Third-Party Delivery Vs in House Delivery – The Best Way to Connect With Customers

After the COVID-19, demand for food delivery from restaurants has exponentially increased. Restaurants are faced with a difficult decision on how to accommodate this purchaser preference. In light of this conundrum, restaurant owners must figure out if is it appropriate to sign a contract with third-party delivery services, or should they invest in the development of a delivery service specifically created for their own restaurant?

Those who signed up for a third-party delivery service have discovered that the solution they chose to solve their problem is directly affecting their businesses. Paying heavy commissions on each order is killing these restaurants. The demand for delivery orders has increased dramatically, however they are still not making as much profit as hoped for. Before going into the depth of which delivery is more profitable, let’s discuss the basic knowledge of both the services.

The most commonly used ordering option is through a third-party delivery system, which provides customers with a variety of suppliers to choose from. Customers search for restaurants in their area, browse menus, receive their food, and pay online. The order is transmitted to your restaurant, which appears on the tablet provided to you by the third-party delivery platform. You will prepare the order and then hand it over to the third-party delivery service rider, who will deliver it for you. In return, you will be paying them a commission from the earning of each order. 

By implementing an in-house delivery system through your restaurant’s website or app, you will eliminate the middleman and make direct contact with your customers. When using your own system, your business will avoid the additional expense of commission that would’ve otherwise gone directly into the pockets of third party delivery services.Additionally, it will also help you increase communication and trust with your customers.

Here's how to figure out which option is best for your business by comparing third-party delivery app with in-house delivery services.

Overall Cost

When having an in-house service, you do not have to pay the delivery platform, and the service fee charged from customers will be much lower than the fee charged when delivered by a delivery platform. You will save a lot when not paying commissions to a third-party delivery service. These savings are beneficial to you. Your customers will also have to pay less for his food, so, he will eventually favor in-house delivery service. All in all, you will have greater financial benefits.  

Third-party delivery services are taking high commissions from every restaurant on each of their order. If delivered by a third-party app, restaurant owners will have to pay a huge fee; which accounts for a large portion of 30-40% on every order delivered. So, profitability has eroded because outsourcing services are more expensive than in-house services.

Orders Management

With an in-house delivery system, you can ensure excellent customer service. Customers will be interacting directly with your employees instead of interacting with third-party riders . These factors will leave a good impression on customers . Conclusively, one can say, in-house delivery is beneficial for small to medium-scale businesses.   

Many restaurants, that are using third-party delivery services feel the ordering process they are using is unreliable. When the delivery supervisor receives an order, the restaurant will not know the delivery details. They will not know about their customer and his interests. Whether the delivery reached that customer in time or not is also a question. If any of these things go wrong, it will lead to a dissatisfied customer, which restaurants can not afford.

Convenience for Customers

For the convenience of the customer (while using an in-house delivery service), a restaurant can offer a simple and fast way to order food and an easy payment method. Moreover, the restaurant can also provide an additional facility to track the delivery and deliver them their payment information. For instance, an in-house delivery supervisor may bring in more condiments or ketchup for their customers, while a third-party delivery supervisor generally will not do this. These gestures can help you retain customers longer.

While using online food delivery platforms to send food to customers, the complaints related to food delivery are mainly associated with the restaurant. Many times the restaurant has nothing to do with the fault of the takeaway supervisor, but the restaurant still pays for it. Restaurants may also lose customers due to such incidents. Hiring an in-house delivery fleet can save you a lot of embarrassment because you can always fully control the activities of the delivery staff during working hours.

Customer’s Information

When you run an in-house delivery system, you can also collect, store, and analyze customer’s data. You can use that information to optimize customer experience, improve your menu, make changes to your operations, and marketing strategies. When hiring in-house delivery personnel, one of the most important things is that you must have complete customer data. You can then guide these new hires about the way you treat your customers.

Cooperating with third-party delivery services may mean giving up the right to access, control, and managing customer information. The value of this information should not be underestimated, as it is essential for optimizing business operations, menu, and marketing strategies. In the long run, the lack of customer data may affect your sales because of the low customer retention rate.

Control Over Menu

If you are growing your in-house delivery operation, it will be much easier to update your prices online. A common complaint when working with third-party food delivery companies is that adjusting prices and menu items can take a while. Before actually doing these transformations, such changes must first be approved by the food delivery platform.

Third-party ordering systems have different ways to submit orders. Some use email, some use personalized tablets. So, the process of changing rates and update the menu is difficult. This is a huge headache for the person responsible for screening all these orders and transferring them to the kitchen. Even the best restaurants sometimes miss a food item from the order and get punished by a one-star rating.

Create Your Own Ordering System

For most restaurants, the huge cost of doing business with these third-party ordering sites is simply not worth it. So, the idea that there are only third-party delivery services out is completely wrong. Companies like Call2Menu are figuring out how to help you reach out to new customers without having to pay a lot of money to middlemen. For a fixed monthly fee, we offer reasonable alternatives and provide you with your own ordering system that allows you to accept unlimited, commission-free orders through your website.