How Delivery Services Have Changed How Restaurants Operate

Before there were apps for food delivery, the only way to get take out was to call up a restaurant, order over the phone and either pick it up or if they had their own drivers, you could get it delivered. Basically, your choice was pizza and maybe Chinese food. I remember working in High School as a pizza delivery guy making some great tips and Angelos was happy since this was one of the only delivery places in town. And then the foodservice industry changed.

Now with the many different apps on the market such as DoorDash, UberEATS, Caviar, GrubHub and Yelp’s Eat24, people can now browse through multiple menus, choose their food, pay for it and have it show up at their door all through their smartphone. The popularity of this option has completely change how restaurants approach their food delivery options. Where it used to be an afterthought for most restaurants, it has now become one of the main areas of the business focus on and grow.  There are three main changes that have occurred since delivery service apps have exploded in to the industry.

The first reason is that delivery services have enabled restaurants to reach out to a new customer base that they may have never had access to before. These are not people who would have entered the restaurant for a dine-in experience but instead new customers that the restaurant would have never had access to beforehand.

As well, having the option to run smaller brick and mortar restaurants that can hold fewer people if any for a dine-in experience, but have a bigger customer base in the delivery space- is a huge advantage for many restaurants.

A third reason is that restaurants no longer have to hire their own delivery service staff. Restaurants simply partner with one of these delivery services and pay a fee to have it all taken care of. The apps in turn take a commission from the restaurant and charge the customer. It’s a win-win for everyone!