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Best Practices for Restaurants Delivering to Businesses

Posted by Brandon Tucker

Brandon was the Marketing Content Specialist for SpeedLine Solutions from 2019 to 2022. He ensured the content we provided was the top-notch quality we are known for by staying up to date on industry trends, tips, tricks, and best practices to help our customers' businesses grow.

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In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, food delivery is bigger than ever before, with $14 billion being spent on pizza delivery alone in 2020. While most deliveries are  to residential homes, there is a significant portion delivered to offices and other commercial buildings. If your delivery area covers any sort of commercial/industrial area, or even a large institution like a school or hospital, then you need to be prepared to make business deliveries. We’ve put together a few tips below.

 

Create House Accounts in Your POS System

You can  make delivering to businesses easier even before the order gets submitted. For example, set up a house account for a business that frequently orders from you. House accounts allow you to streamline the ordering process while also strengthening your relationship with commercial customers. 

When a house account is set up, it allows anyone on the account to place an order without being charged for it immediately, which works well when the person receiving the order isn’t someone with access to the company credit card. And when it comes time to collect payment for the orders, you can send out an invoice with all of the individual order totals, to make the payment process simple for the business. 

But the benefits of having house accounts begin long before this point. For example, you can enter multiple phone numbers (including various extensions) under one customer profile, allowing your employees to see exactly what office building someone is calling from when they place an order. This also prevents you from having to collect the same building and customer information over and over again. 

 

Provide Space for Extra Details on Your Online Order Form

A good online ordering form will require several key pieces of customer information, including the first and last name, phone number, and email address. In the case of deliveries, it should also ask for the address, including a separate address box for the apartment number, suite number, or even office number.

However, if you’re going to be doing some deliveries to businesses, then you should also have an extra box on your online order form to gather any additional details pertinent to the delivery. If someone works in a building containing multiple companies or floors, then you need to know which buzzer to hit when you arrive, or which floor to take the elevator to once you’re inside. Or maybe there’s a certain entrance that the driver will need to use, which is essential information to have and can be included in this additional space.

 

Designate a Drop-Off Zone Beforehand

Although many workplaces have loosened their COVID-19 restrictions, there are still offices that don’t want random delivery drivers galavanting through their building. But regardless of whether it’s over health, safety, or security concerns, you should acknowledge this customer preference by setting up a designated drop-off zone for any deliveries you make to their building. This will usually be at the reception desk if they have one. But it could really be anywhere in the workplace. 

Setting up a drop-off zone not only benefits the customer, but also minimizes the amount of time that your drivers waste wandering around a building looking for the right person to hand the order off to, meaning you can complete more deliveries in less time. 

 

Ensure Drivers Have a Branded Uniform

The problem with using third-party delivery drivers is that they look like any stranger on the street. If the same applies to your in-house driver, it can cause issues for a business that likes to keep their doors closed to anyone who isn’t an employee or delivery person. You don’t need your drivers to wear full head-to-toe uniforms. A simple baseball cap or shirt with your restaurant’s name and logo should suffice. Doing so will also make your operation look far more professional and help you deliver an exceptional customer experience.

 

Have Extra Large Bags and Picnic Packages Available

Chances are that you’re already going to have pizza bags and other delivery packaging for your drivers that are capable of holding two or even three large pizzas at once. But when you’re dealing with corporate orders, it could easily reach twice this amount. To avoid sending more than one driver on a single delivery, you should have some extra large pizza bags readily available that are able to hold six or more large pizzas at the same time. The same applies to your insulated drink carriers, if you use those.

You also need to account for the fact that businesses, unlike homes, tend not to have utensils readily available. So if you’re going to deliver to any sort of commercial building, then you should plan ahead by taking along picnic packages that have everything someone might need to enjoy your delicious food. This includes utensils, napkins, plates, and whatever else can make the eating process more enjoyable.

By using house accounts, detailed online order forms, better driver equipment, and designated drop-off zones, you can make delivering to businesses even easier than delivering to residential homes. If you’re interested in other ways that you could improve your current delivery system, check out these common delivery dealbreakers for customers.


Posted on Wed, Aug 04, 2021 @ 08:08 AM.
Updated on August 4, 2021 @ 3:30 PM PST.


Tags: Restaurant Delivery, Food Delivery

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