In this article, we discuss food delivery management software for restaurants, and how helps you provide a better, faster, cost-effective food delivery.
There’s no doubt about it. Delivery is changing the way we consume our food.
And it isn’t a new concept.
From making a phone call to ordering food online from your favourite restaurant, meal delivery has enabled us to get meals brought straight to our doorstep.
Now, we can even do it by tapping an app on our phone. It’s as simple as that.
But this is causing a lot of disruption in the food industry.
Bricks-and-mortar restaurants that were once reluctant to offer delivery as part of their service now accept the fact that it is the way of the future.
And they are not alone anymore.
Food delivery has also enabled a completely new business model to emerge - dark kitchens.
Together with dedicated food-delivery platforms, it is causing a gastronomic revolution and changing the status quo.
But as food delivery becomes a necessity in the industry, both standard restaurants, and dark kitchens have to turn to technology to maintain their presence in this dynamic market.
Enter food delivery management software.
An innovative solution for the food delivery supply chain that can help businesses on both sides of the isle achieve their goals.
(But more on that later)
Right now, let’s see what is driving this change.
When it comes to their meals, consumers want it delivered to their doorstep now more than ever.
In fact, statistics say there are 1,231.9 million food delivery users in the world in 2020. And this trend is only going to continue.
As more millennials come of age and factors like the outbreak of the coronavirus prompt more people to use delivery, that number will swell.
The current 25% year-over-year growth of the food delivery industry supports this claim.
As does the revenue forecast for 2024, which states the market will rise to over $182 billion.
And the reason behind this growth is convenience.
That’s why more and more consumers are using their apps to order food.
An average person relies on two food delivery apps to order a meal at least three times per month.
Forecasts predict that by 2024 the number of users who rely on platform-to-consumer delivery and restaurant-to-consumer delivery will be the same at 965.8 million.
And while this is dividing the landscape, it’s also providing ample opportunity for businesses that are willing to accept this change.
Those that can offer their food through both channels (dedicated food platforms and private websites or apps) are the ones that look to gain the most.
So for restaurants and dark kitchens that want to tap into this consumer base, on-demand food delivery is the only way to reach this goal.
But this doesn’t come with its own set of unique problems.
Offering direct-to-consumer delivery is a difficult undertaking at best, both inside and outside the kitchen.
For restaurants that are yet to enter the game, it means embracing the concept and creating a system from scratch that can support it.
For dark kitchens and on-demand food platforms, it’s an uphill battle to win over customers and make them accept the new way of doing things.
But for everyone in the food delivery industry, it means upholding a high quality of food and service standard without sacrificing price or profit.
And this is where many problems appear because consumers are always looking for faster, cheaper, and better to get their food.
When it comes to speed, time is of the essence.
According to statistics, 58% of consumers are not willing to wait more than 40 minutes for their delivery.
This means not just increasing the efficiency of the staff that prepares the food but improving food order management, fulfilment, and creating a suitable delivery network that can support it.
The biggest complaint food delivery customers (17%) make is that their food isn’t warm or fresh enough on arrival.
While we won’t go into the kitchen, faster food delivery and optimized drop-off can certainly help in the matter.
Surprisingly, it also means you have to be near your customers.
While 79% of consumers still choose delivery over takeout if your restaurant is 3km away, the further you are the far less likely they are to order food from you.
That’s because customers relate distance to a slower delivery.
And when only one in four people are prepared to wait an hour or more, you will need to overcome this challenge by removing those concerns.
One way is to create a supply chain that can match capacity with demand. The other is to provide a better service.
Six out of seven complaints that irritate your customers involve some level of mismanaging service quality.
That’s over 70% of the complaints customers have with your service.
Businesses that can keep these concerns at a minimum can win over customers even at the cost of a slower delivery.
Getting everyone involved in the delivery of your food on the same page is the first step to achieve this.
The staff that receives orders has to have clear lines of communication with the delivery team.
On the other hand, they also need access to the kitchen to relate customer demands.
But to really improve service you need to let customers voice the concerns they have with your delivery.
Allowing customers the ability to rate the quality of the service is a keystone solution to finding out all of its pitfalls, especially when 1 in 4 delivery drivers admit to eating customers’ food.
Another way to improve customer experience and relieve some of their tension is to give customers greater control over their delivery.
For example, providing customers with a tracking link when they order food lets them stay on top of the whereabouts of their delivery and ETAs.
Additionally, it’s worth establishing a direct line of communication between the customer and the deliverer.
Not only does this improve customer satisfaction, but it also reduces missed food deliveries.
Food delivery is a numbers game.
And while it comes at a substantial cost, there is one thing going in your favour.
Customers don’t mind spending money on delivery.
The only thing you have to determine is how much are they willing to pay for your delivery still to turn in a profit.
But keeping customers (and staff) satisfied with the price of your service isn’t easy.
According to statistics, customers are willing to pay on average $8.5 for their delivery, including the delivery fee, service fee, and tip.
But if you want to create a truly cost-efficient food delivery, you need to go beyond price.
You need to optimize your operations to minimize cost and maximize output performance.
That’s where delivery management software comes in.
Delivery management software is the ultimate end-to-end solution for delivery.
While it is a special tool that can help you attain measurable results, it’s also industry-specific.
It works differently when you want to manage field service, from when you want to know how to compete with Amazon, to when you want to improve your food delivery.
And we think that’s super important.
You could even make a case that it functions like food delivery or restaurant delivery management software.
A unique system in its own right that meets the specific needs of food delivery.
But why is it so great?
That has a lot to do with how it solves the above-mentioned challenges of on-demand food delivery.
Food delivery software for restaurants and dark kitchens takes a holistic approach to planning, tracking, organizing and executing delivery across the supply chain.
In other words, from the moment the meal is ordered, down to when the deliverer hands it to the customer, and beyond.
A system like eLogii takes a platform approach to the problem.
This allows you to integrate with any tool vital for your eatery.
For example, a temperature monitoring app that maintains the freshness of your food, or an order management system you use to receive and send out orders.
On the other hand, delivery management software is also modulated.
It contains all of the tools you need to increase the speed, efficiency, and accuracy of your food delivery.
From route optimization software components to delivery scheduling and tracking, down to a delivery app for drivers - it’s all built into the software for food delivery.
But that doesn’t mean you need to take it all. You can choose different plans tailored to your needs or hand-select components for your delivery.
You would think that all of those capabilities would cost you a lot of money.
But you would be wrong.
Unlike legacy solutions that require a hefty upfront investment, this kind of multi-restaurant delivery software is pay-as-you-go at a low annual monthly fee.
All thanks to the cloud-first approach to delivery logistics.
This is useful when you want to increase efficiency without investing too much money.
Enhanced usability means faster adoption.
Unlike other solutions that appear on the delivery management software market, it’s extremely straightforward and easy to use.
Food delivery logistics software comes with a dashboard for your dispatchers and order managers. And a delivery app for drivers and delivery agents.
While the dashboard simplifies operations by relying on familiar actions, like drag and drop, the delivery app resembles other smartphone apps people use outside of the workplace.
That can cut the learning curve significantly and reduce the time it takes your team to adopt it, without sacrificing functionality.
And the faster you integrate any new piece of technology into your existing operations, the less money you are losing.
Agility is a hallmark of the fast-paced food delivery industry.
One way meal delivery management software achieves it is through greater visibility over the delivery process.
For example, the dashboard lets your stationary team track each delivery in real-time.
You can use that information to auto-assign orders based on the nearest or best agent so that when a deliverer arrives the delivery is ready for pick-up.
Food orders not being ready has been a major complaint by 52% of the delivery personnel.
Optimizing pick-up lets you reduce their pain, which means you retain a happier workforce.
On the other hand, it also lets you maximize their performance output and boost key metrics in delivery logistics.
Gaining insight into driver location, vehicle capacity, and ETAs to and from drop-off, lets you better plan and schedule deliveries as they arrive.
It also means you can combine that knowledge with the route optimization capabilities to batch deliveries together and increase the speed of delivery while reducing waste at the same time.
From a business perspective, this saves you a lot of resources while raking in maximum profit.
And when it’s time to scale your delivery operation, you can do it with much greater flexibility since there is virtually no limit to how many deliveries, orders, or drivers the system can support.
As much as attracting new customers is important, retaining recurring customers is far more critical for restaurants and dark kitchens.
If you can offer a food delivery that makes them feel cared for, they will repay the kindness by recommending your business to other customers.
That’s why you need to provide them with a great experience from the moment they place their order.
And here is where delivery management software can help you achieve that goal.
First off, taking advantage of each optimizing opportunity shortens the waiting time.
This helps you achieve the 30 minutes or less goal for each food delivery.
Beyond that, automating the entire food delivery process means you can integrate it with multiple channels while managing each order from one central hub.
From dedicated food platforms and apps to phone calls, this makes it convenient for customers to order their meals from you regardless of how they want to do it.
Another key feature of delivery management software is that it lets you open a direct line of communication to and from your customers.
For example, after you assign an order to a delivery agent, the software can automatically send tracking codes to customers or use alerts to notify customers about the ETA.
On the other hand, the delivery app lets drivers directly communicate with customers so they can provide more precise information about their time of arrival.
A driver can simply message customers and let them know he is en route or provide them with a more accurate drop-off time.
Drivers can also use the app to check information about the task, such as the customer’s personal data, delivery location, or type of order, reducing the chance of mix-ups, late or missed deliveries.
At drop-off, both the driver and customer don’t have to waste any time manually filling out receipts.
Instead, they can use the built-in electronic proof of delivery to confirm a successful delivery.
On the off chance that the delivery doesn’t arrive, or the customer is unsatisfied with the delivery service, they can voice their concerns via the internal rating system.
It’s a far less painful way of letting customers vent their dissatisfaction than say, social media.
At the same time, it provides you with a source of feedback both about your service and delivery team.
This kind of multi-level customer service is the only way to win over customers in the age of where they hold all the power.
But for on-demand food delivery to work, restaurants and dark kitchens also have to keep a close eye on cost, speed, and output, not to mention optimizing for greater performance.
Having a system like delivery management software is proving to be a key tool when you want to achieve those goals.
Do you want to achieve that for your business?
We have everything you need to start improving your delivery.
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