Article
Eight Effective and Inexpensive Pointers for Supporting Takeout and Delivery Business from Your Dine-In Concept
The national chains have the money to develop store layouts that accommodate multiple production lines and dedicated delivery entrances for takeout and delivery service. That is not the case for the typical independent operator. Most independent restaurants were not designed to combine on- and off-premises dining.
Many operators seek to minimize the footprint of their restaurants as a cost-saving measure. Thus, it would be no surprise if your back-of-the-house (BOH) space is at a premium. The good news is there are some strategies you can adopt that will help your operation support offsite dining orders. And without spending a lot of money.
One: Decide when you’ll accept orders for pickup. As much as we might like to think that delivery orders trickle in at a steady pace all day, the reality is that most orders come in at peak dining hours, right when your kitchen is at its busiest.
Patrick Service, managing partner of Las Casuelas Terraza in Palm Springs, CA believes delivery orders should take a back seat to in-house dining. “When guests have taken the trouble to come in, maybe wait for a table, and spend the evening with us, we want to be able to focus our attention on them.”
Rather than compromise the guest experience onsite, Service turns off their third-party delivery tablets during peak hours so that the kitchen can stay on top of demand. Some managers may be concerned that being offline will jeopardize their positioning with the delivery apps’ algorithms, but Service feels it’s more important to provide hospitality to his onsite guests. “When people go to a restaurant, they are paying for more than food. Delivery is just paying for food.”
Learning Objectives:
By the time you've finished reading this article, you should be able to:
- Explain why pizza provides important guidance when developing your takeout and delivery menu.
- List three ways to improve the efficiency of preparing to-go orders when space is at a premium.
- Describe how to keep delivery service from interfering with the experience of takeout and on-premises customers.
Two: Be selective about what you will offer for delivery. There is no point trying to sell items that will arrive at their destination cold or disheveled. Pizza is an ideal off-premises menu item. The reason that pizza has always worked for delivery service is that it can be prepped in advance of the order, be finished in an oven without much supervision, and travels well. The preparation is not labor-intensive and it holds up well on the trip from the restaurant’s kitchen to the customer’s table. Consider the items on your menu that have these qualities.
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