Quick Summary: When starting a new restaurant business, we often find people exploring “Which is the best delivery service for a restaurant?” You will have an end number of options to choose the right food delivery services for restaurants, but have you ever thought about how to select the right one? We have answered this in this article. Let’s explore;
Delivery services for the restaurant are the need of the hour you cannot imagine success in the food & beverages sectors unless this digital lifeline. You need to embrace it if you want to expand your restaurant to larger customers (in and around your location) and grow from brick and mortar business. We have done research on this part and have suggested many things that can help you decide on the right third-party delivery services for your restaurant.
How to Choose a Restaurant Delivery Service
Running a restaurant without an online delivery service offering is nothing more than a nightmare for your business in this digital age. You need to embrace the lifeline that is delivery service. Frankly, you have many options to choose from, but how will you decide which one is the best bet? The guide and tips here will help you decide. So, here we go;
Availability in Your Location
Before you make a random list of food delivery services for your restaurant, you need to decide if the particular delivery service providers are operating in and around your locations. Most importantly, if they are accepting restaurant listings or partnerships from your region. Make a list of third-party vendors who are available in your region. And then take the next step.
Cuisine Compatibility
There are delivery services that prefer to partner with various cuisines and restaurant styles. For example, some are best known for delivering breakfast or fast food while others are for upscaling dining. This is on you to decide if the delivery service aligns with your restaurant menu. You can discuss this with your delivery service provider and decide what they are best known for in your region.
Popularity with Guests
Popularity over availability should be given priority. What if a particular delivery service is available in your region with less or no exposure at all in the selected region? You need to consider this requirement carefully before you make a choice. For example, connect with food delivery services only exploring their popularity in the region. A less popular delivery service is known by fewer people and hence you get no increase in sales.
Delivery Range and Time
When you make a list of delivery partners, ensure the delivery range and time. For example, you need to make sure that the delivery service providers are efficiently providing services in and around your region so you easily attract larger customers in and around the location. At the same time, talk to your delivery service provider if they are available to deliver food to customers during peak hours, such as morning breakfasts, lunch, and dinner. If you are offering fast food, like Pizza, Burger, or there, they must be available to accept the requests of customers.
Fees and Profit Margins
How much do you have to pay to your delivery service provider? Most service providers have different ranges of cost based on the services you choose. For example, DoorDash charges up to 30% and others have similar fee patterns. But, some charges extra for marketing and promotion. You need to check and ensure that the charges are suitable and do not impact your budget. Understanding their cost and commission structure will help estimate how much you save and invest per order.
Guest Relationships
Before you partner with third-party food delivery apps, you need to decide, if your delivery service for restaurants is sharing customers’ data with you or not. In this digital age, having a good relationship with customers is crucial. Hence, you need to ensure you get data about customers placing the order.
Technology and Integration
What technology does your service provider provide for restaurants? At first, it does not seem to be relatable to you as you might think what you would do after knowing what technology your food delivery service partner uses. It doesn’t make any sense. But when you see it from a large perspective, it makes great sense. For example, when you choose a delivery service provider for your restaurant, you must assess their technological capabilities. Ensure the platform they use seamlessly integrates with your point of sale, POS system. If your delivery partner uses the right Technology, it will help you increase sales boost, convergence and improve processes, and reduce the risk. In such cases, choosing a delivery partner that uses friendly user interfaces for restaurants as well as customers will enhance your restaurant’s growth.
Customer Base and Marketing Support
Is your delivery partner going to provide marketing support? Do they have a large fan following across digital platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others? These are crucial questions that you need to keep in mind while selecting a delivery partner. Almost all food delivery partners provide marketing support, but very few have a greater presence across social media channels. Choose your preferences smartly.
Reliability and Customer Service
Is the delivery service provider reliable? This is crucial as you will find many delivery service providers for restaurants with negative customer reviews and do not have dedicated customer service. You need to check this even before making a list of delivery service providers. Do not consider the one that does offer this facility.
Why and When to Choose Popular Food Delivery Services
You must be wondering why you need a food delivery partner or whether it is good to integrate in-house or third-party delivery services. For startups, it is crucial to choose a third-party delivery service provider to get exposure in the market. Food service providers help you market and promote your restaurant among food lovers and promote your services.
So, if you are new, it is good to go with third-party food delivery service providers. However, if you are established and you are well-known in the region, you can consider integrating your own online food delivery system. It will help you boost sales and even build trust among your customers.
Which Delivery Service Is Best For Restaurants?
As you have explored how, why, and when, you need to check with the right food delivery service provider. You will plenty of lists out there for the best online food delivery apps, but you have to choose one or two that are well-known in your region. We have made a list of the best food delivery apps that we have already researched and some are the added ones. Let’s explore.
The delivery services that are best for restaurants include;
- Foodiv
- Uber Eats
- DoorDash
- Zomato
- Grubhub
- ChowNow
- Delivery.com
- Postmates
- Swiggy
- Dunzo
- Eatsure
- Instacart
- JustEat
Final Thoughts
At Foodiv, we work to support startups and established entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, whether it is by offering high-quality SaaS-based food delivery applications or by providing them tips, suggestions, guides, business plans, and restaurant business consulting services. Explore this blog before you make your choice and connect with us if you need more guidance on selecting the delivery service for your restaurant. We are here to help.
