FSR August 2023

Your Take

ing they know exactly where their driver is once they leave the restaurant. is feature can, of course, be surrounded by branding, displaying strong digital con tent such as advertising, or access to the brand’s loyalty program. For a restau rant, this engaging feature has added cost saving bene ts—customers won’t need to call with delivery enquiries, and sta won’t spend their time elding calls. For example, restaurant brand Papa Gino’s has transformed its delivery oper ations in the last 12 months, simply by adopting the right delivery manage ment solution. It has taken back control of the customer experience, ipped the dynamic between the restaurant brand and marketplace delivery app, and most importantly, realized enormous cost sav ings through e ciency, with a reported 24 percent reduction in spend. ese bene ts, and ultimately delivery pro tability, are available to all restau rant brands, regardless of which delivery eet it uses or how many locations it has. And there’s more: e price you pay for a comprehensive delivery solution should be a fraction of the savings you will make on each delivery order. e solutions are all out there—restaurants just need to know where to look. Brian Hickey is Chief Executive O - cer and Co-founder at VROMO – the leading Delivery Management Solution for the restaurant industry. Brian has extensive global experience in the food and beverage markets, having worked in a senior executive capacity with a num ber of major international food brands and delivery companies such as Procter and Gamble, Danone, Innocent Drinks and Just Eat Takeaway Group. In 2018, he invested in and became a board mem ber at delivery rm, WeBringg. e fol lowing year, having acquired a software solution company that supported hot food delivery, the business pivoted to a SaaS model and rebranded as VROMO. Brian became CEO of VROMO in 2021 and has been overseeing the company’s growth in the North American market ever since.

“In addition to recognising the importance of speedy deliveries, businesses providing real time communication between the restaurant and customer are certainly at an advantage.”

VROMO

best to pool orders from all sources and lter them through to the business’ pre ferred fleet. A great delivery manage ment system will easily facilitate this, secure unadvertised and discounted delivery rates from eets, and provide complete visibility of where those third party drivers are and what service lev els they are achieving. Needless to say, this is crucially important for owners and managers, because it is vital that the business understands how its custom ers are being serviced. e alternative— poor ratings and negative reviews— doesn’t bear thinking about. Key Features ere are myriad technologies on the market, but the right delivery tech will have a bunch of built-in key features such as driver ETA for the kitchen, driver chat for both restaurant and customer communication, and automated order stacking so that one driver can take mul tiple orders to increase e ciency. Having everything together in one tech solution brings a whole new level of convenience

when it comes to managing a busy deliv ery operation. A state-of-the-art delivery manage ment solution will enable restaurant brands to offer an exceptional deliv ery experience to the end customer. It will ensure the fastest possible deliv ery times through automated dispatch, multi-order stacking, smart routing support, and extensive coverage across multiple eets. It’s worth following in the footsteps of iconic brands such as Papa Johns which obsesses about reduc ing delivery times, since improving that metric tends to lead to more positive reviews, customer retention, and better rankings on marketplace apps. Communication is Key In addition to recognising the impor tance of speedy deliveries, businesses providing real-time communication between the restaurant and customer are certainly at an advantage. An e - cient delivery management solution should have the ability to send real-time tracking to a customer’s phone, ensur

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FSRMAGAZINE.COM

AUGUST 2023