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Adding Delivery Make People Order More?

A

apostle

Member
Hello,
I wanted to get some feedback on adding delivery. We do not offer it at our current location.
I have seen statistics saying that someone is more prone to order "more frequently " if you offer it.
As the town grows more people are asking or “demanding” for it but I am very aware of its problems from our other stores we had.
Basically do you guys think it will benefit our gross numbers to make it worth the hassle?
 
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If you don’t need it Financially i would say don’t do it. If you have most of your customer base trained to come in and eat or take out I say stick with that. If you want to give it a shot anyway try starting with a company like postmates. (if they are in your area) they get the orders, they place it with you, they come get the food and deliver it, they take most of the responsibility. most of the time i don’t even know its a postmates order till the driver comes to pick it up and hands me a credit card with postmates on it. best part…all the fees and such are paid for by the customer, you don’t pay for anything.
 
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T makes some good points. Not sure what 3rd party delivery services are available in New Hampshire, but definitely look into it and give it a shot at first. UberEats, Caviar, Door Dash, and Postmates are the big boys so see if any of those are available. If you find there are a few in your area, let me know via PM and I’ll explain how to talk their percentage down so you’re not getting ripped off like that guy from Florida in PMQ magazine’s latest issue.

Anything can happen on delivery orders with drivers (wrecks, speeding tickets, orders moving around, robbery, flat tires, unforeseen traffic, etc) but I will say this about delivery - when it’s raining/snowing hard out, your carryout/dine in business plummets. My place does all 3 - carryout, dine-in, and delivery. Weather doesn’t effect us. If it rains, deliveries are thru the roof and carryout/dine-in are minimal. When it’s nice out or even just average (no rain) then the 3 are fairly even across the board. Never have a slow day for any reason and you’ll be flush.
 
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We are doing really good from spring to early fall. Business has bee in location for 22 years.
No delivery services around my area… we are isolated in the country:)
Its a summer vacation town with population of 5k in winter and 15k+ in summer plus visitors.
Its built close to a high volume traffic circle with another 4 small towns surrounding us within 5 miles.
The problem I have is other pizza places from surrounding towns have started delivering in our area, people that move here from city just cant grasp the fact that we don’t deliver and get irritated
Another pizza place is opening up to compete against us by offering delivery…
 
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apostle said:
We are doing really good from spring to early fall. Business has bee in location for 22 years.
No delivery services around my area… we are isolated in the country:)
Its a summer vacation town with population of 5k in winter and 15k+ in summer plus visitors.
Its built close to a high volume traffic circle with another 4 small towns surrounding us within 5 miles.
The problem I have is other pizza places from surrounding towns have started delivering in our area, people that move here from city just cant grasp the fact that we don’t deliver and get irritated
Another pizza place is opening up to compete against us by offering delivery…
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do it and get ahead of your future/existing competition…yes it is a total pain in the a$$, but if it done the right way and you have the right POS it can be HUGE! We went from saying we would NEVER deliver for the first 25yrs in biz to now wanting to get rid of our dining room so we can focus strictly on take-out & delivery. We have been delivering for over 10yrs now and it is the biggest part of our business, fastest growing part of our business, and highest ticket averages by far…also most headaches too 😉
 
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There are a lot of customers that want something delivered. They are not going to get in the car and come get it. If you do not deliver these customers are not available to you… so yes, you can grow your business with delivery.

One common mistake is to think that this is all gravy… all incremental sales. You will also have costs. You will need to pay more for insurance (but as long as delivery is less than 25% of your business it will not be too bad), you have additional labor cost (drivers), you will need to market to this opportunity etc etc.

Another consideration is whether you have the kitchen to do it. Are you ever running at capacity in the kitchen? If you are, you have to figure that the delivery business will be biggest at the same time of day and on the same days that you are slammed anyway. Can you handle it? For example, our ovens max out at about 100 pies per hour. We don’t get there often, but we do get there.
 
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In our past our other pizza shops all had it. with that said I am aware of extra hassle and problems. we bought this place in this town because it didnt have delivery years ago…but seems the consumers are more demanding and other businesses want to corner us at what we dont offer
 
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apostle said:
In our past our other pizza shops all had it. with that said I am aware of extra hassle and problems. we bought this place in this town because it didnt have delivery years ago…but seems the consumers are more demanding and other businesses want to corner us at what we dont offer
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Our net sales are higher on deliveries. One of the locations runs 80% delivery. The other about 55%. Train your drivers (if possible) to do prep, anything really that’ll help your existing staff inside.

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We get about 4 calls a month for delivery and thanks to our solid reputation most all that ask for it come in to get it. We started the business as a no delivery, emphasized pizza is best eaten right out of the oven to the table, and there is yet a box or delivery system invented that can come close to out of the oven. Boxes greatly destroy the crust and delivery often kills it due to all the factors that can happen in getting it to the customers door. With that educational tutorial given to our customers and basically no delivery requests we give no thoughts to delivery. If the pizza is good enough people will come and get it 🙂 Walter
 
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We get about 4 calls a month for delivery and thanks to our solid reputation most all that ask for it come in to get it. We started the business as a no delivery, emphasized pizza is best eaten right out of the oven to the table, and there is yet a box or delivery system invented that can come close to out of the oven. Boxes greatly destroy the crust and delivery often kills it due to all the factors that can happen in getting it to the customers door. With that educational tutorial given to our customers and basically no delivery requests we give no thoughts to delivery. If the pizza is good enough people will come and get it 🙂 Walter
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True…but we are working in much much smaller population towns and every little bit helps in final number
 
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apostle said:
True…but we are working in much much smaller population towns and every little bit helps in final number
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I hear you but the headache of managing delivery along with the decay of the pies via delivery keeps us to dine in and carry out (begrudgingly I compromised to my wife’s wishes on that 🙂 ) Never underestimate a great pizza’s ability to draw people. Walter
 
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I hear you but the headache of managing delivery along with the decay of the pies via delivery keeps us to dine in and carry out (begrudgingly I compromised to my wife’s wishes on that 🙂 ) Never underestimate a great pizza’s ability to draw people. Walter
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What about the crowd that can’t drive? Kids home with parents at work? Sometimes they still want your pizza and can’t get there. I’m not sure how people operate without delivery, it’s so vital for us

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Whenever you find the trick to “making” people order more, let me know. 🙂
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It’s not making them order more, it’s the fact that they do it themselves. Just like how online ordering boosts a higher average ticket as well.

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Steve said:
What about the crowd that can’t drive? Kids home with parents at work? Sometimes they still want your pizza and can’t get there. I’m not sure how people operate without delivery, it’s so vital for us

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We are operating at near capacity most every night. I make every pizza and am anal about each one going out to my level of quality and consistency. I guess this is why we get such high ratings and has created a momentum that brings in people that are foodies. They are willing to pay a good price and are ok with no delivery/no alcohol/no TV/no fountain drinks (canned bottled water/soda only and no ice)/ no WIFI/no wings/no subs/no pasta/ are willing to work with our “strange” hours and tell us coming in the shop for dine in or take out is an enjoyable part of the experience that they really look forward to. Most talk to other customers as they wait and dine in and we see very little cell phone use. 90% of take out customers come in 10 minutes or more early. They tell us it is relaxing to come in our place and wait. My wife does a great job greeting and running the register. We get to know our customers and they become part of our family. This is how I was raised in the pizza business in NJ back when families ran the entire operation.

I know we go against the norm of today and an example was a 30 pie order for lunch last week for an office party. When they learned we don’t deliver they nixed it. But for that one order cancelation we get dozens that come in and pick up the pies. We only have organic red pepper flakes on the tables. Often people ask for cheese shakers. We explain we import Italian parm and Italian Pecorino cut/grated from the wheel onsite. They are added to the pies on our end and the strength and cost of these cheeses would make the cost of a shaker of cheese over $5 and overpower the balance of the pizza. We ask these people to try the pie as is and to date not one has complained. The old school model we use is dying out but our operation shows how easy it is to still be successful with a consistent product/ low labor costs/low food costs/low rent. Our employees with disabilities are averaging $18/hour with their tips and wage. Most entry level food service workers here in Reno are at minimum wage indefinitely. Walter
 
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We are operating at near capacity most every night. I make every pizza and am anal about each one going out to my level of quality and consistency. I guess this is why we get such high ratings and has created a momentum that brings in people that are foodies. They are willing to pay a good price and are ok with no delivery/no alcohol/no TV/no fountain drinks (canned bottled water/soda only and no ice)/ no WIFI/no wings/no subs/no pasta/ are willing to work with our “strange” hours and tell us coming in the shop for dine in or take out is an enjoyable part of the experience that they really look forward to. Most talk to other customers as they wait and dine in and we see very little cell phone use. 90% of take out customers come in 10 minutes or more early. They tell us it is relaxing to come in our place and wait. My wife does a great job greeting and running the register. We get to know our customers and they become part of our family. This is how I was raised in the pizza business in NJ back when families ran the entire operation.

I know we go against the norm of today and an example was a 30 pie order for lunch last week for an office party. When they learned we don’t deliver they nixed it. But for that one order cancelation we get dozens that come in and pick up the pies. We only have organic red pepper flakes on the tables. Often people ask for cheese shakers. We explain we import Italian parm and Italian Pecorino cut/grated from the wheel onsite. They are added to the pies on our end and the strength and cost of these cheeses would make the cost of a shaker of cheese over $5 and overpower the balance of the pizza. We ask these people to try the pie as is and to date not one has complained. The old school model we use is dying out but our operation shows how easy it is to still be successful with a consistent product/ low labor costs/low food costs/low rent. Our employees with disabilities are averaging $18/hour with their tips and wage. Most entry level food service workers here in Reno are at minimum wage indefinitely. Walter
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Whatever works for you Walter. I’m simply answering the original question. He’s thinking of adding delivery. These are my thoughts; can it be a pain in the butt? Absolutely. Will you be busier because of it, absolutely. Everyone has their own way they operate. If it works for you not having delivery that’s great. No one needs to justify their reasoning they don’t do something on here. We all have our respective shops and we run them as we all see fit. If it works for you, by all means continue with no delivery and POS. Sometimes I wish we didn’t have delivery just because of how many we get and coordinating can be a pain, but in the end it’s what brings in the most sales for us. That may not be the case for you and that’s just fine.

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Steve said:
Whatever works for you Walter. I’m simply answering the original question. He’s thinking of adding delivery. These are my thoughts; can it be a pain in the butt? Absolutely. Will you be busier because of it, absolutely. Everyone has their own way they operate. If it works for you not having delivery that’s great. No one needs to justify their reasoning they don’t do something on here. We all have our respective shops and we run them as we all see fit. If it works for you, by all means continue with no delivery and POS. Sometimes I wish we didn’t have delivery just because of how many we get and coordinating can be a pain, but in the end it’s what brings in the most sales for us. That may not be the case for you and that’s just fine.

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Steve: I agree with you 100%. We all need to run our shops in a way that makes us proud of our business. I share our model because it is fading from the pizza world. It is the way I was raised and it is sad to see it fading so fast. It doesn’t have to be so as one can survive quite well without delivery. Take care. Walter
 
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Steve said:
Whatever works for you Walter. I’m simply answering the original question. He’s thinking of adding delivery. These are my thoughts; can it be a pain in the butt? Absolutely. Will you be busier because of it, absolutely. Everyone has their own way they operate. If it works for you not having delivery that’s great. No one needs to justify their reasoning they don’t do something on here. We all have our respective shops and we run them as we all see fit. If it works for you, by all means continue with no delivery and POS. Sometimes I wish we didn’t have delivery just because of how many we get and coordinating can be a pain, but in the end it’s what brings in the most sales for us. That may not be the case for you and that’s just fine.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Years ago my father never used to accept credit cards and we would see on a daily basis customrs just walking away to find a place that does…yes it sucks that our credit card fee’s now are what my mortgage is for “their convineince basically”…but we have to follow what people are looking for at the end of the day I guess
 
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apostle said:
Years ago my father never used to accept credit cards and we would see on a daily basis customrs just walking away to find a place that does…yes it sucks that our credit card fee’s now are what my mortgage is for “their convineince basically”…but we have to follow what people are looking for at the end of the day I guess
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We don’t use this, but I know there is the option in Speedline to charge a surcharge for credit cards and gift cards. You can charge differently for MasterCard, Visa, Discover, Amex, whatever you accept. We’ve thought about it a few times but it might not be worth it

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