Delivery Times

[system]

We currently have delivery times of 45mins to 1 hour on Friday and Saturday with 3 drivers. During the rest of the week it can be 30 to 45 mins with 1-2 drivers. Will customers wait for a quality product or will some sacrifice a little quality for speed?

The orders seem to come all at once, for example we open at 4pm and it will be slow until 7pm and then boom, 150 orders at once, and then slows down after 10pm until we close at 11pm. Is this what happens with you guys or is it just us?

Anyone have any suggestions on driver time scheduling to cope with the above situation? Do you have any drivers who maybe just work Fri and Sat every week for 3-4 hours each day?

 

[Daddio]

My delivery times are about the same as yours. I have maybe one or two customers a week that get upset but that is the norm for all the pizza stores in my city.

 

[pizzaguy]

I also have delivery times around the 45 min mark. It is very rare I have a complaint as those are normal times aeound these parts. If they do complain I give them the option to save the 2 dollars for delivery and pick it up which I can have done in 20-30 minutes

 

[system]

So how can one increase his average delivery time? If the problem is a physical capacity constraint (such as not enough ovens, that is one problem…and you should disregard the following comments), but if the problem is a simple policy constraint (such as not wanting to increase labor), than a very careful study of your own beliefs are in order. The fact is…one can make infinitely more money by increasing sales, than he can by cutting costs. To increase sales, one factor is improving service. If your average times are the same as your competitors, than you are doing no worse than they are…but is that a very good selling point???If it were possible to shorten average times by 10 to 20 minutes, how much more market share could you pick up, and just how much in labor would you invest to get this? Every market is different, so you have to answer these questions for yourself. We push for 20 to 30 minute times here, we also severely limit our delivery range to about 3 miles, with the thought that if we can take really good care of the people around us, maybe they won’t wander to our competitors.

John

 

[Daddio]

I use contract drivers that are paid by the trip. It is in their best interest to do as many deliveries as possible to increase their profit.
The major causes for the long delivery times are the traffic and location of the customer. I watch the kitchen and the delivery list in my POS and estimate delivery times based on what is ahead of the order. I answer 60% to 70% of the calls and by doing so I am able to keep the time quoted to the customer at a realistic level.

 

[pizzaguy]

Hey dadio how were your sales on Monday with the big hockey game on? What kind of delivery times did you have?

 

[Daddio]

just about double sales and 1and 1/4 hours from 5:30 til 7:00 then 45 min till 9:00 then almost NOTHING

 

[system]

this has been posted here, by me, many times, but here goes again…

We always start with a minimum of 45 minutes on a delivery. The proper phrasing is “45-65 minutes or less”…since often we’ll be there in 20-25 if it’s close.

We, too, have Friday-Sat times up to 90-105 minutes.

We have a double stack Middleby, and the problem is volume vs space. The ovens, in the usual rush times and often in some unsuspected ones, are full. Cutters cutting as fast as possible, plenty of drivers available.

In other words, people will wait for a quality product.

We’re surrounded by all the chains, and a couple of locals well within or just outside our basic delivery area. But, our delivery area is, essentially, the world. We have established charge per area, and while there are some complaints, we’ve found that people don’t mind paying even $6 for a delivery–given our quality and the amount of foood they’ve ordered. Heck, we get people ordering an appetizer or salad only, charge a buck for delivery 4 blocks away, might take 40 minutes to get there, and they are thrilled. I’d guess we have 3 complaints a week about delivery service, and that’s out of maybe 600 runs (or more). Not a bad average. But, we lay it out to people quickly but clearly, and it’s their option to not order or change to carryout. We do have our share of goofups, but handled properly they become good PR instead of a loss of business.

The customer is always right, unless they’re wrong, and then we educate them as to why they are wrong and keep them happy about it.

Hopefully.

steve

 

[system]

eupher:

this has been posted here, by me, many times, but here goes again…

We always start with a minimum of 45 minutes on a delivery. The proper phrasing is “45-65 minutes or less”…since often we’ll be there in 20-25 if it’s close.

We, too, have Friday-Sat times up to 90-105 minutes.

We have a double stack Middleby, and the problem is volume vs space. The ovens, in the usual rush times and often in some unsuspected ones, are full. Cutters cutting as fast as possible, plenty of drivers available.

In other words, people will wait for a quality product.

We’re surrounded by all the chains, and a couple of locals well within or just outside our basic delivery area. But, our delivery area is, essentially, the world. We have established charge per area, and while there are some complaints, we’ve found that people don’t mind paying even $6 for a delivery–given our quality and the amount of foood they’ve ordered. Heck, we get people ordering an appetizer or salad only, charge a buck for delivery 4 blocks away, might take 40 minutes to get there, and they are thrilled. I’d guess we have 3 complaints a week about delivery service, and that’s out of maybe 600 runs (or more). Not a bad average. But, we lay it out to people quickly but clearly, and it’s their option to not order or change to carryout. We do have our share of goofups, but handled properly they become good PR instead of a loss of business.

The customer is always right, unless they’re wrong, and then we educate them as to why they are wrong and keep them happy about it.

Hopefully.

steve

Totally agree. We have a flat $3. If you’re product worth it, they’ll pay for it AND wait for it. But the key is having a product that’s worth it!