number of prerequisites:
- Investing in a delivery fleet Bikes, scooters, cars... you need to have your own fleet of vehicles, or at the very least, rent them. And, of course, you need to keep it in good condition to ensure the safety of your delivery drivers. This may require a substantial initial investment.
- Recruiting delivery drivers This, too, is no mean feat. You'll need to hire reliable, professional staff who won't take ill-considered risks on the road to deliver orders on time. Make sure they are familiar with the delivery areas, too, to avoid unpleasant surprises. Remember to take out insurance to cover delivery risks.
- Organize delivery zones: To ensure customer satisfaction, plan well in advance the distribution of the areas in which your delivery service will be available. There's no point in aiming too far if it means sacrificing quality. Guarantee short delivery times to avoid frustration.
- Preparing logistics From order taking to payment and dispatch to the kitchen, you'll need to ensure a smooth, efficient process to guarantee a quality customer experience. Beware of customer frustration if orders are delivered late or dishes arrive cold.
- Create a smooth, intuitive ordering experience: the ordering interface represents the first point of contact between your establishment and your customers. In short, it's your restaurant's virtual shop window. Opt for an online ordering solution that enhances your dishes and facilitates navigation through your digital menu. Make sure, too, that this system allows you to track the arrival and processing of orders live.
- Promote your delivery service Every opportunity is a good one to let your customers know that you offer home delivery. On your Google my business page, your website, your social networks, in your establishment... wherever your restaurant is visible, think about communicating about this novelty. This is all the more important if you have to pay your delivery drivers a salary at the end of the month: your home delivery service needs to run continuously to be profitable...
In short, as you can see, at Obypay, this is not the option we recommend.
Car your business is first and foremost catering.
Put your energy into what you do best and enjoy most.
Leave the hassle of delivery to professionals who can relieve you of these complex logistics.
#2 Using a delivery platform: the easy way out
Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Just Eat... you're bound to be familiar with all these names. And so will your (future) customers.
Using a marketplace for home delivery is obviously the easy solution.
And it's often the one favored by restaurateurs launching this service.
7 out of 10 orders for delivery go through these platforms.
Outsourcing delivery offers many advantages:
- Simplicity By entrusting logistics to professionals, you free yourself from the burden of delivery and can concentrate on your core business.
- Visibility By registering on a marketplace, your establishment will appear in the list of results according to the criteria selected by the customer. It's a great opportunity to gain visibility and attract new customers. Especially since traffic on these platforms is very high!
- Peace and quiet No need to invest in vehicles or manage delivery drivers. With delivery platforms, you give yourself peace of mind... and that's just what restaurant owners need!
Register on one or more platforms?
In France, users are increasingly inclined to use just one platform: but if you want to capture a maximum audience, it's best to bet on at least 2 marketplaces.
Of course, there is another side to the coin.
Not everything is rosy in the land of marketplaces.
First and foremost, delivery platforms are expensive restaurateurs: these intermediaries charge commission fees in addition to delivery charges, which reduces your margin.
With marketplaces, you gain not only visibility but also direct access to your customers. in the face of competition. You quickly find yourself drowned in the crowd.
And, under these conditions, it is difficult to create a personalized relationship with your customers.
By using intermediaries, you can't get to know your customers either: it's impossible to retrieve data to bring them back to your establishment.
Results You'll still have to rely on delivery platforms to generate new orders.
Fortunately, you don't have to choose between your own delivery service or listing on a marketplace, because there's a third, much more economical and equally effective solution: white-label delivery.
#3 White-label delivery: the best of 2 worlds
You can now offer delivery service since vur own online ordering solution :
- Without using a marketplace
- And without your own delivery team
How does it work?
Your customers order online from a link on your website, your Google My Business page or your social networks.
There's no application to download. Ordering and payment are done directly from an online interface. They can pay for their order by credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or even with a meal voucher.
Orders are sent directly to your POS software, printer or web page.
The delivery driver collects the order as soon as it is ready for delivery.
At no point does the customer realize that delivery will be made by an intermediary.
Click & Delivery by Obypay: not just white-label delivery...
Obypay offers you a turnkey outsourced delivery solution with its partner Uber Direct is the Click & Delivery.
This solution, integrated into your POS software, gives you the advantages of home delivery without the drawbacks:
- Personalization Customizable ordering interface: the ordering interface can be customized with your establishment's colors to offer an ordering experience that's unique to your business.
- Customized parameterization You choose your delivery zones and can even set delivery prices that vary according to the distance covered.
- Product suggestion Use the Product Push function to make personalized suggestions during the order process and increase the average ticket.
Live order tracking View and manage orders from your dedicated back-office.
Obypay offers you the possibility of combining additional options with the Click & Delivery solution for even greater flexibility and success:
- Loyalty With Obypay, you can offer an optional digital loyalty that the customer can use during the order process.
- Customer knowledge With Obypay's Click & Delivery solution, you can collect data for every order delivered to your establishment.
- Marketing campaigns Your customers haven't ordered home delivery for a long time? Send them an SMS or email to showcase your new products or simply to remind them of what's new.
- Customer feedback After each order, you have the option of collect customer feedback to identify areas for improvement or, on the contrary, receive compliments!
As you can see, by combining the Click & Delivery to otherObypayyou can totally reinvent the customer experience and activate powerful levers to boost your revenues.
Marketplaces and "in-house delivery" are of course complementary to delivery from your own channels.because they respond to the buying behavior of specific targets:
- For consumers who don't yet know your restaurant, referencing it on delivery platforms or on Google - including Google Maps - is essential to attract new customers. The quality of the reviews left on these platforms plays an even more important role, since these Internet users don't know you yet.
- Offer delivery from your own online ordering solution reinforces and help you build customer loyalty.
In any case, don't hesitate!
Ask one of our experts for advice to implement the Click & Delivery solution in your facility.
