February 15, 2024
Diners love food delivery. 77 percent of consumers order delivery, making it one of the top ways customers engage with restaurants. However, as convenient as third-party apps can be, they come with their own fees, which can affect a restaurant's profits.
Are you a restaurant owner looking to boost your customer base through delivery, but want to mitigate costs to increase profits? We explain best practices to give your guests what they crave while keeping costs in check.
How Do Third-Party Delivery Services Work for Restaurants?
Third-party delivery apps help restaurants get their food to customers who opt to enjoy their meal at home. Delivery services often come with their own drivers, software, and marketing capabilities. However, these services also come with costs, which establishments have to take into account.
Depending on the food delivery service you partner with, you can expect a variety of fees, including commission costs, monthly fees, delivery charges, and more. To preserve profits, you will want to ensure you can still offer takeaway eats to your loyal customers while managing expenses.
Lower Your Food Delivery Costs with These 5 Tips
You can give customers what they want without disrupting your bottom line by following these 5 techniques to keep restaurant delivery costs in check.
1. Create Your Own In-House Delivery System
One of the most effective ways to save on delivery app fees is to bring delivery in-house. Utilize your current staffing pool or recruit new team members to act as a dedicated delivery team.
To offer a similar experience to large delivery app services, look into affordable, consumer-friendly digital solutions you can easily incorporate into your business model.
2. Rethink Menu Prices
To offset some of the delivery fees, you can consider adjusting menu prices. Adding a small delivery fee onto orders or having a limited and differently priced to-go menu can help cover a portion of your third-party fees. However, you want to make sure and strike a balance between covering part of your costs without impacting your customers' spending too drastically.
3. Promote Pick Up Orders
Encouraging pick-up orders is a savvy cost-saving strategy. Provide easy online ordering via your own mobile app, have dedicated curbside pickup spaces, and offer discounts for repeat customers to boost takeaway orders. By allowing customers to place and pick up their orders effortlessly, you reduce your dependency on third-party delivery companies and can retain more profits. Streamlining the pick up process as much as possible is key to repeat business!
4. Choose Cost-Effective Delivery Services
Shop around for competitively priced delivery partners that work for your bottom line. Stuart, Shipday, Doordash, Grubhub, and Postmates, for example, each have different fee structures. Choose one that offers costs that align with your spending targets and has a wide reach to your location to ensure you’re available to the most people without sacrificing the integrity of your food during transport.
5. Require Minimum Orders
Regardless if you have in-house delivery or choose to work with a third party, you can set the rules for purchases. Requiring customers to meet a certain order threshold means you can incentivize them to make larger purchases, which can help counterbalance delivery costs.
Choose US Foods CHEF’STORE as Your Culinary Partner
As a member of the culinary community for decades, we know how important it is for restaurant owners to manage costs. That’s why we offer exceptional wholesale products at competitive price points.
Visit one of our nearby stores today! Don’t forget to take advantage of our business resources to help you maximize profits.
