FSR August 2023

Your Take BY BRIAN HICKEY

Why Delivery Tech is Essential Here’s why full-service restaurants need comprehensive delivery solutions, and how to RESTAURANTS THAT OUTSOURCE ALL DELIVERIES SHOULD POOL ORDERS FROM ALL SOURCES AND FILTER THEM

choose from the myriad of technology options available.

THROUGH TO A PREFERRED FLEET—IDEALLY ONE THAT OFFERS DISCOUNTED DELIVERY RATES.

CONSUMER APPETITE for conve nience is continuing its upward trajec tory, and with that, delivery operations are expanding as a proportion of a res taurant’s revenue take. e challenge is to ensure operational costs don’t erode the broader margin for full-service res taurants, with pro tability in the deliv ery channel becoming more and more difficult to achieve. This is down to increases in the cost of labor, fuel, insur ance and marketplace charges, together with difficulties in attracting staff within the sector. Taking everything into consideration, it’s easy to see why restaurant brands are desperately seek ing alternatives to ensure their custom ers get the service they deserve. ere are many amazing companies helping restaurant brands overcome these challenges, including Flybuy for guest pickup experience, Soundhound for voice-assisted ordering, and 7Shifts for team management. Speci cally for delivery however, customized delivery technology plays a critical role and with out it, operating a successful delivery business at scale is simply not possible. So what does a delivery management solution look like? Firstly, it must focus on the restaurant sector, because a prod

whether a restaurant is using in-house drivers or third-party eets. is is made possible when a Driver App is part of the solution’s product suite. Of course, in house drivers should always get rst pri ority, but when they are unavailable, the system should have the ability to bounce orders to the chosen third-party eet. at way, restaurants will only use and pay for external eets when the need arises, and the extensive fleet cover age means businesses never compro mise on advertised delivery times and needn’t worry about the ability to ful- ll all orders during peak trading times. With maximum fulfillment, trading hours can be extended and delivery zones expanded, meaning more custom ers and increased revenue, so everyone’s a winner. For restaurant operators who out source all of their deliveries, it’s always

BRIAN HICKEY

uct that doubles as an e-commerce or CBD delivery solution does not have a clear enough focus on solving industry speci c problems. Secondly, it must be easy to access and integrate into a restau rant’s existing tech stack, such as Square, Toast, SpotOn, Olo, Deliverect, Chowly, or Flipdish. Finally, it should provide access to multiple eets like Uber Direct, DoorDash Drive, Skipcart, and Relay, so that businesses have unlimited driver coverage at the lowest possible rates. Comprehensive Solution A comprehensive delivery solution will automate how deliveries are dispatched,

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FSRMAGAZINE.COM

AUGUST 2023