How to Start a Food Delivery Business

So you’ve been out on the streets in your community, seeing cyclists pass you with food packages in a kit bag, drivers with logos on the chassis rolling past with the scent of takeaway food. A few nights every week, you see your family and friends are ordering in. When did food delivery become popular? You’re seeing all of this and you want in. You want to start a food delivery business. But how?

What is a food delivery business?

A food delivery business is a service that takes orders either over the phone or the internet and delivers it to the customer’s door. Some businesses do this in addition to serving takeaway or sit-in meals; others solely deliver. There are now many businesses that do not produce food but deliver meals produced by many other businesses in the local area.

Which food delivery service is best for you?

The first big decisions that need to be made are the kind of delivery service you’re going to provide. Are you going to be delivering food you produce or providing a delivery service for dining and takeaway businesses? Will the restaurants be paying you commission to deliver their goods, or will customers pay you directly for food and delivery? 

All are good options, but a lot of this depends on your budget, the area you’ll be operating in, and the tools you already have to work with.

Location

If you are considering producing your own food to deliver, you may have already decided on a cuisine you’d like to offer.  However, you must take note of your competition. 

If you’re in an urban area, it’s likely that there’s already someone producing the kind of food you plan to sell. How close is your competition? Who else are you competing with? Do they deliver, and if so, what’s their service like? There are several well-established delivery companies already, so it’s vital to know what will make your service worth trying out for first-timers comparing your business to the competition.

The kind of customer service you provide will need to reflect your customer base. Is your community environmentally conscious and health-conscious? What is the cheapest food delivery service around? What sort of age bracket will most of your customers be in? This may inform whether you need to focus on your delivery speed, prices, menu items, or ordering processes.

Budget

When budgeting, as with any business, you may want to consider what resources you already have and what you’ll need to buy in order to get started. You’ll need to license your business and will likely want a business bank account. 

You may already own the vehicle/s you use for delivery. If using a car or van, you’ll need food delivery insurance. Even if you already have domestic insurance, travel for your business won’t be covered by your current policy.

Food delivery insurance is important because transport is the most important part of your service. If you aren’t able to deliver due to a mechanical problem, you will quickly lose credibility as a delivery service. Keeping your vehicle in prime condition will help you build your reputation as a business, so budgeting for these expenses is well worth the cost.

You may choose to buy more vehicles as your business grows to increase your delivery capacity. However, investing in a larger transport fleet can be expensive. You may need to hire drivers with their own vehicles, as this will decrease your costs. You may also wish to have a variety of delivery methods on hand, including cyclists for nearby deliveries and cars for more distant deliveries.

Staffing

Your business model may not involve hiring drivers. However, as a manager, you may wish to remain on-site and contactable so taking on staff might be worthwhile. Drivers can legally take calls while on the road using Bluetooth earpieces or speakers so you’ll be able to contact your team as you take orders and coordinate deliveries. This will mean putting a budget in place for your payroll to pay your team of drivers.

One of the advantages of being a delivery service is how visible you are. So the opportunity of becoming a visible brand through the use of uniform and branded transport for your staff is too good to pass up. Investing in shirts and thermal packaging will bring in custom from the moment your staff step out the door.

Preparing a premises

You may be wondering, can you run a food delivery service from home? In a word, yes! However, depending on whether or not you’re preparing the food yourself or not it may be expensive to set this up and you may find yourself restricted by planning permissions and licensing, so check the laws in your area to confirm whether you’ll be allowed to go ahead.

If you’re only delivering food then a home office for taking orders will be perfectly adequate. All you’ll need is a comfortable space from which to coordinate your delivery team as they travel from customer to customer. Operating from home is worth considering as it will save rental or mortgage expenses on a separate location, which can be difficult to pay for as a new business.

Even if you’re preparing food yourself, if your home is spacious enough and you’re allowed to make the conversion, you may be able to turn a room into an industrial kitchen. But this will not be cheap. You’ll need to purchase quality equipment and will likely need building work to make the conversion. Kitchens that sell to the public need to meet rigorous food safety standards in order to be licensed to trade. This means good air circulation, pest control, and a host of other measures in place to ensure the food is safe. A business with a low food hygiene rating, even if it is legally adequate, will suffer a significant loss in trade.

Getting the word out

No matter how much you spend building a pristine, well-equipped kitchen with shiny, branded cars out front, none of it will get used without customers. Making yourself known is crucial for any business.

These days, anyone can get a certain amount of exposure through social media. Creating accounts for your business, photographing the preparation process and blogging about it on Facebook or Twitter doesn’t cost anything and takes very little time.

Putting some of your budget aside to print leaflets for the local area is also useful. Getting in touch with the local press and radio stations can help make people aware that there’s new food available for delivery. It all contributes towards your reputation so ensure you have a marketing plan.

If you’re only delivering, you’ll need to focus your marketing as much on local food businesses as the public. With other businesses on board, you’ll have them advertising your services to their customers anyway. Having a mutual interest with a pre-established business can help you get off the ground quickly and smoothly, allowing you to work towards your plans for future growth.

An EPOS system that grows with you

With any new business, it’s vital to have a sophisticated EPOS system that will help you stay on top of trade, with:

• First-rate product and stock management systems
• Hundreds of reports to tell you what’s going well and where you can improve
• Integations with card processing technology
• Mobile options for making sales on the go
• 24/7 support to help you make the most of your business

Epos Now is a fantastic platform to help you on your way to the top of your new industry, with the very best hardware and software to suit your needs. Get in touch with our experts on 0808 291 3190 or submit your information below to have a member of our team reach out to you.