Any business needs to be updated with current trends to be able to attract more customers. It also helps hugely in retaining regular consumers. It applies to restaurants as well. Since the food business also deals directly with the end users, it is even more essential to change our plans and strategies according to the new trends in the industry.
Ever since the pandemic and the lockdown, the food industry has undergone a lot of changes. Consumers’ buying habits and eating behavior have largely changed. Therefore, restaurants need to plan their strategy accordingly. One of the massive developments is online food ordering and the resultant, contactless food delivery. In this blog, we will understand the importance of contactless delivery and how to implement it in your restaurant.
Why Is Contactless Delivery Important?
When lockdowns were imposed, for the first time in several years, restaurants and hotels took a hit. Since everyone goes out to enjoy a meal once in a while, this aspect of the food industry always flourished. However, whenever there is a hurdle, businesses come up with a better strategy to mitigate the losses and make the best use of the moment. The solution to all their problems was contactless delivery. It created a new revenue avenue for restaurants.
The no-contact food delivery simply eliminates any physical contact for customers. So, their services are more protected. They receive the food without having any contact with the owner, employees or delivery executives. Everything is safe and biosecure. The contactless delivery strategy creates a sense of trust. But an even more important reason why contactless delivery should be implemented is to stay ahead of your competitors. Each restaurant is trying unique methods to meet the customers’ needs and adapting to contactless food delivery is a crucial step to remain in the competition.
Steps On How To Implement Contactless Delivery At Your Restaurant
If you have decided to implement contactless delivery in your business but are not sure how to take the step forward, rest assured, here is a detailed plan for you.
1. Sanitation and Hygiene
The first step in your contactless delivery system is to ensure you sanitize all your premises and maintain proper hygiene. A biosecure food system begins with a clean and neat kitchen. While cleaning the place and kitchen equipment, you must also sanitize all devices like computers and printers since you are going to use them constantly.
2. Packaging
Since food deliveries are becoming more common, you have got to pay attention to the way you are packing. Besides, being able to keep the food hot, it also needs to be fully covered and easy to carry and handle. Again, contactless delivery is all about food protection. Therefore, sleek packaging that is focused on the safety of the food is what your plan needs.
3. Online Menu
Contactless delivery is not about only the delivery option. You must also optimize your online menu to create the whole system. They do not have to queue up or order it directly to your employees. They can easily click on the menu option and order their food.
4. Contactless Payment
Like the online menu, a contactless delivery system should also include contactless payments. Your customers may not be comfortable with cash. Besides, in this digital era, everyone finds UPI payments and credit cards an easier choice. You can set up a contactless payment option both on your website and app by consulting an expert. Since these payments are made through the Internet, you will also be able to quickly map out the data and analyse the financial reports.
5. Training
It is important to train your staff and help them learn how to go about the delivery in this special system. Although the pandemic has ended, it has left a lot of people being more precautionary and extra careful about safety. You should conduct a few sessions explaining the idea behind biosecurity protocols and help them understand why such a system is in place and how it will positively affect the business. Post which you can organise training sessions for both your staff and delivery executives so that they are well-versed with the guidelines and follow them accordingly.
6. Adding it to your App and Website
Once you are all set to implement it, we have to ensure people are aware of the system in place. Swiggy also ensures “Contactless Delivery” along with your other services on the restaurant app and website. You can enable a button to opt for the delivery option.
7. Marketing
The next step is to ensure that customers know about this facility. So we have got to share the updates on social media handles and also make a few quick videos about how to access the option. As a follow-up plan, you can upload user-generated videos, asking customers about the benefits of your contactless delivery feature and why they like that option in your restaurant.
Best Practices for Contactless Delivery
- A lot of what goes into implementing contactless delivery is new-age tools and digital services. If you want to offer best-in-class services, you need to follow best practices and choose the right and latest technology available in the market.
- Your packaging should be effective but also sustainable and one that establishes your brand.
- Another crucial factor in contactless delivery is proper communication. It goes both ways. You need to establish an effective communication facility with both your employees and customers. This helps in avoiding any problems. For instance, the customers need to be clearly told about the system, what they have to do and how long the delivery time is.
- You can offer contactless food delivery access to customers both via phone and online. It is best to have a dedicated column on the website that gives detailed instructions and to recruit staff specifically to provide proper information about the special service.
- You should also ensure the delivery executives are properly trained and prioritise hygiene.
- Make innovative plans with packaging, deals, and offers and experiment with what other new ways can be implemented to make this whole process feel more safe and secure.
- Although it is just in the making process, contactless delivery is about to revolutionise the whole system with more advanced technology. Many services like drone and robot delivery are also in their testing stages. You can plan ahead of time to see how you can implement it in your businesses.
Conclusion
It will take a long time for us to move on and fully adapt to the new normal even if we have put the pandemic behind. It has affected our lives. Our businesses, the way we work and eat, what entertainment means to us and a lot more has changed. So it is vital to let go of many old
many old practices and embrace the newness of it all. To stay ahead of your competitors and to retain your customers, you need to keep upgrading your business and the first step towards this is contactless delivery. But be warned, brace up for newer changes. Swiggy is the first mover and has the most flexible team to accommodate newer trends. With their contactless delivery system, Swiggy ensures providing a better eating experience for its customers.
