Delivery : Is this a Good Thing?

When I was growing up, getting your food delivered meant pizza. Here in Waco, TX, the Elite Cafe had a takeout box of fajitas you could have delivered – and that was a very rare thing. We would order that box of fajitas, and they would get to our house and I always wondered why no one else besides pizza restaurants would do it.

Now, in my mid-40’s, I understand why these companies did not deliver. Of course spending the past 20 years in the industry helps..

To explain this requires a story. I know, I know! This is actually a great example of the reasons why Delivery took so long to become what it is today.

I started waiting tables at a restaurant in Dallas about a year after I moved there. This restaurant was insane! We went on a “wait” every lunch and dinner, and sometimes we had people call the restaurant to place a togo order. Guess what… We did not offer take out. You could not just come in and purchase food togo. Now, if you were a dining guest, and wanted to take your food with you? Yes, absolutely. If you were a dining guest and needed to bring someone who couldn’t make the trip a plate? Yes – we absolutely would do that. One time I had a guest sit at a table, ordered a queso and tea, and then proceeded to order over $100 in take out food. And that was almost denied. Imagine – denying a sale!

There was a decent reason for this. At the time, the focus of our BOH was quality of the product. It is understood that take out food is of lesser quality than the traditional dine in food. However this expectation is understood from the restaurant, not the guest. So we knew that we would food home with these people, and it would not be the quality that they expected from us, and for the price they spent on it. Even if the food takes only 20 minutes to be delivered from the restaurant, the food quality degrades. For restaurants 20 years ago – this was of absolute importance. The fight for guests was value and quality based. We knew that there was the possibility for a guest complaint, and we wanted to minimize this opportunity.

Now there is togo packaging that maintains the products integrity. This changes the game. Even though there is still quality loss, the majority of guest recognize that this will occur. However, there is one major flaw that I am not quite sure how it will be addressed – but it needs a solution.

Nowadays, the biggest issue with delivery is receiving your complete order. This happens all the time in Fast food/drive thru establishments. How is it solved? You have to contact the delivery service, and then you have to reorder the product. That means you pay for more delivery, and you have to wait for the food to be sent out again. This is the most frustrating scenario I experience when ordering delivery.

I think the responsibility of who made the mistake can be sorted out amongst the restaurant and delivery service, and the guest should not be inconvenienced any more. Nothing is more frustrating than not having what you ordered, and then having to jump through hoops to get it back. Most of the time the guest just ends up not dealing with the drama, and they do without. That is absolutely the worst possible scenario for a restaurant.

So, in summation, I believe that delivery is a good thing. However, the expectation to be disappointed is real, and it’s definitely unfortunate. I would like to see some fixes in the system, and I would love to see some more innovations to improve guest experience. We shall see what is in store for us all in the future!