5 Pickup and Delivery Tips for Restaurant Owners

In just a few months, COVID-19 has changed the restaurant landscape. With the advent of social distancing, restaurants are struggling to find ways to maintain operations and stay afloat.  

Though your regular in-house dining may be closed down, you can leverage pickup and delivery services to stay in business while ensuring the safety of employees and customers alike.  

Here are a few tips for restaurant owners: 

1. Set up Designated Pickup and Delivery Space

In order to avoid as much face-to-face interaction between employees, it’s good to designate specific areas for delivery prep and packaging. There will surely be an influx of pickup and delivery orders, so it’s important that you ensure you have enough space to accommodate these, while allowing employees to stay at a safe distance from one another. This can also streamline your pickup and delivery operations. 

2. Put the Right Technology Tools into Place

Make sure you have the right tools at your disposal. If you’re just taking orders over the phone, consider implementing an online ordering solution to assist. Leverage mobile technology to take safe, secure payments car-side or door-side. A delivery dispatch and management solution can help you keep tabs on drivers and manage delivery operations.  

Download our FocusON brochure.

3. Place One Employee in Charge of Delivery

In an unprecedented situation like this, delivery and curbside pickup orders have spiked. An increase like this can affect efficiency, so it’s more important now than ever before to ensure you have prepared your staff to handle these orders effectively.  

Create an assembly line that allows employees to stay a safe distance from one another. Designate a separate employee to each receive orders, expedite food, prepare takeout orders, check orders before handing them to couriers, and deliver orders to customers. It’s also important to ensure menus, coupons, napkins, utensils, and condiments are all in each bag.  

4. Choose the Right Packaging

Food should arrive to customers while it’s still hot and fresh, which is why it’s good to ensure you have the right packaging, with the proper ventilation. Since COVID-19 can live on cardboard for about 24 hours, and plastic for about 72 hours, it may be a good idea to take a second look at your packaging. Some restaurants are trying out different materials and preparation processes to minimize the risk of exposure. 

5. Treat Your Couriers Well, Equip Them with Gloves and Disinfectant Wipes

Your couriers and delivery drivers are out on the front line, so it’s important to treat them well, and equipment with the necessary precautions they require in order to stay safe. Without couriers, you wouldn’t be able to deliver food at all, so make their jobs easier by making sure they can reduce the risk of contracting the virus, and can quickly and easily find the orders they need.  

Equip drivers with masks, gloves, and disinfectant wipes if you can. If one of your couriers should run into an issue or challenge, ensure you have an in-house employee that they can reach out to.  

Staying Safe and Successful

You are not alone in the challenges you are facing. Everyone is struggling to adapt to these new and unforeseen circumstances. With the right technology, you can weather the storm and bounce back as soon as the pandemic ends. It helps to have a provider you can depend on, and delivery software that can streamline your operations.  

For more information, download our free delivery POS brochure, or contact an expert at Focus POS today!