About Third Party Delivery Services

A growing number of full service restaurants, bakeries, deli’s, bar’s and even convenience stores are becoming aware that a foray into the $30 billion pizza industry, or at least the home delivery aspect of it, could be a great way to build sales, increase consumer awareness and add perceived value to their existing foodservice operations. Statistics across the country have shown that units that have added a well designed home delivery system have increased their total foodservice revenue by an average of 37%, in house sales by 21% and in some cases as much as 100% in overall revenue. However, the main drawback is that setting up and managing a home delivery business can be a daunting proposition for any business operator, especially when they have their hands full with dealing with the details of their normal day-to-day operations. Savvy operators are aware that while the rewards of offering delivery can be fantastic, it takes much more than just extra phone number and a car. In fact it requires extensive planning, a host of new policies and procedures, precise time tables, thousands of dollars worth of equipment, custom packaging, extensive printing, a massive advertising and marketing budget and a whole new layer of expertise. With all things considered, most foodservice operators have accepted that they can not afford the risk - that is of course, until they learned about third party home delivery.

Employing a third party delivery system is a great way for food service operators to “have their cake and eat it too” so to speak, as it offers all the benefits of a in-house home delivery system without the huge capital investment or other similar risks. The third party delivery concept is really very simple, it is one independently operated business to home delivery service, utilized by a group of foodservice operations within a given area, such as a town, city or even an entire county. Since the third party delivery service is operated exclusively by people who specialize in the delivery of food, they can concentrate 100% of their effort on delivering food, enhancing guest services and building sales without all the worry regarding the preparation of it - just like one could expect from a well trained service staff, except that these servers ( the drivers ) just happen to be assigned a much larger “section”.

Obviously the key here is the combination of a well trained “service staff” working for a group of well organized food service facilities, directed by a experienced group of food service managers and transportation specialists. “Operating a successful third party delivery service is much like being the director of a large catering event - not only does the person in charge have to understand all the aspects of food preparation, they must completely understand all the aspects of delivery and accurately project the needs of their guests - it is a very detail oriented process” states Dawn Blaszek, Human Resource Director for Hometown Delivery of Michigan.

Hometown Delivery of Michigan, is a perfect example of how a third party delivery system can benefit an entire community and yet service a large number of food service operators at the same time. The founders of Hometown Delivery combined their knowledge of the foodservice industry with computer technology, transportation, and multi media marketing to build a delivery service that can offer the thousands of people who live, work or visit the large rural communities of Northern Michigan the opportunity to select their favorite meal from literally hundreds of full service menu items offered by a large group independent foodservice operations ( as many as 100 per area ) by simply dialing one local phone number and have it delivered hot and fresh to their door in less than one hour.

“The concept of third party delivery is not a new one, there a systems much like ours all over the country, the difference is we designed Hometown Delivery to be much more than just a meal delivery system. We designed it to be a complete foodservice network, one that not only provides a valuable service for the foodservice operator and guest, but enhances the overall experience by injecting additional benefits for both” says Alex Barrister, Vice President and co founder of Hometown Delivery. We assist the foodservice operator every step of the way, from initially designing a efficient delivery menu and training the kitchen staff how to properly package each item, to implementing a strong overall local marketing campaign for the facility. As for the guest, we assist them by offering them a simple to use, economical and efficient means to have meals delivered to them in a safe, efficient professional manner - much like they would expect if they dined at any of the great foodservice operations we represent. Our staff is trained in all aspects of customer service, but our primary focus is mainly concentrated on two areas, proper food handling and safety . We want our guests to feel secure in the fact that our service employs every possible safe guard to insure that their meals are delivered with the same quality and presentation as they were when they were prepared . Hometown Delivery does not “stack” food orders, each order is picked up and delivered individually to insure maximum food quality and freshness.

Although a third party delivery system seems to be a simple operation, it is actually very complex. It takes much more than picking up a order and delivering it, but in the end when it is done properly, the results are incredible for all the parties involved. For the customer, being able to choose from a huge variety of entrée’s offered by a wide variety of facilities they would not normally get the chance to frequent and having the ability to have large functions catered by utilizing the one or more of the facilities, simply by calling the service is obviously a great benefit. For businesses, it is the opportunity to expand their local market from the average three mile zone most of them currently draw from to up to thirty miles - allowing them to capture a market share that was previously unavailable to them, therefore they can easily increase community awareness, and build their sales in the areas takeout, delivery, catering and even in-house dining.

The bottom line is that a well executed third party delivery system can build a “win-win” scenario for both the guest and the food service operator and will soon become as necessary for the survival of an independent restaurant as offering great food. Details on how to implement a third party delivery system like Hometown Delivery in your local can be obtained by contacting the Food Service Consulting Group

By Henry Blaszek October 2002

About the The Food Service Consulting Network

These articles were submitted to Chef2Chef.Net by Mr. Henry Blaszek, (a.k.a. The Restaurant Medic) who is an experienced chef, restaurateur and food service consultant.

He is also the President and Founder of the Food Service Consulting Network, which assists independent foodservice operations in enhancing their current operations to meet the demands of the changing industry and market trends. Mr. Blaszek is also very active in building national awareness regarding the important role independent businesses play in the economic structure of America.

His new book entitled “ Creating a Chain Reaction ”, which describes how independent foodservice operators can compete with the national chains on a level playing field will be released in 2003. He can be contacted by email at hblaszek@foodserviceconsulting.net or by visiting his website at http://www.foodserviceconsulting.net/

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