The global food delivery sector is worth more than one trillion US dollars. Helped by vastly improved online ordering platforms and changing consumer behaviour, this highly lucrative market is proving a godsend, especially for restaurants and eateries looking to improve their paper-thin margins.  

An increasingly common strategy is to leverage third-party delivery services such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats and such like. These online ordering platforms have exploded in popularity in recent years, transforming the way people order their food.  

Serving as an intermediary, a typical third-party delivery company connects the restaurant to the customer by way of a user-friendly app. For F&B operators, the beauty of these services lies in their ability to vastly improve sales while assuming logistical responsibilities. Integration is also very easy.   

Typical Third-Party Integration – Common Problems 

Generally speaking, a third-party delivery app allows restaurants to sign up online, often for a one-time fee. Once registered, a tablet is sent out and you can then accept orders.  

Such a simple solution proves very attractive for businesses looking to get up and running easily and quickly. But on closer inspection, this kind of integration can be problematic. 

Delivery Costs 

In most cases, third-party apps charge a delivery fee, so although you’ll forgo the costs of managing a fleet of delivery drivers, you’ll still have to pay for the privilege. If you receive a lot of orders, the costs are going to mount up.      

Ordering Errors 

The use of additional hardware to receive orders can be confusing and frustrating for staff. After all, having to rely on multiple tablets to take orders is going to be a major headache, especially during busier periods. What’s more, the orders must be manually inputted into the restaurant POS system. This can lead to mistakes and frustration among staff, not to mention a poor customer experience. 

Limited Reporting 

Most apps offer basic reports about delivery performance allowing you to track sales/order volume, top-selling items, cancelled orders and so forth. But more advanced functionality such as restaurant forecasting aren’t likely to be included, so predicting peak periods and preparing your staff accordingly is going to be challenging. 

It also won’t be possible to feed analytics into your existing accounting systems. Such a lack of integration makes it difficult to properly evaluate the impact of your delivery service in relation to your entire operation. 

Lack of Driver Control 

Tracking and communicating with drivers is not possible with third-party apps meaning that timely deliveries are not guaranteed. It also becomes difficult to ensure positive brand awareness, given that the drivers answer to their parent company. 

The most obvious remedy for these pain points is to choose restaurant software that allows for seamless third-party integration. 

Restaurant Management Platforms - Seamless Third-Party Integration 

The most powerful POS/restaurant management platforms support all delivery business models, allowing you to fully-integrate third-party services, putting an end to some of the problems mentioned above. Let's take a closer look at the benefits of using these restaurant online ordering solutions and how they  put you in the driving seat. 

Reduced Delivery Costs 

Many of the large third-party providers, Uber Eats among them, allow businesses to use their own drivers, thus removing extra delivery fees. With an advanced restaurant management platform in place, you’ll also gain more control over your drivers, as we'll discuss later. 

One System for Every Order 

Next-Gen restaurant management software makes for a far more seamless and foolproof method for receiving and fulfilling orders.  

The best restaurant ordering system will does away with the need for tablets, injecting orders directly into your production pipeline so that there’s no longer any need for manual inputs. Because orders don’t have to be sent from one terminal to another, there’s less chance of any slipping through the cracks.  

Having such an integration in place eliminates mistakes and streamlines your front-of-house operations, ensuring that orders are prepared and ready to go. The staff are going to be happier too.  

Powerful Estimates and Reports 

A typical best-of-class restaurant online ordering system will offer intelligent insights about your entire delivery operation Reporting and analytics are automatically fed into accounting systems, providing an accurate picture about performance. 

Advanced forecasting tools are usually available too, enabling you to predict peak periods. The resulting makes it easier to schedule the right number of staff and delivery drivers to deal with the busiest times. Having such data-driven insights to hand can also help to optimise their inventory, empowering you to making intelligent purchases based on predicted demand.  

Optimise Your Delivery Fleet 

By integrating third-party delivery services with an advanced restaurant ordering system, you’ll have access to a suite of powerful tools for optimising your delivery fleet. GPS driver tracking, intelligent route planning and order status monitoring means you’ll be able to stay in control in real-time, helping to make sure that orders are delivered in a timely fashion.  

Driver apps are also commonly available with the latest systems allowing for instant two-way communication. You can provide notifications to your drivers about order changes and new delivery assignments. In return, the driver can also include updates about potential issues abut vehicle or order problems.  

Integrating Third-Party Delivery – 4 Essential Requirements 

Full Visibility for Kitchen Staff 

To deal with busy periods, your kitchen staff will need to be prepared and fully in the loop regarding order volume and timeframes. Knowledge really is power when it comes to efficient delivery management.  

The best restaurant online ordering platforms include tools to help kitchen staff stay on track during peak times. Tools such as cooking time countdowns and dish preparation status can help to ensure that the food is sent out for delivery in a timely fashion.  

Direct Communication Between Customer and Driver 

The ability to communicate directly with the customer is going to protect your brand’s reputation in case of issues such as late delivery. The latest restaurant delivery systems allow your drivers to do just this with a single click. Keeping customers informed about potential problems can go a long way in warding off a bad review.  

Easy Integration   

Incorporating third-party delivery services shouldn’t be difficult. Happily, the best-in-class platforms offer APIs that allowing for easy integration. In all likelihood, you won’t need any technical expertise – the leading restaurant management providers will operate an onboarding team to help you get up and running, while also providing support after setup.    

Full Driver Control 

Because you’ll be taking over the responsibility of deliveries, it’s essential to have a restaurant management platform that provides you with full control over your driver fleet. So you should be able to easily distribute orders among driver, create the best routes and monitor deliveries on a visual map with the use of GPS.   

Conclusion

To conclude, there’s no doubting the benefits of using a third-party delivery service. But to make the most out of these systems, it’s crucial to get the implementation side of things right. In our estimation, the best strategy is to rely on an advanced restaurant management platform for seamless, powerful integration.   

With this in mind, we invite you to explore our website to learn more about our product.