Delivery driver or do it myself for home food business,

[Shellbell]

Hi All,

I am really struggling at the moment with delivery and would love to hear your thoughts. I am trying starting my home food business and want it up and running end of this month or beginning of December but I need a system where customers can pre order so Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber are out of the question as they only let you preorder on the same day. Whereas I need at least 2 days in advance as I already work full time.

In the UK I realised we are not as lucky with delivery options as they are in the US.

My question or struggle is-

1- Do I just do the delivery myself for a 2.5 mile radius but then will have to cut the amount of orders I plan to recieve as I will be delivering it (10-15 minutes drive each way) so basically will lose 30 minutes per order

2- Hire someone- It will be costly for a at home small business, if I give then £10 over 30 hours( opening hours) = £300 a week for 1 driver when I guess I will make £600- Half my pay is going on a driver and I have not looked into process of actually hiring someone

I can not offer click and collect , so this is not an option.

I hate both options! I dont want to be driving around delivering food when I need to be cooking the food but I also hate the idea of paying a driver hald my earning per week.

Help please!

 

[Copy4.co.uk]

Hi All,

I am really struggling at the moment with delivery and would love to hear your thoughts. I am trying starting my home food business and want it up and running end of this month or beginning of December but I need a system where customers can pre order so Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber are out of the question as they only let you preorder on the same day. Whereas I need at least 2 days in advance as I already work full time.

In the UK I realised we are not as lucky with delivery options as they are in the US.

My question or struggle is-

1- Do I just do the delivery myself for a 2.5 mile radius but then will have to cut the amount of orders I plan to recieve as I will be delivering it (10-15 minutes drive each way) so basically will lose 30 minutes per order

2- Hire someone- It will be costly for a at home small business, if I give then £10 over 30 hours( opening hours) = £300 a week for 1 driver when I guess I will make £600- Half my pay is going on a driver and I have not looked into process of actually hiring someone

I can not offer click and collect , so this is not an option.

I hate both options! I dont want to be driving around delivering food when I need to be cooking the food but I also hate the idea of paying a driver hald my earning per week.

Help please!

Hiya, Shellbell, it's great to hear that you are taking the next steps in your journey, congrats!

I'm not sure what your product is, but could it be cheaper to either offer a postage option (I have ordered from mail-order cookie businesses before without any issues) or pay someone else to prepare/cook while you deliver?

Another idea would be to partner with a local business and have them be your base of operations for click-and-collect orders.

Or perhaps, If you have a set delivery day you can plan out a route to avoid the driver having to keep going back on his/herself.

Without knowing the product that's all I can think of with the options you've given.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Are you sure about your plan, do people really need your service and how do you aim to get customers, In most cases being so local restricted and presumably offering a slow and small range of goods, you may well find customers hard to find

 

[Shellbell]

Hiya, Shellbell, it's great to hear that you are taking the next steps in your journey, congrats!

I'm not sure what your product is, but could it be cheaper to either offer a postage option (I have ordered from mail-order cookie businesses before without any issues) or pay someone else to prepare/cook while you deliver?

Another idea would be to partner with a local business and have them be your base of operations for click-and-collect orders.

Or perhaps, If you have a set delivery day you can plan out a route to avoid the driver having to keep going back on his/herself.

Without knowing the product that's all I can think of with the options you've given.

Hello, thank you for the reply. It will be a food takeaway home business. The feedback from my market research in the local and surrounding area is really positive and is a want in the area., even a competitor said they have been asked to offer the cuisine that I will be, so have already kindly recommended customers to my page. We have had about 3 food start-ups since lockdown and have all been successful.

I will be serving hot food, pre-ordered meals and I am not expecting or wanting a huge return at this stage. I've estimated about £400-500 a week, which would be great for what I need as I do already work., as long as I make a profit which I will be ill be happy at this stage.

I like the idea of using a base for click and collect. Do you have any idea about how you approach that? Im guessing it will need to be another food takeaway. Would I cook everything at mine still but arrange a collection time for that location? I've never heard of this but do like it.

Thank you

 

[Shellbell]

Are you sure about your plan, do people really need your service and how do you aim to get customers, In most cases being so local restricted and presumably offering a slow and small range of goods, you may well find customers hard to find

Hi Chris, Thank you for your reply. I have been a lot of research about this takeaway and a lot of polls, questions to the local community groups and there is a real buzz for it in the area now. Other local businesses have been recommending me to potential customers and its very positive at the moment. Of course, if it translates into orders is a different story but I won't know until I try and I will be silly not to try with such positive feedback.

Yes, I do agree I won't be able to target a big customer audience but as it is just me running this as I do already work. I need it to me practical and manageable. I am doing this based on seeing 3 other local companies offering this structure and they are doing well.

What I don't want is to follow some of the steps I'm seeing from my other competitors who are trying to open all day everyday delivery on demand, but food is arriving late, cold or the wrong order as they are swamped. I would happily take on a niche of customers who really want my food and are happy to order a day in advance and know when their order is going to arrive.

I am not thinking of these businesses turning over a huge amount of money as I understand I am limiting myself on hours and the delivery so expect to make around £400-£500 per week, which covers all cost plus gives me a good amount of income.

Once and hopefully when the business grows them, I will employ someone or be able to have a store front so we can do click and collect, which will of course then increase sales.

You actually did not answer the question, so any advice on the question presented though?

Thank you.

Shelly

 

[Shellbell]

Hiya, Shellbell, it's great to hear that you are taking the next steps in your journey, congrats!

I'm not sure what your product is, but could it be cheaper to either offer a postage option (I have ordered from mail-order cookie businesses before without any issues) or pay someone else to prepare/cook while you deliver?

Another idea would be to partner with a local business and have them be your base of operations for click-and-collect orders.

Or perhaps, if you have a set delivery day you can plan out a route to avoid the driver having to keep going back on his/herself.

Without knowing the product that's all I can think of with the options you've given.

Also, to add, I have been talking to different companies and I feel I like the idea of me delivering myself hers why-

1. This company offer a pre order button up to 2 weeks in advance even though I will only need 1-2 days but good to know I can do that, compared to most that only allow you to pre-order 5 hours in advance.

2. This company allow me to set booking slots for deliveries. I can set my delivery slots for every hour- This gives me plenty of time to package, deliver and return to do it again.

I know this is not a great idea for bringing in customers as this means I can only have 11 customers each day BUT what this does mean is that it is very manageable to me. No food wastage, as there won't be leftovers and I won't over buy. I am keen on this idea; it keeps my overheads low to start with and allows me to test the waters. If I realise actually, I'm back within 20 minutes, then I can change the slots to 45-minute delivery window which will allows me to take on 1 more customer per shift and if it gets too busy or I get complaints from people saying they want to order but they can't they I can follow the demand and hire someone (which I will eventually have to do as they business grows)

What are your views? However I still want to know about this using someone elses store for click and collect orderes.

Hiya, Shellbell, it's great to hear that you are taking the next steps in your journey, congrats!

I'm not sure what your product is, but could it be cheaper to either offer a postage option (I have ordered from mail-order cookie businesses before without any issues) or pay someone else to prepare/cook while you deliver?

Another idea would be to partner with a local business and have them be your base of operations for click-and-collect orders.

Or perhaps, If you have a set delivery day you can plan out a route to avoid the driver having to keep going back on his/herself.

Without knowing the product that's all I can think of with the options you've given.

 

[IanSuth]

Just an idea, if other local food businesses are happy to push people to you why don't you see if you can find some way to piggyback their deliveries to be able to cut down the amount it eats into your profits.

If they have a driver/rider able to come and collect your food and deliver around other runs it should work for all

 

[Shellbell]

Just an idea, if other local food businesses are happy to push people to you why don't you see if you can find some way to piggyback their deliveries to be able to cut down the amount it eats into your profits.

If they have a driver/rider able to come and collect your food and deliver around other runs it should work for all

Hi & Thanks for your reply.

Yes that is a good idea actually & I did not think of this however the closest other home food buisness has been so popular they have moved into an actual shop now so it would be about 15 minutes for the driver to get here. The other food business its a husband and wife set up so one cook and one delivers ( I dont talk much with them about my business, so will need to build a relationship with them first) & the 3rd business again was really successful they have moved into a shop aswell so no longer do deliveries.

I said this to another responder but what are your views on this-

Also, to add, I have been talking to different companies and I feel I like the idea of me delivering myself is good right now heres why-

1. This company offer a pre order button up to 2 weeks in advance even though I will only need 1-2 days but good to know I can do that, compared to most that only allow you to pre-order 5 hours in advance.

2. This company allow me to set booking slots for deliveries. I can set my delivery slots for every hour- This gives me plenty of time to package, deliver and return to do it again.

I know this is not a great idea for bringing in customers as this means I can only have 11 customers each day BUT what this does mean is that it is very manageable to me. No food wastage, as there won't be leftovers and I won't over buy. I am keen on this idea; it keeps my overheads low to start with and allows me to test the waters. If I realise actually, I'm back within 20 minutes, then I can change the slots to 45-minute delivery window which will allows me to take on 1 more customer per shift and if it gets too busy or I get complaints from people saying they want to order but they can't they I can follow the demand and hire someone (which I will eventually have to do as they business grows)

What are your views? However I still want to know about this using someone elses store for click and collect orderes.

Thanks again

 

[HFE Signs]

My concerns would be as follows:

1) Do people order a take a way 2-3 days in advance?
2) Will you have a large enough customer base in the radius you mention?
3) Will you be able to make a worth while profit with the quantities you anticipate?
4) Do you have scope to expand?

I don't wish to sound negative, but it does appear to be quite a challenging plan. With regard to delivery, you could really do with someone helping you until you reach a point where you can afford your own driver.

 

[Shellbell]

My concerns would be as follows:

1) Do people order a take a way 2-3 days in advance?
2) Will you have a large enough customer base in the radius you mention?
3) Will you be able to make a worth while profit with the quantities you anticipate?
4) Do you have scope to expand?

I don't wish to sound negative, but it does appear to be quite a challenging plan. With regard to delivery, you could really do with someone helping you until you reach a point where you can afford your own driver.

Hello, thanks for your reply. No i need everyone's views none of it is negative, itw constrictive points for me to think about. So yes it is not common practice to pre-plan a takeaway but as this is the only cuisine in the area for about 9 miles if people want it then they will order it in advance and it could even bring a bit of excitement as its something to look forward to and limited. For example one of the other businesses do this concept for pan asian food and they are booked up 7 days in advance for collections.

I do have my partner to help when home but cant be relied on as a regular driver due to work commitments.

In terms of customer demand I mentioned that I have done polls, and been very present on the local community group and am getting thr brand and name in the local paper aswell as the local online paper, so people know were in the area and there has been really positive comments.

I am aware that the take home if i get 11/12 customers per shift it will be about £400-500 per week this will leave me with about just over half in take home per week. This is fine for me for now while I get accustomed to the process and then once busier I can hire a driver.

Scope to expand yep, either in the home or partnering up and using a dark kitchen which will allow me to then offer click and collect but with the prices of dark kitchens being around £1100 in my area i need to make a substantial amount of money to do that ontop of being able to pay Justeats 30% per transaction fee ? & in terms of expand my operating hours i do work full time so would need to see that demand is here before I would leave my job of course.

 

[HFE Signs]

Hello, thanks for your reply. No i need everyone's views none of it is negative, itw constrictive points for me to think about. So yes it is not common practice to pre-plan a takeaway but as this is the only cuisine in the area for about 9 miles if people want it then they will order it in advance and it could even bring a bit of excitement as its something to look forward to and limited. For example one of the other businesses do this concept for pan asian food and they are booked up 7 days in advance for collections.

I do have my partner to help when home but cant be relied on as a regular driver due to work commitments.

In terms of customer demand I mentioned that I have done polls, and been very present on the local community group and am getting thr brand and name in the local paper aswell as the local online paper, so people know were in the area and there has been really positive comments.

I am aware that the take home if i get 11/12 customers per shift it will be about £400-500 per week this will leave me with about just over half in take home per week. This is fine for me for now while I get accustomed to the process and then once busier I can hire a driver.

Scope to expand yep, either in the home or partnering up and using a dark kitchen which will allow me to then offer click and collect but with the prices of dark kitchens being around £1100 in my area i need to make a substantial amount of money to do that ontop of being able to pay Justeats 30% per transaction fee ? & in terms of expand my operating hours i do work full time so would need to see that demand is here before I would leave my job of course.

Sounds like you have it all covered, best of luck and please keep us updated as things progress

 

[Shellbell]

Sounds like you have it all covered, best of luck and please keep us updated as things progress

Thank you, well I dont have it all planned out ? i think its the idea of physically starting which is daunting but i wont know how the buisness idea works until i actually do it i guess. Yes i will update

 

[MOIC]

A few questions . . .

How easy will it be for an existing or new business to replicate your offerings and do this as a full-time business with quicker deliveries?

Convenience counts for a lot with regards to delivering food . . . . . .speed / ease of ordering apart from the quality of the food.

Do you have the required certificates and experience in starting this business from home?

Have you factored in product liability?

You say there will not be any wastage, but can you say that with 100% confidence, not knowing what the orders will be? I presume that fresh/perishable ingredients will be used.

What happens if you're unable to fulfill orders for a day(s), due to illness or other issues? Will this harm the business?

There are so many questions related to a food business which requires cooking on demand, which you'll encounter during the first few weeks/months of opening up. Surveys are all well and good, but facts and experience will give you a better understanding of the business model you're trying to replicate.

If successful with the initial part-time stage, is your long term plan to take it full time?

 

[Shellbell]

A few questions . . .

How easy will it be for an existing or new business to replicate your offerings and do this as a full-time business with quicker deliveries?

Convenience counts for a lot with regards to delivering food . . . . . .speed / ease of ordering apart from the quality of the food.

Do you have the required certificates and experience in starting this business from home?

Have you factored in product liability?

You say there will not be any wastage, but can you say that with 100% confidence, not knowing what the orders will be? I presume that fresh/perishable ingredients will be used.

What happens if you're unable to fulfill orders for a day(s), due to illness or other issues? Will this harm the business?

There are so many questions related to a food business which requires cooking on demand, which you'll encounter during the first few weeks/months of opening up. Surveys are all well and good, but facts and experience will give you a better understanding of the business model you're trying to replicate.

If successful with the initial part-time stage, is your long term plan to take it full time?

Morning, thanks for the questions.

So you are right unfortunately another business could replicate this full time on demand and with delivery/ click and collect if they choose too. To be honest I don't know a way around this, I work full time, im WFH 90% of the time but i would not use those hours for this business incase something comes up. If you have suggestions it will be welcomed. My feeling is there is always competition, its the nature of the industry if someone was to replicate the buisness to be honest, im not sure if this business would survive but this is a very niche cuisine so would need skills to cook and prepare this food.

Yes I have certificates and experience of working in kitchens not a home kitchen though .. Being in London ive been able to work in busy chain restaurants, small startup food businesss and even little cafes, so have been in kitchens a long time. The food prep, organising is not a worry for me especially with the pre order slots.

Yes there wont be waste, if it is pre-ordered I know what I need and when, yes all perishable goods, meats, salads, rice.

My thinking/ plan on this is after each night I can keep meat for 1 day so can sell that the following day OR i was going to offer a closing deal this means me being on socials advertising what I have remaining each night if anything, so people can buy left over food at 1/3 off basically.

Yes if there's illness then we will be shut! If my partner is home then they can take over but I don't have another solution to this. Any ideas? Theres noone on stand by I can call to come round & we are prelaunch so dont have the funds to hire someone as that will be £300pw.

Yes the plan is to grow, if i know we are doing well the dream would be to have a store, offer click and collect & delivery and eventually have a successful restaurant.

The only other thing i can think of after reading what you said it allow preorders but if I look at Just Eat, we order from there weekly and even though its an on demand page our order takes in average 40-45minutes, so maybe I can offer in demand ordering but still set it to 45 mins delivery window but it will just take away that obstacle of the term pre-order only.. With that I can offer a small discount for preorders to encourage this method . What do you think?

 

[MOIC]

Having experience working in kitchens is a great bonus, but I would suggest basing your figures on 'worse case figures/scenarios'. That's the prudent thing to do when calculating costs/profits/loss on a new venture. There will always be unforeseen costs/issues.

The elephant in the room . . . . . .

How will people know about your business/menu? What marketing and costs have you allocated?

Cover all the points posters have brought up and start, but expect it to be harder than it looks on paper.

Good luck!

 

[Shellbell]

Having experience working in kitchens is a great bonus, but I would suggest basing your figures on 'worse case figures/scenarios'. That's the prudent thing to do when calculating costs/profits/loss on a new venture. There will always be unforeseen costs/issues.

The elephant in the room . . . . . .

How will people know about your business/menu? What marketing and costs have you allocated?

Cover all the points posters have brought up and start, but expect it to be harder than it looks on paper.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for all your questions, you have made me think of some nee things and some things i have already thought of and planned out.

Advertising - Insta, Facebook, local paper, local online paper and good old leaflet posting, google ad's and im in talks with food bloggers in the area.. My leaflet is also going into our local food supplier shop, plus my website and ordering platform. In addition im in talks to too good to go, so hopefully another platform for advertising.

Thanks again

 

[Chris Ashdown]

With all the doom and gloom at the moment, would it be a good time to do more research into the plans, and hold back until spring to start up, even London where you are is having a hard time and food spending is a easy cut for most to make in their budgets

 

[IanSuth]

Hi & Thanks for your reply.

Yes that is a good idea actually & I did not think of this however the closest other home food buisness has been so popular they have moved into an actual shop now so it would be about 15 minutes for the driver to get here. The other food business its a husband and wife set up so one cook and one delivers ( I dont talk much with them about my business, so will need to build a relationship with them first) & the 3rd business again was really successful they have moved into a shop aswell so no longer do deliveries.

I said this to another responder but what are your views on this-

Also, to add, I have been talking to different companies and I feel I like the idea of me delivering myself is good right now heres why-

1. This company offer a pre order button up to 2 weeks in advance even though I will only need 1-2 days but good to know I can do that, compared to most that only allow you to pre-order 5 hours in advance.

2. This company allow me to set booking slots for deliveries. I can set my delivery slots for every hour- This gives me plenty of time to package, deliver and return to do it again.

I know this is not a great idea for bringing in customers as this means I can only have 11 customers each day BUT what this does mean is that it is very manageable to me. No food wastage, as there won't be leftovers and I won't over buy. I am keen on this idea; it keeps my overheads low to start with and allows me to test the waters. If I realise actually, I'm back within 20 minutes, then I can change the slots to 45-minute delivery window which will allows me to take on 1 more customer per shift and if it gets too busy or I get complaints from people saying they want to order but they can't they I can follow the demand and hire someone (which I will eventually have to do as they business grows)

What are your views? However I still want to know about this using someone elses store for click and collect orderes.

Thanks again

My views are

I dont know what food you are doing that someone would order 2 weeks in advance ?

I am not your target audience as I rarely plan food more than a day or 2 in advance - i am the kind of person who if driving back form a meeting at close to 10pm and I see a Lidl I o in and buy any end of day knock down meat then wonder what to cook with it the next day (i always have lots of veg in and store cupboard staples), I think the only thing I have ever ordered that far in advance in my life is a xmas goose.

As I am not your target audience my views are not really the best to take

 

[Shellbell]

With all the doom and gloom at the moment, would it be a good time to do more research into the plans, and hold back until spring to start up, even London where you are is having a hard time and food spending is a easy cut for most to make in their budgets

With all the doom and gloom at the moment, would it be a good time to do more research into the plans, and hold back until spring to start up, even London where you are is having a hard time and food spending is a easy cut for most to make in their budgets

Yes, i was thinking about that but you know what if i dont try it now i dount I will again to be honest. & actually following market trends home deliveries are steady for people getting a takeaway is cheaper than eating out and with the crisis they want to treat themselves and have something to look forward too, so far the hospitality sector has not been hit in terms of takeaways, like i mentioned earlier for the takeaways were ordering off Just Eat / uber im waiting 1hr as they are so packed and from talking to other small businesses they are the same.. I think the mindset in London is different too, people like spending money and have a higher % of those with disposal income. I am that consumer, if I see something new I will just try it and budget around that if needed.

I am however thinking about alternative plans for the mean time eg just attend food markets over the weekends for the next 4 months so i can see the interest and allows face to face contact with customers, or have a food courier service (COLD/ FROZEN) for make at home meals, again to see interest. The only issue with that is the food market round here runs during the week, so will need to go to a market out of my area for weekend trading.

Thanks for your reply

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

If your concerned about your business being unable to afford a driver you may need to revisit your pricing structure as there should be enough money in the cash flow to cover this

I would not let the doom and gloom hold you back you have to start up sometime. Look at all of us we don't shut down for a year in a recession

 

[HFE Signs]

With all the doom and gloom at the moment, would it be a good time to do more research into the plans, and hold back until spring to start up, even London where you are is having a hard time and food spending is a easy cut for most to make in their budgets

Fair point, however I wouldn’t let this stop me, you can always find a reason not to do something, time passes too quickly, if you believe in your idea and believe it’ll work then go for it

 

[Shellbell]

If your concerned about your business being unable to afford a driver you may need to revisit your pricing structure as there should be enough money in the cash flow to cover this

I would not let the doom and gloom hold you back you have to start up sometime. Look at all of us we don't shut down for a year in a recession

Thanks for the response, so ive taken alot from this forum and thank you your contribution. Yes the delivery part is my biggest issue. I have a new suggestion im exploring and have just emailed the relevant people. Im thinking of using another food business for click and collects there's loads of cafes in the area that shut at 2-3pm and are closed on Sunday so if I can use their store for click and collects and can offer them some money in return as I SHOULD have much more customers coming in as im available to cook as much food as needed instead driving. I am also in contact with some local community centres and churches to see if I can use their kitchen area and location as a click and collect and in return will donate some money to the church as a thank you unless they give me a price to use their sevices. What do you think of that? ? This forum might have made me more confused or made me think of a better plan im unsure yet!

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

I've quite a bit of experience in this area over the last few years including a successful food delivery business and a less successful (due to Covid, primarily) bricks & mortar store also doing deliveries. Firstly, a few questions;

1. what type of food is it? What days/times are you planning to open?
2. Are you intending to deliver it hot and ready to eat or is it like meal prep type stuff? I'm assuming it's hot and ready to eat?
3. WHY can you only operate with pre-orders? Is this due to minimising wastage, or because of the amount of time it takes to prep the food?
4. How many orders/deliveries are you hoping to make each shift?

Might be able to offer some more ideas once I know the above, but here's some thoughts/advice in no particular order:

- You mentioned Too Good To Go. Forget it. They will tell you it will help to promote your business, "people will try the grab bags and then come back and spend money" etc. They won't. You'll just end up dealing with freeloaders who want something for nothing and think they're actually doing you a favour paying £3 for £15 worth of food.
- Do NOT try and deliver yourself inbetween cooking. It will be a monumental failure, believe me I've tried it. Unexpected traffic, struggling to find addresses, etc can all make the deliveries take longer than you'd expect then you're rushing back to the kitchen flapping and stressed and once one delivery gets behind the rest soon spirals out of control.
- Depending on when you need deliveries I would try roping in a mate or young relative who either A) wants a bit of cash or B) just wants something to get them out of the house for a few hours. Also, make sure you can and do utilise them inbetween deliveries - train them on some of the basic tasks such as veg prep or cooking some of the dishes or if nothing else have them washing up for you.
- If you can do it from home, and make a small few hundred pounds a week, there's a lot to be said for that before you start getting into renting kitchens, click and collect spaces, etc. Again it can get very messy and very expensive quickly.
- I really don't see why you need a website or any kind of ordering platform if you're taking pre-orders. Do it through WhatsApp/Facebook Messenger. It is difficult to get people to pre-order takeaway food, depending on what it is, but it's not impossible. Don't expect the same level of orders as you would just taking spot orders, though.
- I wouldn't try and mix and match as you mentioned using Just Eat but then offering discounts for pre-orders (tried it, it doesn't work). Either make small quantities in pre-orders only and get people talking about it ("It's brilliant but you've got to get your order in early, they always sell out days in advance"), or just open up and take orders on the fly as and when they come in. Trying to manage both can be hard work, especially if you've pre-booked delivery slots for some customers but then ad-hoc orders come in and need delivering at the same time. If you CAN sell out using the pre-order system then that's great. Plan not just your orders but your deliveries as well including multiple drops - Google maps is your friend!
- For pre-orders, don't offer a fixed delivery time, offer a "window" of at least a half hour slot or even an hour. That gives you flexibility and allows you to combine drops to do more than one delivery in a run. Again Google Maps is your friend and 10 or 15 minutes planning your delivery routes can make all the difference on the day.


Happy to try and offer any further advice.

 

[Shellbell]

I've quite a bit of experience in this area over the last few years including a successful food delivery business and a less successful (due to Covid, primarily) bricks & mortar store also doing deliveries. Firstly, a few questions;

1. what type of food is it? What days/times are you planning to open?
2. Are you intending to deliver it hot and ready to eat or is it like meal prep type stuff? I'm assuming it's hot and ready to eat?
3. WHY can you only operate with pre-orders? Is this due to minimising wastage, or because of the amount of time it takes to prep the food?
4. How many orders/deliveries are you hoping to make each shift?

Might be able to offer some more ideas once I know the above, but here's some thoughts/advice in no particular order:

- You mentioned Too Good To Go. Forget it. They will tell you it will help to promote your business, "people will try the grab bags and then come back and spend money" etc. They won't. You'll just end up dealing with freeloaders who want something for nothing and think they're actually doing you a favour paying £3 for £15 worth of food.
- Do NOT try and deliver yourself inbetween cooking. It will be a monumental failure, believe me I've tried it. Unexpected traffic, struggling to find addresses, etc can all make the deliveries take longer than you'd expect then you're rushing back to the kitchen flapping and stressed and once one delivery gets behind the rest soon spirals out of control.
- Depending on when you need deliveries I would try roping in a mate or young relative who either A) wants a bit of cash or B) just wants something to get them out of the house for a few hours. Also, make sure you can and do utilise them inbetween deliveries - train them on some of the basic tasks such as veg prep or cooking some of the dishes or if nothing else have them washing up for you.
- If you can do it from home, and make a small few hundred pounds a week, there's a lot to be said for that before you start getting into renting kitchens, click and collect spaces, etc. Again it can get very messy and very expensive quickly.
- I really don't see why you need a website or any kind of ordering platform if you're taking pre-orders. Do it through WhatsApp/Facebook Messenger. It is difficult to get people to pre-order takeaway food, depending on what it is, but it's not impossible. Don't expect the same level of orders as you would just taking spot orders, though.
- I wouldn't try and mix and match as you mentioned using Just Eat but then offering discounts for pre-orders (tried it, it doesn't work). Either make small quantities in pre-orders only and get people talking about it ("It's brilliant but you've got to get your order in early, they always sell out days in advance"), or just open up and take orders on the fly as and when they come in. Trying to manage both can be hard work, especially if you've pre-booked delivery slots for some customers but then ad-hoc orders come in and need delivering at the same time. If you CAN sell out using the pre-order system then that's great. Plan not just your orders but your deliveries as well including multiple drops - Google maps is your friend!
- For pre-orders, don't offer a fixed delivery time, offer a "window" of at least a half hour slot or even an hour. That gives you flexibility and allows you to combine drops to do more than one delivery in a run. Again Google Maps is your friend and 10 or 15 minutes planning your delivery routes can make all the difference on the day.


Happy to try and offer any further advice.

Thanks for your time for such a details reply!

1. what type of food is it? What days/times are you planning to open?

Food is Caribbean but not what you all typical know as Caribbean, on the market it really is Jamaican, which is great but its everywhere and that is not the only Caribbean island that does amazing food, so the USP is that it has flavours of south America, India and Caribbean islands as we know it.. The food will be Guyanese and Trinidadian. This has been tested with Caribbean's and they all found it amazing and so different to Jamaican ( commonly found), tested it with people who are not from the Caribbean and they also loved it due to the different flavours and different spices used. I know there is a market for this.

Delivery days Friday- Sunday

2. Are you intending to deliver it hot and ready to eat or is it like meal prep type stuff? I'm assuming it's hot and ready to eat?

Hot and ready to go!

3. WHY can you only operate with pre-orders? Is this due to minimising wastage, or because of the amount of time it takes to prep the food?

Pre orders because I work full time already, so pre orders allow for me to prep and cook the food and as it is only me who would be delivering I need to know what is needed and when.

4. How many orders/deliveries are you hoping to make each shift?

IF I'm doing delivery Friday -5 Saturday-12 Sunday- 12 .. This is something I can deal with for now, granted the income wont be a lot and I wont actually know if there is more demand as I only have a set number of slots but to start with I can manage this..

I cant actually use JustEat or any of those services because its a home food business, they don't work with home businesses anymore, so they are now OUT of the option anyway.

We moved here recently and not near family or friends, and have not had the chance to meet anyone yet, so wont have the luxury of asking friends or family to support with delivery. My partner is on hand but also works full time and he has bigger work demands than me so he wont be here all the time= not reliable

In terms of delivery- so I was planning to have slots open on Friday at the hour starting from 6pm-11pm so first order is at 6pm and this can arrive between 6/6.30pm and then 7pm can arrive between 7/7.30pm and so on.. The max driving I should be doing is 15 minutes so a return journey should be 30 mins giving me enough time either side for delays.

I was looking online at other small home food businesses and I came across a lady in the UK who was serving food from home during lock down, as click and collect ( I cant do that ) and when she got busier and needed more space she actually was renting the space in a café as they shut early, she was able to use their space in the evening for click and collect orders but was able to do a much larger scale size as she had the kitchen space to use and cook and in return gave them money.

I am thinking about this idea ? what do you think ?


The website, this is not my biggest concern right now as your right I can just advertise on Instagram. I will be posting leaflets through doors and will be on the local community website in ad's and in the local paper..

I have also signed up to a few food markets in the area and further a field this year for Christmas Markets and next year over summer so that should be a great way to market and bring in customers.

SO overall, Delivery can work but I can basically only take on 29-30 orders a week. Averaging about
£540 per week- for some £540 might seen a low amount but for me this is great to be honest as a start up side hustle. As I do work already so this will be pure extra money.

OR

I try and find a venue that I can use in the evenings, to be honest I really like the idea of using a café, I had a look and there are a lot of Cafe's within a 5 minute drive from me and they all shut between 3-4pm and some are not open on a Sunday, so potential to use their venue all day on a Sunday. .. With this and if it all goes well I am thinking to use the venue for ONLY click and collect orders which should mean I higher customer rate and on Saturday I can do a delivery day as I will be open all day but they café is running till 3/4 pm .. I could even split it, so Saturday during the day is deliveries and then in the evening I do click and collects from the Café. I don't know how many customers I will get of course but click and collect should bring in more customers according to stats!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Research, Research, Research, you could be onto a winner nobody knows

What we do no is that few if any foreign food outlets serve the same food as in a specialised area of the original country, Indonesian food is not the same a a local village in Indonesian, and the same with Pasta and so on, most have found they need to change the taste to fit in with the new clients

Friends are not the people to ask , they are more likely to agree with you rather than give a true answer, and talk is easy , money is king

As a in trim measure consider, making up a great menu that any idiot can follow, and just supply the menu plus uncooked food , so they can make it themselves, that way they get to taste your menu and you have no wastage or delivery problems

 

[Shellbell]

Research, Research, Research, you could be onto a winner nobody knows

What we do no is that few if any foreign food outlets serve the same food as in a specialised area of the original country, Indonesian food is not the same a a local village in Indonesian, and the same with Pasta and so on, most have found they need to change the taste to fit in with the new clients

Friends are not the people to ask , they are more likely to agree with you rather than give a true answer, and talk is easy , money is king

As a in trim measure consider, making up a great menu that any idiot can follow, and just supply the menu plus uncooked food , so they can make it themselves, that way they get to taste your menu and you have no wastage or delivery problems

Yep, I have been mindful to not use friends, although my friends are actual friends so are very honest and have no shame in telling me their true feelings, which is great for this occasion. I have made some things and they have said it taste good, but it looks disgusting so shouldn't be on the menu nor straight up just say no this is not good. So far tasters have been customers who found me online or from people in the local area who saw me advertise on the local website.

Yes, I was really thinking hard about the meal prep service BUT I'm worried I'm chopping and changing my business idea now. At first it was a home delivery, not its looking like a click and collect and then I'm looking at a meal prep service. With that I need to think about ice packs and suitable packaging to transport/ post cold meals. Thats an extra cost I didn't think about, but it would be a lot easier to be honest.

I personally have never used these meal prep websites, so I'm not sure if this is a common use or service. It is not of an interest to me, so will need to do more research BUT is definitely an option.

I don't want to confuse myself

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

Well done on not wanting to try and do too many things at once.

Personally, I still don't really think Click & Collect is the way to go. You're putting obstacles in peoples way - the first one is them having to pre-order, people don't/can't always do that, so you're cutting your potential customer base down. If you're then putting a second obstacle in the way which is that they'll need to collect it, you cut the potential down even further.

There is a fantastic smash burger place I go to - you order online, it says when it will be ready (usually half hour) but you have to go and pick it up. I happily drive almost half an hour each way to pick it up because it's so good. There is a woman who does home cooked "themed" food nights - you do have to pre-order but then it gets delivered to you, and I order from her sometimes. Finally, there is also an allegedly outstanding pizza place near me - but, you have to pre-order 4 days in advance, and then you have to go and pick it up. I've never used it once....

I have no idea how good your food is, how big your local area is etc but I would say trying to get a dozen orders certainly on a Saturday should be easily achievable. But you seem to be working on an average of £18 an order....planning to do 5 orders on a Friday night to take £90 just doesn't stack up to me. For a start you'll struggle to get anyone to come and deliver for you just to do an hours work doing 5 deliveries, plus you've still got all your prep and set up just to take £90. You'd be better off putting to that use prepping whatever you can for the Saturday and getting ahead so that perhaps you can do 16 deliveries on Saturday and 14 on Sunday. Same outcome in terms of takings but using the Friday more productively (I assume this is because you're working Friday so can't do much prep in the day)?.

You also need to look at how quickly you can get the food out - you mention half hour slots but seem to be saying one delivery per slot. 6 hours to do your 12 deliveries on a Saturday night is ridiculous and is also going to hamper you. There will be a "peak time" where most people want their food, probably between 6:30pm and 8pm. Not many people will be wanting to wait for a 10pm delivery slot. Our business was serving Sunday dinners (delivered) and the peak time was between 4pm and 6pm. We used to do 100 dinners every Sunday - we'd be lucky to sell 50 in 4 hours between 12:00 and around 4:00 (no matter how hard we tried with discounts, free dessert etc) but then we would sell another 50-60 in just a 2 hour window from around 3:30/4:00 until our last deliveries went out at 5:30.

If I were you I'd say you need to be turning an order round every 15-20 minutes. possibly looking at 2 drivers during the peak period - or reduce your delivery radius, you are saying to drive up to 15 minutes away which is a fair old distance for a delivery. Speaking of which, you're worried about the cost of paying them - why not add a delivery fee, especially depending on distance. Say ranging from £2.50 up to £4, across your 12 deliveries that could be £40 in delivery charges to pay their wages. People are often used to paying delivery charges now with the likes of Uber Eats etc and I think that would be better than trying to hide the cost within the food.

My overall advice, and I've been through many scenarios with this, is that there IS scope to make yourself a nice additional income from something like this and with virtually nothing to lose but your time to begin with. The investment is next to nothing other than spending time promoting it and maybe building it up over a few weeks where you might only do 4 or 6 orders. The difficulty comes when trying to scale it up, and honestly, there is a lot to be said for a small Friday & Saturday home business that might earn you £300 or £400 a week profit. It's flexible, you can take a week off if needs be, you can perhaps train someone up to start doing one of the days with you or doing some of the prep, and there's no major risk if you have a quiet week. I don't want to sound negative when you're talking about borrowing/renting premises etc but I've been through a lot of those kind of scenarios and it was more hassle than it was worth.

Good luck!

 

[Shellbell]

Well done on not wanting to try and do too many things at once.

Personally, I still don't really think Click & Collect is the way to go. You're putting obstacles in peoples way - the first one is them having to pre-order, people don't/can't always do that, so you're cutting your potential customer base down. If you're then putting a second obstacle in the way which is that they'll need to collect it, you cut the potential down even further.

There is a fantastic smash burger place I go to - you order online, it says when it will be ready (usually half hour) but you have to go and pick it up. I happily drive almost half an hour each way to pick it up because it's so good. There is a woman who does home cooked "themed" food nights - you do have to pre-order but then it gets delivered to you, and I order from her sometimes. Finally, there is also an allegedly outstanding pizza place near me - but, you have to pre-order 4 days in advance, and then you have to go and pick it up. I've never used it once....

I have no idea how good your food is, how big your local area is etc but I would say trying to get a dozen orders certainly on a Saturday should be easily achievable. But you seem to be working on an average of £18 an order....planning to do 5 orders on a Friday night to take £90 just doesn't stack up to me. For a start you'll struggle to get anyone to come and deliver for you just to do an hours work doing 5 deliveries, plus you've still got all your prep and set up just to take £90. You'd be better off putting to that use prepping whatever you can for the Saturday and getting ahead so that perhaps you can do 16 deliveries on Saturday and 14 on Sunday. Same outcome in terms of takings but using the Friday more productively (I assume this is because you're working Friday so can't do much prep in the day)?.

You also need to look at how quickly you can get the food out - you mention half hour slots but seem to be saying one delivery per slot. 6 hours to do your 12 deliveries on a Saturday night is ridiculous and is also going to hamper you. There will be a "peak time" where most people want their food, probably between 6:30pm and 8pm. Not many people will be wanting to wait for a 10pm delivery slot. Our business was serving Sunday dinners (delivered) and the peak time was between 4pm and 6pm. We used to do 100 dinners every Sunday - we'd be lucky to sell 50 in 4 hours between 12:00 and around 4:00 (no matter how hard we tried with discounts, free dessert etc) but then we would sell another 50-60 in just a 2 hour window from around 3:30/4:00 until our last deliveries went out at 5:30.

If I were you I'd say you need to be turning an order round every 15-20 minutes. possibly looking at 2 drivers during the peak period - or reduce your delivery radius, you are saying to drive up to 15 minutes away which is a fair old distance for a delivery. Speaking of which, you're worried about the cost of paying them - why not add a delivery fee, especially depending on distance. Say ranging from £2.50 up to £4, across your 12 deliveries that could be £40 in delivery charges to pay their wages. People are often used to paying delivery charges now with the likes of Uber Eats etc and I think that would be better than trying to hide the cost within the food.

My overall advice, and I've been through many scenarios with this, is that there IS scope to make yourself a nice additional income from something like this and with virtually nothing to lose but your time to begin with. The investment is next to nothing other than spending time promoting it and maybe building it up over a few weeks where you might only do 4 or 6 orders. The difficulty comes when trying to scale it up, and honestly, there is a lot to be said for a small Friday & Saturday home business that might earn you £300 or £400 a week profit. It's flexible, you can take a week off if needs be, you can perhaps train someone up to start doing one of the days with you or doing some of the prep, and there's no major risk if you have a quiet week. I don't want to sound negative when you're talking about borrowing/renting premises etc but I've been through a lot of those kind of scenarios and it was more hassle than it was worth.

Good luck!

Thanks for the detailed feedback.

You think 15 mins is far? 15 minutes gives me a 2.5 mile radius which seems average. I could reduce it to 10 mins/ 2 miles but thats an even smaller market..

Yes about £18 per order, thats right & i didnt think about adding delivery it was going to be a spend £20 and get free delivery but yep adding it on as a separate could be a better way to look at it.

It wont be possible for me ( if im delivering) to do 15-20min turn overs unless I somehow manage to get orders together and deliver enroute so ill be able to do 2 at a time? If its all 2 miles then i should be able to get to 2 location in 20mins..

Yep I get what you mean on the Friday, but i feel like Friday night is a big takeaway night and i dont want to miss that.

I have some business updates that you might be able to give your view on a i just spoke to a JustEat/ Uber Eats competior who can do my delivery service with my online ordering platform

Set-Up: £240

Order Terminal: £240

Monthly ongoing fee: £180 - maintenance of the platform..

Payment Gateway via Stripe: 1.4% plus 50p for every paid transaction

Fleet delivery fee – can be split between yourself and the customer or the customer pay for 100%

What do you think??

This ends all the issues surrounding delivery, this is the only online platform who I can work with but not sure about these costs.

Thanks

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

Who is the platform offering that? I’m confused - is that a flat monthly fee instead of a commission on sales?

 

[Shellbell]

Hi All,

I am really struggling at the moment with delivery and would love to hear your thoughts. I am trying starting my home food business and want it up and running end of this month or beginning of December but I need a system where customers can pre order so Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber are out of the question as they only let you preorder on the same day. Whereas I need at least 2 days in advance as I already work full time.

In the UK I realised we are not as lucky with delivery options as they are in the US.

My question or struggle is-

1- Do I just do the delivery myself for a 2.5 mile radius but then will have to cut the amount of orders I plan to recieve as I will be delivering it (10-15 minutes drive each way) so basically will lose 30 minutes per order

2- Hire someone- It will be costly for a at home small business, if I give then £10 over 30 hours( opening hours) = £300 a week for 1 driver when I guess I will make £600- Half my pay is going on a driver and I have not looked into process of actually hiring someone

I can not offer click and collect , so this is not an option.

I hate both options! I dont want to be driving around delivering food when I need to be cooking the food but I also hate the idea of paying a driver hald my earning per week.

Help please!

*** update on new options**

A company reached out and said they can work with a home buisness for delivery - they are a competitor of JustEat/ Uber Eats and Deliveroo & will give me a ordering page just like the above companies and I can add a order link to my website and the bonus is they can deliver from a home business

Set-Up: £200+VAT

Order Terminal: £200+VAT

Monthly ongoing fee: £150+VAT

Payment Gateway via Stripe: 1.4% plus 50p for every paid transaction

Fleet delivery fee – can be split between yourself and the customer or the customer pay for 100%

Or another company, same as above in terms od the layout of the ordering page & allows me to do preorders but does NO DELIVER, as its not their business model..

This is £300 one off payment for -
-An ipad to take orders and manage my page ( needed)
- card reader transaction fee reduced to 1.25%
- FREE Core POS software for 12 months (£29* per month after however you are not contracted to - continue with us after the 12 months - No hidden contracts)
- Xero or Quickbooks Integration
- Support & Software Updates
- Remote install & training

Views??

---

Who is the platform offering that? I’m confused - is that a flat monthly fee instead of a commission on sales?

Hungrrr, yes no commission.

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

The thing is, that's £180 a month - £40 a week, plus your customers then paying say £3 delivery fee, which you could also charge. That's £130 - assuming that EVERY customer places their order through your app/website, which you'll have to force them to do. Turning them away from your Whatsapp/Facebook/Instagram etc.

I can pretty much guarantee you can find someone that will do a few hours delivery on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for £130 if not less.

I think you're worrying too much at this stage and potentially giving yourself additional start up costs and tying yourself into contracts - get set up as simply as possible and give it a go...!

 

[Shellbell]

The thing is, that's £180 a month - £40 a week, plus your customers then paying say £3 delivery fee, which you could also charge. That's £130 - assuming that EVERY customer places their order through your app/website, which you'll have to force them to do. Turning them away from your Whatsapp/Facebook/Instagram etc.

I can pretty much guarantee you can find someone that will do a few hours delivery on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for £130 if not less.

I think you're worrying too much at this stage and potentially giving yourself additional start up costs and tying yourself into contracts - get set up as simply as possible and give it a go...!

Thanks for the reply and yes i agree. Im not doing that idea anymore. Im closing the chat aswell as its helpes me come to a decision. Thank you very much for your input.

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

Good luck and let us know how it goes!