Are you looking for the best delivery apps for restaurants? You’re not alone. Since the coronavirus pandemic, local restaurants needed to change fast to survive. If you didn’t offer delivery options, your customers may go elsewhere. Or at least this is what they tell you.
But when you start to dive into which delivery platform is right for your restaurant business, it may feel like you’re getting burned. Getting burned with food delivery app fees, missing out on repeat business, and losing connection with your customers.
When choosing the right third-party delivery app, it’s important to ask some key questions to determine which food delivery app is right for your business. Or whether there’s a better alternative.
What Are the Commission Fees?
Third-party delivery takes a mighty punch when you look at commission rates. And these high fees are across all types of food in the restaurant industry. Everything from grocery delivery to fast food pays a premium for the service.
Depending on which food delivery service you choose, the commission fee can be as high as 30%. This is true regardless if you select Doordash or UberEats; the commission fees are per menu item and pretty consistent across platforms. For all food delivered, you’re losing 30% of every dollar. It may start to seem like you’re giving the food away for free.
But the fees don’t stop there.
Third-party delivery apps also charge set-up fees, delivery fees, and subscription option fees, depending on which one you choose. In the end, there are more fees than profits.
You may be able to keep your doors open until foot traffic increases but at what cost? When choosing the best delivery app for your restaurant, pay close attention to fees and what’s passed on to the customer.
How Transparent and Fair Is the Process?
All is fair in love and apps… well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. By many accounts, food delivery business models lack transparency. What one restaurant pays out may be significantly different than another restaurant fighting for the same customers.
If you sign an exclusive deal with Doordash and Grubhub, your fees may be lower. However, that will cut you off from other customers using different apps. If you pay for their marketing, you may get more customers on that app, but it could result in even further cuts from your profits because it isolates you to one app. You may think, being in business means constantly negotiating for the best prices or deals, but don’t you deserve the same break as the other guy? When choosing a delivery service, look at how transparent the fees and processes are from the beginning.
Can Restaurants Pay More to Appear Higher In the Feed?
Appearing at the top of the scroll in any delivery app gives you an edge. How far will the user go down to find you? Customers have been trained to choose the first couple of restaurants appearing because those are the most convenient for them in their user experience of the app.
Food delivery apps offer restaurants the ability to appear at the top based on a few different criteria, and one of them being a hefty fee. So, knowing this means that you may have to pay even more to compete.
How Much Can You Communicate With the Customer?
No matter how good you are, there’s bound to be a problem at some point with delivery or pickup. The best route for problem-solving is to reach out to the customer. You can offer an apology, a discount, or a replacement item. The customer can see you really care about their experience.
But food delivery apps are the middleman or gatekeeper. If the middleman doesn’t offer you the ability to communicate with the customer directly through calling, email, or text, solving problems isn’t possible.
And not only that, how can you thank the customer, offer discounts, promotions, or encourage them to come back if you can’t communicate directly? The food delivery app you choose needs to allow you some kind of voice. Don’t you think you deserve that?
How fast is delivery?
When it comes to delivery, how fast the food arrives matters. Delivery drivers regularly pick up a few different orders to make the trip worthwhile. You’ve handed off the hot food expecting a fast delivery time, but it arrives cold.
Customers may expect a few things when it comes to delivery (GPS tracking, contact-free delivery), but what counts in the end, is the price and how fast it arrived. This may be the last thing they remember.
You’re paying a lot of moola. Your customer is paying a premium for delivery. Delivery times deserve to be fast, don’t you think? When choosing a food delivery app, pay attention to how quickly the food usually arrives.
Is it possible to build brand loyalty?
Everyone has a distinct brand, from a food truck to a fine dining establishment. Your brand comes from the dining atmosphere to the waiter and everything in between. Food delivery with third-party apps lessens your brand.
The person delivering the food isn’t trained to understand your food or to represent your restaurant business at all. When choosing a delivery app, a restaurant owner needs to look at how they can help you build brand loyalty. It can only take one bad experience for the customer to check out the other guy.
How Much Say Do You Have Over the Data?
Power is in information. With food delivery apps, all your customer’s data can end up in their hands. Once the food leaves the kitchen, so do your customers. Delivery apps usually keep all your customer data, and this can make you indebted to them.
If they go away, so do your customers. Choosing the best delivery app for your restaurant means looking at how much access you have to your customers’ information. You wouldn’t make an investment without knowing all the facts, right?
Meet Native Delivery
Restaurants trying to ditch takeout and delivery apps do have another choice—native delivery. Native delivery transforms the third-party delivery service for the restaurant. Instead of giving your data away, you keep it.
Instead of worrying about who’s delivering your food, your brand-trained employees will deliver your message. In essence, native delivery gets rid of the middleman and gives you back control of the delivery process from beginning to end.
ShiftPixy offers food order fulfillment, data protection, and brand preservation with reduced fees and a better experience. Native delivery offers you the best of both worlds— food delivery with control. There’s a reason why restaurants in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City are making the change.
The struggle is real for most restaurants when it comes to choosing the best delivery app. But if you answer these questions and understand there’s another option, making the right decision makes it easier for you. If it’s time to ditch delivery apps, you can. Native delivery may be the answer you’re scrolling for.