Why should restaurants opt for self-delivery over third-party aggregators?
What’s the best way to fulfill online orders — third-party delivery or self-delivery? One of the most common questions asked by the restaurateurs as online ordering and delivery explode into the mainstream.
A few months back, when restaurants were already struggling with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a viral post by a Chicago Pizzaiolo had people shocked over delivery fees charged by GrubHub. The screenshot of a payment summary clearly showed how the restaurant had earned $1,042.63 for selling 46 pizzas but was paid only $314 at the end of the month by GrubHub. The platform charged the Pizzeria about $666.09 in commissions and fees! Holy-moly, the customers and the businesses from the industry cried! How are we going to survive the pandemic if food delivery platforms continue to keep a major chunk of our revenues, wondered many!
Delivery-apps like GrubHub, Seamless and Uber Eats have already been under the radar for charging restaurants a hefty commission per order. It’s easy to get online with these apps, but it gets expensive!
But this pandemic started the backlash against the delivery apps as being able to offer online ordering and delivery has become a lifeline for restaurants.
As restauranteurs unravel the melodies of the digital space, they’re starting to understand the market, it’s changing dynamics, and the ecosystem that they need to invest in to create the business of the future.
And the future demands a solid delivery system that not only ensures that customers receive their food hot, fresh and intact, but also that each and every order promises some kind of personalization. Safety, on the other hand, is one of the key aspects of last-mile deliveries. Customers need assurance that trustworthy employees or partners deliver orders.
Self Delivery — the Future of Last-mile Delivery
Self-delivery — the ability of a business to fulfill online orders directly with its own personnel delivery associate instead of third-party vendors. Of course, self-delivery has many advantages over third-party delivery apps, most importantly, reclaiming and securing more of the revenue from shipping out meals.
Improved quality of delivery: With online ordering, if something goes wrong with the last-mile delivery, the customers don’t blame the driver or the vendor who made the delivery. It’s the restaurant brand that’s blamed for its inconsistencies, which can have a detrimental impact on the hard-earned reputation. But when someone from the restaurant itself makes the delivery, it gets easier to ensure that the food reaches the customers just as it was when left the restaurant.
Better control on delivery costs: Self-delivery gives restaurants the freedom and flexibility to manage and control delivery costs by passing all or some of the delivery fees on to their customers.
Enhanced Customer Experience: In today’s time, providing a top-notch delivery service is the key to success. With self-delivery, the experience that the restaurant provides to its dine-in customers can be extended to the client ordering from home.
For instance: if you’re delivering a pizza, ensuring that each pizza box is delivered with a thankyou note and additional seasonings may sound like a small gesture but can help score customer loyalty.
Reduced delivery time: Compared to an Ubereats driver or a Grub-hub delivery executive, an in-house delivery executive would take less time to deliver orders as it only caters to the request from one restaurant. This substantially reduces the time taken to complete deliveries.
It’s time to stand out!
Self-delivery has far more advantages than a third-party delivery app, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t come with challenges or responsibilities. In order to make last-mile deliveries a success, the restaurant must ensure that they are doing it right and better than their competitors.
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