Not Your Brand, but Your Delivery

Delivery is the real deal. What was once the purveyance of Chinese food and pizza has expanded to include every cuisine and segment. How best can a restaurant get into consideration?

Launching your own delivery infrastructure will prove a costly and risky proposition, largely because your restaurant or brand may lack consideration or credibility for delivery. A proprietary app including mobile ordering and delivery might strengthen your brand as being more relevant, but would need significant marketing dollars to convince consumers to download it. The reality of delivery is that third parties – GrubHub, UberEats, DoorDash – have cornered the market and rightfully so since they identified a consumer need to build the varied restaurant delivery market.

Consumer loyalty exists within their chosen platform rather than your brand. That’s a hard pill to swallow. It’s their game and you’re invited (for a fee). Their consumers already have habits ingrained however, so the first hurdle of consideration is cleared. The opportunity comes to best position your restaurant in the app’s democratization of distance, surcharges and delivery times. The third party facilitates the orders, payment, security and delivery. The restaurant focuses on the quality of the food and the order’s accurate execution.

Quick tips on the product: identify menu items that will deliver well; invest in quality packaging that will preserve freshness and temperature; market your brand to reinforce your story (it may be tempting to overly promote take-out, but the order itself is proof that you already have some consideration); put systems in place for quality execution at all dayparts. Consumers are purchasing convenience from the third party but are purchasing the product from your restaurant. Make it great.