This guest post about restaurant delivery is from our friends at WebstaurantStore.
Has your restaurant ever thought about offering delivery? If so, you’re far from alone — food takeout and delivery is responsible for more than $70 billion in sales annually.
This number represents a growing trend. Food delivery is one of the fastest-growing segments within the restaurant industry. Restaurants that offer delivery are faced with a choice: keep their delivery service in-house or outsource it to a third-party. The latter group has seen huge growth over the last few years. But, restaurants running their own delivery service enjoy a few benefits third-parties can’t provide.
Here are a few reasons you should consider your own delivery service:
GROW REVENUE
When you offer delivery, you’re tapping into a new revenue stream! Off-premise dining is driving restaurant growth, with more than a third of customers ordering delivery or takeout, instead of dine-in. These dollars are best captured by offering in-house delivery: third-party delivery businesses will often take 30% of sales, or more, eating significantly into your profits. With your own online ordering platform, you can bring in more orders without the need to outsource.
CONTROL AND DEVELOP YOUR BRAND
Launching your own delivery service can offer your brand a huge boost. Your market presence and visibility will increase among people looking for options outside of dining-in. If your vehicles are branded and your employees are uniformed, you’ll also benefit from the enhanced branding visibility. Branding opportunities don’t stop there — with your logo on boxes, containers, and delivery bags, your delivery service can serve as free advertising! By offering your own delivery, you can keep your brand consistent. You won’t have to worry about a delivery person from a third-party poorly you by their appearance or behavior.
MAINTAIN CONTROL OF YOUR OPERATIONS
Consider the prior point — by training and equipping your staff, you’ll have a level of quality control over your operation that you simply wouldn’t have if you outsourced your delivery. Furthermore, maintaining a direct contact with your customer is a key to repeat business and increasing sales. With a third-party delivery service, you cede control of that important contact to an outside platform. This effectively reduces your contact with the customer to zero after an order is complete. When you’re in control of every part of the process, you stand to benefit from the interaction.
CAPTURE MORE BUSINESS
There are many opportunities for businesses that offer delivery to capture customers that dine-in only operations miss out on. Millennial and Generation Y consumers prefer convenience over cost savings and are more likely than older consumers to order delivery. You’ll also have access to consumers who don’t want to travel during inclement weather. If you offer delivery, hungry customers can order online and have their meal brought straight to their door. In the past few years, delivery operations have significantly expanded beyond pizza — from sushi to spaghetti, people are interested in ordering foods for delivery that weren’t options even a few years ago!
