Who here is considered an expert on delivery? Anybody got any really successful delivery strategies?
The guy who thought he was got banned.
But being serious paul7979 form 5 Star Pizza in Gainsville Florida is a delivery expert operator.
Dave
get deliveries to the customer in 30 mins or less.
Let me give this a try:
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Make sure your drivers are always properly routed, and take the most efficient way to the customer(s).
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Do not put a new driver on the road without first having ridealongs with a veteran driver.
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This may seem obvious, but is not always the case: Make sure the driver can properly read a map and can count change.
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Overlap your drivers so that during the rush times, you have as many drivers as you need. And during the slow times have not so many as to where drivers are inside with no orders. After all, drivers are not insiders and make their money on the road. Drivers inside the store eat away at labor % and they aren’t making anything anyway in the store. If it is slow, send 'em home.
Says who? Put your drivers to work. I probably wouldn’t have them all making pizzas, but their is usually always one or two really good drivers that perform well and want to make pizzas. Or maybe they can answer phones? And of course their are always plenty of dishes, cheese to be grated, food stocked, boxes folded, messes cleaned etc…
I think that the actual job title “driver” and the duties associated with the job got real cloudy a long time ago, but since that is not what I am talking about here, I’ll leave that for another time.
What I am talking about here is more of a scheduling issue. For example, let’s say you have two day drivers on the clock until 4PM. At 3PM, you have your first “dinner rush” driver come in, at 3:30 another, and your closer starts at 4. (Of course, this example is for only a marginally busy shop). At 3:30, you have NO delivery orders in and four drivers on the clock. For arguments sake, let’s say that the afternoon prepping is complete. Is it simply a matter of principe to eat away at labor and keep these drivers around for nothing? Heck no, send them home! I know I would like to go a little early if there is nothing to be done and no money to be gained. That was simply the point, not whether drivers should be grating cheese. Again, that is for another time.
That makes sense. Always make sure you let your drivers know that the only thing set about their schedule is the days they work and when they need to show up and not the time at which they get off of work.
This is wonderful, lets just make the entire staff part-time as needed. How many employees do you think would want to work for you if you were constantly sending them home. I challenge you to tell me another industry that sends its work force home whenever they feel the need. It simply is bad business then again if all you want is underachieving lazy employees in your business by all means send em all home early and often so they can cash their 100 dollar a week paychecks.
I see your point, believe me I do. Unfortunately, we have come to the day and age where labor % is the only bottom line for some. And before the board goes ballisitc on me, this principle can refer to other employees besides drivers as well. Got three cooks scheduled on a slow Friday, send one home. Phones not ringing? Bye-bye CSR. It’s all relative here. Actually, in some cases, it may benefit management to let the cook/insider go for the slow evening and let a “cross-trained” driver take over the prep duties. :roll:
To be honest though, from my experiences both as a driver and a manager. Many employees, both drivers and insiders, are more than happy and willing to get off early from their shift. And it’s not always the same people who want to get off early too. Even your hard working employees that usually like to stay will have something they want to do on a particular night every once in a while. It certainly hasn’t been a problem in our shop. It also probably hasn’t been a problem because we never schedule employees to specific times anyways. They are always scheduled to rush.
OMG… How can you sit there and preach about drivers having a cloudy job description in one voice and then in the next talk about sending home the “insiders” so the “cross-trained” driver can stay and prep. This is so funny I am on the floor. Oh yeah…keep the underpaid overworked…and send home your cooks eveyone. How do you explain this line of thinking? I can not wait too hear this one! :shock:
If that refers to me, the answer is : SARCASM.
The sad thing is that it should not be sarcasm! It is so sad that you truely believe in this imaginary job description that drivers are entitled too. I wonder if the UPS or Fedex drivers knew they would be required to carry the boxes to the doors when they were hired to drive the truck? lmao! I was hired as a consultant 3 years ago for a small family business that was borderline going under…but managed to stay afloat every month somehow. I was there 6 weeks when the owners wife asked to speak to me and we sat down and she handed me my “job description.” I almost wanted to laugh in her face but I didn’t. After she review the 6 pages… I politely took the stack of papers and said I have some real concerns with this conversation we are having. You have been in business for 32 years and have nothing to show for it. You are now at the point of either growing the right direction or closing up shop. I am not sure how to say this in the most respectful way…but in the six weeks here, you are actually one of the biggest issues standing in the way of any progress here. I then flipped the papers over and said… Elizabeth… this is my job description that your husband and I reviewed upon my starting here. It is a blank page…as a fresh start is your only hope of surviving. Later that day I thanked the owner for the opportunity to come in, told him that I would release him from our short term employment contract due too operational differences, and went on my way. I found out from other employees later that he all but begged her to call me and get me back as they needed the help. They went out of business less than 3 months later. I feel bad but the point is that you need to do what is needed to make any operation work and be successful and profitable. You might not always like it but you need to do it. If I would have followed her list of job duties I would have just been another one of her staff. She couldn’t look outside the box to see how to make the disfunctional operation work. If you want to live and work under the constraints of a strict job description then get a job at the toll booth or something where you job is strictly one thing and does not vary. Even there I would say good luck because I am sure they would ask you to do something you disagree with.
Well stated there qc and at least I know what you do qc stand for quality control perhaps. I would like to apologize to you directly, I misunderstood the whole system at work here and have no idea what anyone really has done in this industry. I was just trying to defend myself and going at it in the wrong way.
First thanks for standing up… everyone’s voice is welcome here but you need to look at what you are voicing and who too. I do not think you have many people here that do not support the drivers claim for fair treatment. Side note… qc has nothing to do with quality control… :o
I have three principles which should be noted when it comes to pizza delivery drivers. The first two are clear cut and the third (which I will explain) has a gray area.
- Sub-minimum wages are NOT acceptable in the pizza delivery business.
- Delivery charges are NOT mileage reiumbursement. (MR existed before the DC)
- A driver is NOT an insider*
- If things get busy, a driver SHOULD be able and willing to help out with various items, including prep work, oven-tending, and even jumping in on the makeline if need be, if for no other reason than to get the delivery out faster.
Having said that, here is exhibit A:
Excuse me Miss Insider: we are busy right now, can you run this pizza over to the ghetto and risk getting shot? Oh by the way this clown’s a stiffer and doesn’t have a number on his house or a porchlight. Sorry about the blizzard, but don’t worry he has to pay a delivery charge of $1 which I will turn around and give to you as mileage. Does this happen in your shop? Didn’t think so.
Exhibit B: Hey Driver there are no runs up right now can you grab that phone then get me two tubs of sauce? Oh your run still isn’t ready? How about cutting some green peppers and prepping some wings? Does this happen in your shop? I thought so.
It really is very simple. “A” does not happen in my stores because 95% of the time “miss insider” is under 18 and the law does not allow it, not the mention that my job description for “miss insider” does not include delivering pizzas. Now, at times, in a bind, I have asked over 18 insiders take deliveries.
“B” does happen in my stores because the job description of “driver” includes those things and more.
What am I missing here? You seem to think there is some mandate or law the legally binds shops to a specific job description for the job title “driver” - when in fact there is none.
How is it logical for you to state the it is not the duty of a “driver” to do X, Y or Z when you have no idea what the job description for “driver” states in any particular shop?
I was speaking in generalities; that being drivers are asked to do insider work way more often than the other way around. Don’t pay a sub-min wage then ask me to do the same tasks that insiders get at least minimum to do.
Again - I don’t see the logic.
If drivers were asked to do inside work equally as often as insiders were asked to to drivers work, you would be okay with the situation?
In the other thread you said that you were NOT being paid below MW, yet here you imply that you are. Are you or are you not being paid below MW? (Remember, wage = rate + tips)
How did I get quoted for something that I did not say RG? :x