Meal delivery: This is how you determine the size of your delivery area.

People order food much more often these days than in the past. Home delivery, therefore, can create enormous growth in revenue and brand awareness. Not only do people order snacks, but nowadays they’re also ordering steaks and salads for home delivery.

Are you also considering home delivery? Where to begin? And how big should the delivery area be? In this blog post, we provide information, tips and a practical step-by-step plan for determining your delivery area

How long will your customers wait?

The first step in determining your delivery area is to consider how long your customers will wait. Customers who have to wait two hours for their food are not likely to be satisfied customers. This applies to your restaurant, just as it applies if you are going to start home delivery. Instead, you want to have the food in the customer’s home as quickly as possible – but speed is not the only factor!

Think, for example, about your budget. How much are you prepared to invest in a delivery service? Delivery by bike is cheaper than by car, but your delivery area is drastically reduced. In addition, environmental awareness also plays a role nowadays. People prefer to order from a company with a small ecological footprint, rather than from a major polluter.

Finally, it is important to know how long your food will continue to taste good. Nobody enjoys cold food, especially not your customers. Therefore, tailor your delivery time and area to the food you want to deliver. This, of course, will vary per restaurant.

How many customers do you want to reach?

Your delivery area depends on where you are located. Do you have a restaurant in a village outside the Randstad? If so, you may need a larger delivery area to reach a sufficient number of customers. If you are located in the heart of Amsterdam, you will likely need a smaller delivery area for the same customer range.

It is important to consider your location and think about how many customers you want to reach. Are you focussing only on local customers, or do you want to expand your base to surrounding villages and cities? This has a major impact on the method of delivery and the delivery area you require.

Who is going to deliver your restaurant’s meals?

Don’t be afraid to outsource the meal delivery to a delivery service. In addition to the fact that this can help with name recognition, it also saves you a lot of work. Delivery services such as Thuisbezorgd, Deliveroo, and Uber Eats specialize in meal delivery, and they can definitely benefit you in your delivery area.

If you opt for a delivery service, it is important to know the differences between the services. Thuisbezorgd mainly focuses on traditional fast food such as kebabs and pizza. Foodora and Deliveroo, on the other hand, also provide meals from some of the higher-quality restaurants.

Another difference is that Thuisbezorgd provides the option to deliver your own meals, and they then organize the order. Other delivery services often come to pick up the food and deliver it to your customers. In addition, the various delivery services charge different service fees. We dive deeper into this in our blog about the differences between TakeAway, Foodora, Deliveroo, and Ubereats.

Of course, you can also choose to have your own staff deliver the meals. This allows you to maintain full control over delivery. In addition, ordering directly from you instead of from a large delivery company can appear more personal for your customers.

Step-by-step plan to determine a delivery area

Now that you know what to think about when determining your delivery area, it’s time for some practical tips. Below you will find a step-by-step plan on how you, as a restaurant owner, can determine your delivery area:

1. Ask friends or regular customers – who live at different distances – if you can do a one-time delivery, for example to people who are 1, 5 and 10 kilometers away. Ask for honest feedback.
2. Deliver food using a variety of methods, e.g. by bike, scooter or car.
3. Clearly map the delivery times and quality of the deliveries.
4. Compare the results of the different delivery methods. In doing so, observe the following:
   • Distance: This should be as large as possible.
   • Delivery time: This should be as short as possible.
   • Ecological footprint: This should be as small as possible.
   • Quality of the meal on arrival: This should be as high as possible.
   • Costs: These should be as low as possible.
5. Choose where your priorities lie and thereby determine the delivery area.

Do you already have an active delivery service?

If you already do home delivery it can be useful to analyze your current delivery area. If you deliver 90% of your deliveries within a radius of 3km but offer a delivery area of 5km, it may be interesting to reduce your delivery area. This way you can guarantee better quality and combine more trips. In addition, the few long-distance trips you receive will not jeopardize your planning.

However, if the majority of your deliveries are to the edge of your delivery area, it may be worth enlarging your delivery area. This allows you to generate and, of course, combine, more orders.

Use CashDesk to support your delivery service

CashDesk is the only system with convenient links to delivery services such as Thuisbezorgd and Foodora, while at the same time offering the possibility to integrate your own delivery service. This enables you to keep track of your incoming orders and process them efficiently.

In addition, the CashDesk delivery app makes it easy to find the fastest routes. This helps your delivery staff reach the customer faster and helps you expand your delivery area. The app even offers the possibility to locate your deliverers in the delivery software. And in this way, you stay informed about the status of the delivery.