How to Become a Takeaway in 10 Simple Steps

Following the emergence of the coronavirus, hospitality businesses throughout the UK have implemented takeaway, collection, and delivery services as a way of remaining profitable while social distancing restrictions remain in place. 

In this guide, we explain how any restaurant can pivot to takeaway and delivery in ten simple steps: 

1. Pickup, takeaway, or both?

Do you want to just offer pickup? Or do you want to use a delivery partner such as Deliveroo, Just Eat & Uber Eats. They will charge a fee but help you reach many more customers and start-up quickly. For customers with an Epos Now system, you can request to work with Deliveroo directly from your back office.

If you already have a loyal following or don’t fancy the fee, you can operate your own delivery and collection service with Epos Now Order & Pay, the app-less mobile platform that lets customers browse, order, and pay from their phones. 

2. Simplify your menu

With in house dining, it may be easy to have a sprawling menu with complex dishes, but when looking at large volume deliveries you will want to simplify menu items so they can be quickly prepared and easily put into containers for transportation.

With a good point of sale system, you can disable any menu items, saving them for later. Or quickly create simpler menus that are cheaper, quicker and easier to create.

3. Source containers

This may seem like an obvious one, but with many businesses scrambling to do the same, less obvious sources like Amazon or your local supermarket may be less in demand than catering supply companies. Alternatively, if you are the UK you can head over to Packaging Environmental and use the code PAY15 for 15% off your orders.

4. Solid inventory management

Stock can be hard to keep track of at the best of times, more so when you have orders going out here, there and everywhere. With an in-depth inventory management system, you’ll be able to track individual stock levels as well as menu items.

Read more about how to simplify inventory management

5. Get an ordering system in place

Taking orders on paper to go to the kitchen may not be the most efficient system for takeaways as orders are lower value but more frequent. Orders that are misplaced or lost cause impacts to customers and in turn more negative reviews. Ensure your ordering system is fully integrated with a kitchen display or kitchen printer so you can better plan for capacity and be free to keep the orders coming in.

6. Get an efficient payment system

Given the current health crisis and social distancing advice, it’s better to only take card payments over the phone or online and with an integrated card payment system which links with your website and point of sale system and is quick to set up.

7. Update your website...

...Or make one in minutes with Shopify or Wix.com, both of which even include online ordering. A lot of customers who work with a partner (such as Uber Eats) normally skip this step and just refer orders to the delivery partner for processing.

8. Let your customers know

Use MailChimp to quickly email all of your customers and regulars, also make sure you update all of your social media accounts and channels stating clearly that you are now temporarily transitioning into a takeaway and inform them exactly how they can order from you.

Read more on how to keep customers informed of your trading status

9. Attract new customers

Use your social media platforms - and consider running Facebook ads in your local area - to inform potential customers that you're operating as a takeaway. To entice new customers, offer discounts and incentives.

Read more on how to attract customers to your takeaway business 

10. Build loyalty

Offer all new customers a discount (our suggestion is 10%) for their first order and ensure you save all your customers phone numbers and email addresses (all good POS systems do this). You can now track which customers are ordering the most and reward them and send special offers to customers who have ordered before. Loyalty systems are one the easiest ways to boost revenue and keep your audience engaged. We are offering 3 months free loyalty integration for all new customers.

Read more on how to use loyalty schemes to generate repeat business