Food consumption is an integral part of everybody’s life. We consume food
out of necessity, leisure, fun and experimentation.
Over 62% of foods are eating outside the home, in restaurants, fast food joints
and as take away meals.
Restaurants are making good money delivery food to homes and offices. The
business trend is fast becoming a major source of income for restaurant owners.
You don’t need to have a restaurant to start a food delivery company. You
can specifically build a food delivery company from scratch.
Other companies are also cashing in on the profitable venture. Some companies
that offer such services are grocery stores and fast food establishment.
Another business model that requires very little capital is concentrating
only on the delivery aspect of the business. You can do this by contacting
restaurants in your area to collect the food.
To setup this service you need a dedicated phone number, transportation,
and networking with popular restaurants in your area. You will need a business
license and handling license to deliver the meals.
You need to find out local government provisions in your area.
How to Start
a Restaurant Delivery Company
Choose an
area to Operate
You need to decide on the specific area you want to operate. There should
be a limit to the distance you are willing to travel. The longer the distance
the more time wasted and money spent on fuel.
The best area specification is a highly populated area. You can target
corporate people, working couples, young adults and the old. Anyone with the
financial ability to purchase restaurant dinners is your customer base.
Contact Restaurants
Since you are not making the meals yourself you need to contact local restaurants
in your area. The best candidates are restaurants less than 30 minutes from
your location.
This is to avoid high transportation costs and unnecessary driving.
Carefully select only popular restaurants in you locality.
Target individual restaurant owners and avoid franchise restaurants. The
reason is that franchisee owners are limited by their contract. There is also
the factor of reduced profit on your side.
The beauty of using individual
restaurants is that they can quickly opt into your idea or decline.
You should target restaurants that don’t have their own in-house delivery
service. They will most likely warm-up to your idea because your service will
add to their sales.
Choose a verity
of Restaurants
You need to choose a verity of restaurant within your supply chain. The reason
is obvious, more verity the wider your client base.
By giving you customer a wider choice you attract more business. There are
many verities to select such as Italian dishes, Indian, European dishes,
African dishes and American food.
Select the Dishes
It is important to carefully select the dishes on offer. Not every dish
holds out well when transported from one location to the other. Work closely
with restaurant mangers and chefs to select ideal meals for your service.
Food items that don’t hold up are dairy products and steaks because of
effect of residual heat.
Develop a
Delivery Menu
A delivery menu is a menu with prices of the meals. Make sure the price
is the same as that obtainable at the restaurant.
On your menu add surcharge for delivery to the meal price. The difficulty
in increased prices is not to out price your competitors. Customers are more
confident with your service and know they are paying for your service.
There are three ways to get a service charge for your delivery. To
arriving on a delivery service price consider distance and location between
restaurant and customer.
Another method is to have a fixed percentage of the total order. And the
third method is having a fixed charge for service delivery.
We recommend you use the last two methods, having a fixed service charge
or calculating a fix percentage of the order.
If the customer orders from more than one restaurant surcharge each
restaurant visit to your customer. Make it clear to your customer your company
policy to avoid misunderstanding.
Make sure your food delivery service offers a complete menu guide. Do
proper survey of favorite restaurants in your area and the type of meals
served.
Promote you Business
You need to promote your business to attract customers. Create beautiful
delivery menu and leave them at partner restaurants. Share handbills in your
locality, make banners and business cards.
Use electronic media like radio or television advertisement. A very
effective method is advertisement in local newspapers in your area.
Build a
Website
Although your business is location based you can still reach people in
your area through a website. Make your website focused on your business
environment.
Create an interactive page where orders are taken and payment made.
Showcase the menu list and restaurants you service.
To drive traffic to your website you can use Google Adwords and FaceBook
advertisement. List your website and company on local yellow pages or
directories.
How to
Ensure Success of your Food Delivery Business
Now you have setup your delivery service you need to take certain actions
to ensure success. To succeed you need to know your target audience, create a
good menu list, and promote your business.
Know your Customer
Who are the people or demography likely to patronize your services? You
also need to understand their preferences, food type and favorite restaurants.
Other things to research are their eating habits and financial
capability. Gathering theses information helps organize your business template.
Start Small
You need to establish a highly efficient food delivery service to
succeed. This is only possible with good reviews and happy customers. Start
small by concentrating on a few restaurants in your area. With time you can
grow your business network and customer base.
Select your
Area of Delivery
The area you want to operate should be big enough for profit making. To
large and you might get overwhelmed, to small and low patronage. Get the
territory right and you get a decent amount of delivery orders.
Prompt Delivery
The whole point of starting a food delivery service is prompt delivery
and hot food. Once you get it right food delivery service is a nice and
profitable business venture.
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