As more entrepreneurs and small business owners face the realities of doing business during the Covid-19 pandemic, retail stores and restaurants have been forced to adapt.
With restrictions and new challenges surrounding how services can be provided and delivered to customers many restaurants are now looking for new ways to sell their food and deliver orders without unnecessary contact with customers.
This has led many restaurants to adopt no-contact delivery options for their customers to help prevent the potential spread of the virus and keep both their employees and customers safe.
With industry-leading delivery platforms and fast food chains including Dominos, UberEats, Post Mates, Pizza Pizza, and Swiss Chalet leading suit.
Now you may be sitting here wondering how to facilitate no-contact deliveries within your restaurant or business, while in this article we will cover just that.
What is Contactless Delivery?
Contactless delivery is a way to deliver food and other goods to a customer without engaging in any face-to-face and/ or in-person interaction. It is also known as no-contact delivery.
It typically involves a courier placing the food or package at the base of the customer’s door, then sending a notification to the customer via text, call or email regarding the delivery being available for pick-up.
Contactless deliveries are always done via an online app, website or via phone where a payment can be made to prevent in-person interaction between the delivery driver and person
Why Implement Contactless Delivery?
With many governments now enforcing some sort of quarantine and health regulations to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, anything we can do as individuals or business owners to stop the virus has become paramount to restarting the economy the world over.
To do your small part as a business owner or restauranteur you can implement no contact delivery and help reduce the potential chances of either your staff members or customers spreading or catching the virus.
4 Steps to Offering Contactless Delivery at Your Restaurant
1. Add a No-Contact Delivery Option to Ordering Platform
No matter what online ordering platform you are using (UberEats, DoorDash, PostMates, etc) to run your business you will need to activate no-contact delivery as an option for your customers.
If you do not utilize one of these options you will have to think creatively as to how you can process payments and make customers aware of this change in your delivery process.
2. Inform Drivers of Contactless Delivery Procedures
If you rely on drivers to deliver food to your customers than you will have to train them on the appropriate no-contact delivery procedures including how to reduce the handling of the customers’ food, as well as how to provide notification of delivery to the customer.
It’s worth your time to ensure you’re drivers are well trained on these procedures and that you keep a watch on all deliveries going out the door to ensure all food has been paid for prior to delivery.
3. Train Staff on Contactless Delivery and Sanitization Procedures
Second too the drivers are your staff when it comes to handling and processing your food so you will also want to ensure they are appropriately trained on all sanitization and handling procedures.
This includes how to properly sanitize work stations, how to handle food and package as well as how to check for fevers. You will also want to follow any guidance from local health offices on training/ precautions your staff should take.
4. Make Customers Aware of Contactless Delivery Option
If your customers aren’t aware of your restaurant or business no-contact delivery option how will they make use of it?
Make sure to make your customers aware of the option on your online ordering platform, website, and any social media accounts you may have. The more you can promote this option the better!
Many customers may value the no-contact deliver option more than you think during these times when everyone is a little bit more conscious of their in-person interactions.
5 Examples of Restaurants Offering Contactless/ No-Contact Delivery
1. Pizza Pizza
Who doesn’t like pizza? But nobody likes getting sick. Luckily Pizza Pizza has solved this conundrum by providing no-contact delivery to all their customers via their app and online ordering platform, it’s as easy as clicking a button while checking out.
2. Postmates
If you use UberEats or DoorDash chances are you may be familiar with Postmates and should be happy to know like the other major food delivery apps they have implemented a no-contact delivery option for their customers.
They go a bit further than other platforms giving their customers options regarding the level of contact they would prefer during their delivery, a nice touch.
(Source: Postmates)
3. Uber Eats
With so many restaurants these days operating on UberEats it comes as no surprise that the food delivery platform has taken a strong stance regarding the health of their employees and customers and quickly implemented a range of features to help keep both their drivers and customers safe.
That means no-contact delivery as well as options within the app to notify the delivery driver of your preferences. The process is seamless and from personal experience workes very well.
4. DoorDash
Just like UberEats, DoorDash was quick to implement contactless delivery for its customers giving you the ability to select the option during your checkout process.
If you are curious how it looks the company released the initial photo below outlining multiple “drop-off” options for the customer to choose from.
5. Domino’s
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Domino’s has launched a comprehensive contactless delivery option for all its customers.
This isn’t much of a surprise as Dominos has tended to be an early adopter in new trends such as online ordering but is always welcomed as many seek the comfort of a slice of pizza while they work and live from home.
Summary: No-Contact Delivery
No matter the type of business you run, doing your best to prevent the spread of Covid-19 should be top of mind, that means doing your part and implementing contactless delivery options for your customers.
While it may take some time to train your staff and drivers initially you can rest assured knowing it will be well worth it knowing you took all the precautions you could to keep your staff and customers healthy and safe.
If you found this article helpful or have further questions about how to prep your business for contactless delivery make sure to drop a comment below and a member of our team will reach out.
