Food delivery services, a new opportunity for the restaurant market?

They are pretty hard to miss in today’s street scene, particularly in cities: scooters with delivery boxes filled with food. Welcome to the food delivery service phenomenon, where customers simply order their meals online which are then delivered to them at home by a courier.

How can traditional restaurants get in on this trend? In this article, we discuss the impact of these food delivery services on the restaurant market and how you, as a restaurateur, can get your piece of this pie.

Food delivery services: a sign of the zeitgeist

In the restaurant market, food delivery services refer to the service where customers can order meals from home or the office remotely (via a website or an app) and have them delivered at home. When ordering, customers are presented with a selection of local (fast-food) restaurants as well as food menus. Users can track their orders and sometimes even the courier’s route live. Speed and customer service are key.

Some of the best-known players are UberEats, Foodora and Deliveroo. Some platforms have their own couriers, others use the restaurant’s courier.

And, there are now even catering sites dedicated exclusively to preparing food for food deliveries, where you can’t actually eat on site, the so-called ‘dark kitchens’. A practice that helps keep rent and staff costs down.

The impact of food delivery services on the restaurant market

To say that these food delivery services give traditional restaurants a run for their money would be an understatement. Whereas people used to tuck into a margherita pizza at their local pizzeria, they now have their favourite pizza delivered at home by scooter. This online revolution has completely penetrated the restaurant market and is saving people time at that. While they wait for their meals to be delivered, they can do other things, such as catch up on work, do housework, relax etc.

However, food delivery services also offer opportunities for traditional restaurants. As a restaurateur, you can register your restaurant on a food delivery service platform and jump on board this online trend. It is a way to increase your visibility and reach in your area and add an extra stream of income. But remember, the food delivery service platforms charge a commission.

Food delivery services: an inextricable part of your restaurant

So, is it just a case of registering on a platform and waiting for the first online order to come in? It’s not quite that simple. To be a part of the food delivery service business as a restaurant and do this properly and professionally, you will need to implement a number of structural changes first:

• Make sure that the couriers can pick up the deliveries easily. For instance, provide a side entrance so that the courier doesn’t have to walk through the whole restaurant.
• Choose what dishes you will be offering as part of your food delivery service. And no, you really don’t have to put your whole menu online. A carefully chosen selection of dishes means you will be able to deliver faster too.
• Go for recognisable, user-friendly packaging. Food delivery services are great branding and customer connection tools.

Accounting and administrative integration of food delivery services

Food delivery service orders come in via the respective platforms you as a restaurateur have access to via a special login. Don’t give yourself too much unnecessary extra administrative work, integrate these online orders into your current POS system.

Trivec is now offering integration to Deliverect, a system that automatically integrates orders of online platforms into an existing POS system.

Trivec is a leading POS system and bar automation service provider for the hotel and catering industry. Trivec supplies customised POS systems for more simplified, efficient cash register transactions. We provide our services to a wide range of hotel and catering businesses, including restaurants, bars, pubs, food trucks and hotels.

Contact us for more information.