Focus on key areas to make DELCO work for you

Everyone loves coming to your restaurant. There is a wonderful atmosphere and ambiance, the food is fantastic, and the service is absolutely impeccable. Unfortunately, the realities of life do not always allow your customers the time to devote to such an experience. In many markets families can make up a large segment of your customer base, and when it comes to families that means kids and their never-ending activities. You name it, basketball, soccer, little league, hockey, swimming, dance, it’s always something. They still love your food, but they just don’t have the time to come sit and enjoy it. This is where carryout and delivery become an integral part of your restaurant’s operation. It is impossible to recreate that same dining experience of your restaurant in someone’s home, but you sure can try your best to do so. Let’s explore a few areas in which you should focus.

Ordering

When the server comes to the table at your restaurant they are fully trained on all aspects and ingredients of your menu. They can answer almost any question thrown at them.

When the customer calls to order carryout it is important to make sure that you have not cut any corners on training when it comes to the staff members that are answering those phones. Though they often tend to be younger staff members they should still have the training and be able to answer any questions the customer may have on a certain item.

The same holds true when it comes to ordering delivery through an online platform. There may not be that live person on the other end of the line to answer questions, but proper menu setup is key. Take the time and go through every item on the online platform yourself. Play devil’s advocate with your online menu. Try to anticipate the most common questions and modifications that may arise with an item and have options available for your customer to make choices.

Efficiency and accuracy are key here if you are going to try and best replicate that physical server experience in the restaurant.

Packaging Quality

We know that food coming right out of the kitchen from the chef’s hand to the table is perfect and exactly how you want it presented. The onus is now on you, the operator, to try and bring that same food quality to someone’s home when they open up the packaging.

You put a piping hot pizza in a box and close the lid. That steam can do quite a number on your crust and make it much soggier than when it’s ordered in the restaurant. Are you taking the necessary steps to provide the proper packaging to prevent that?

You put a pasta dish in a foil container with a clear plastic lid. When the order is put into a bag are these being stacked on top of one another and getting crushed after a few minutes when the steam makes that lid hot, soft, and pliable?

Remember, you are trying to recreate that restaurant quality dining experience in the home to the best of your ability. This means using the right containers that will travel well and not have your food end up being a mess in the bag.

Carryout

Like anything else in your restaurant, communication is key to success here. We want the holding time on that food to be minimal and this requires great communication from the back of the house to the front. The kitchen needs to relay accurate preparation times to the front of house staff so that they may let the customer know when to expect their order to be ready. The less time it is sitting then the better chance you have of getting it to the customer’s dining room table hot.

Delivery

If you are doing your own delivery, then you undoubtedly have a handle on communicating times to the customer. But what about third parties? Nearly everyone utilizes one app or another nowadays for ordering food via third party. It is paramount that a line of communication be established with the service/services you use so the customer can have a realistic indication of when the food will arrive. This can be a tricky predicament when you are handing off part of your business to another party and expecting them to have the same commitment to delivering your food promptly as you do. Most customers realize that there can be small lapses created by these services. But it behooves you, the owner, to do everything in your power to control every part of that process that you can because at the end of the day it is still your food being purchased and represented at the end of the line.

Accountability

Once that food leaves the hands of the person preparing it in the restaurant the task is not complete. Though you may not be personally responsible for the handling of the order in transit, you should still hold yourself accountable to make sure it arrives as you’d expect it to.

This means making sure you’ve sent it properly and have the right bags that can handle the size and weight of your containers. Maybe it means purchasing some takeout tray style boxes for larger orders.

The same holds true for delivery orders. Whether or not you are delivering it yourself or its being done by a third party, is the food being handled properly? Are insulated bags being used for pizzas and other items? It is important for you to make that investment to help ensure that level of quality hitting someone’s table at home. And if you are handing it off to a third-party driver, make sure they have the proper heat retaining bags too and are not just chucking your pizza in the back of their pickup truck while delivering it.

When done properly, carryout and delivery can be a wildly successful revenue center of your restaurant. By giving your dishes the same consistent respect that you do in house, you will be creating a large base of customers that are more than happy to bring your food to their home.

Michael Androw, owner, E & D Pizza, Avon, CT

PPNE EDUCATION SPOTLIGHT:

Catch Michael Androw talk DELCO

Sunday, October 1 | 8:30 am to 9:30 am Room No: 306

Before COVID-19 hit, Michael Androw had a thriving dine-in pizzeria. The pandemic forced him to make a hard pivot. Since pulling out the tables and chairs and dedicating the space to maximizing carryout and delivery potential, business has never been better. So good, in fact, he says there’s no reason to think he’ll ever offer dine-in again. Learn from a true success story as he guides you through the steps to do carryout and delivery correctly.