Efficient delivery of great food is the new frontier for restaurants. But the systems need to be better. Well… help is on the way.

Written by Doug Willmarth

POS integration will remove one of the big barriers to effective 3^rd party delivery for smaller chains. NCR’s partnership with DoorDash and Grub Hub announced this week is one step closer.

Many restaurant owners I talk with feel trapped. They are excited by the incremental sales that 3^rd party delivery can bring. But at the same time, they are very concerned with the impact to operations and long-term cost.

But just sitting on the sidelines while delivery makes huge leaps forward isn’t an appealing option either.

I was just on a conference call with a dozen medium sized chains and consultants discussing issues and concerns with 3^rd part delivery. The good news is that there was broad agreement that despite challenges, everyone was cautiously optimistic. But all wanted to see integration improve and costs to come down for this to be a long term win for restaurants.

The reality is the current system needs to evolve to be sustainable. Lack of integration into the POS causes friction and errors that mean increased cost and complexity for the operator that results in higher labor, more food waste, and worst of all, lower customer satisfaction

Capturing the Benefits of 3^rd Party Delivery

For the promise of 3^rd party delivery to really work for restaurateurs:

1. Access to more customers and more occasions
2. Frictionless ordering solution that integrates with POS and takes payment
3. Effective and fast delivery without the infrastructure cost

All three areas have challenges, but a new announcement from NCR indicates a light is on the horizon as far as POS integration is concerned.

What POS integration will mean

NCR’s announcement (Read full report here by Franchise Times) that it will be partnering with Grub Hub and DoorDash is a big deal. Some integration was already happening with smaller platforms (Toast and recently Micros), but NCR on the sidelines was a big hurdle. Expect this to trigger more action. POS integration will be a big step forward in making 3^rd party delivery easier on Operations and the P&L

1. Eliminate Delivery Tablets
2. Save Time on Order Entry = Lower Labor
3. Eliminate Order Entry Errors = Less Food Waste & Happier Customers

The reality is the impact of this announcement a year or more off, but it’s good to see green shoots that we’re moving in the right direction. Now if we can just get the percentage that the delivery companies take down to below 20%…

About Doug and Restaurant RPM

Doug is a Part-time / Interim CMO and restaurant consultant providing flexible CMO leadership based on the needs of your company:

• Strategic marketing partner for executive teams and boards
• Annual growth planning to drive sales
• Research and concept/brand positioning strategy
• Directing internal marketing teams and agencies to deliver results

At Restaurant RPM, our mission is to help restaurants grow by creating marketing plans that align with and build upon brand strategies to make you stand out and attract more loyal guests.