Comparing Restaurant Delivery Partners: Deliveroo, uberEATS & Just Eat
As a summary and face-off of the big three, I summarise the good, the bad and the ugly between the three major players in the restaurant delivery partner space: Deliveroo, uberEATS and Just Eat. You can read in-depth about each of the three competitors by clicking the links. These ratings are based on my experience in Weybridge, Surrey. Area Deliveroo uberEATS Just Eat Onboarding ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑ Driver Efficiency ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑ ⭑ Order Workflow ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑ Commission ⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑ Financial Reporting ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑ Online Management Panel ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑ Supplied Hardware ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ Telephone Support ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑ ⭑⭑ Email Support ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ⭑⭑ ⭑⭑ Overall Satisfaction ⭑⭑⭑⭑…
How does uberEATS work for restaurants?
uberEATS is one of the major players in the food delivery space. They work much as Deliveroo and Just Eat do, but they have their own version of the workflow, their own tablet to manage orders, and their own quirks. In this post, I will walk through the how their process works. This is from the view of a restaurant outside of a busy urban area (like London), so your mileage will vary in more densely-populated areas. Onboarding It was a long time ago when we did this, but I do recall there were no onboarding fees at the time. However, although they provide you with a tablet to manage…
Life on the Front Lines: A Restaurant in May 2020
COVID 19. Restaurants are closed. The only options are takeaway or delivery. Or bury your head in the sand if you have a good cash float. What follows is my experience from operating a restaurant whose focus is on quality and diversity (being Lebanese requires a broad tapas-like menu typical of the region) and switching from a predominantly dine-in venue with some takeaway to a wholly dark kitchen. Flattening the Curve Just like the intention to protect the NHS and flatten the curve, the switch to a Dark Kitchen results in a similar challenge: Customers want to eat at the same time which creates a surge in demand. On a…
UK Restaurants & The Three-Stage Lockdown Release Plan
The Government has said that businesses will begin to reopen in three steps. However, the Government is also clear that this timetable may change depending on how successful each step has been and whether the virus is under control. We need to follow the guidelines about social distancing, among others, to ensure we avoid a second surge in cases and a consequential delay in this plan. Step 1: 13 May 2020 From Wednesday people who cannot work from home are encouraged to go to work if they can. This includes restaurant staff working in kitchens making food for delivery and takeaway. While staff are encouraged to go to work, they are…
The Post-COVID Restaurant
In the UK we have just been told it would be another 6 weeks (at best) before restaurants will be permitted to have dine-in guests (July 2020). It’s been 6 weeks since the COVID ‘lockdown’ started and since then we have only been permitted to serve takeaway or delivery meals. Some restaurants closed temporarily. Some continued offering take away. Some pivoted to offer a take out option. Some have recently re-opened for takeaway and delivery (as we have since 1st May) and others have forged new paths to maintain their business offer such as converting their restaurant space to retail space offering fresh produce (we have just launched an online…
Top 5 reasons why restaurants fail in the first year
To be fair, in a restaurant, there are a million-and-one things that are likely to go wrong and you need to be the master juggler at a circus to stay on top of everything (or, better, have a good team who does). However, here are five key areas you need to focus on to ensure a better chance of success through the first year. 1 – Location Not understanding the difference between destination locations and high traffic locations, also termed A and B in the UK market. If you are looking at a location in an area classed as “A” (high traffic), it will usually be a more central location…
Social Media’s Impact on New Diner Acquisition
Does social media have any impact on website traffic? Will social media bring more customers to your restaurant? I’m going to lay my cards on the table at the outset – Social Media has a valuable impact on your ability to get and retain customers. But, it’s not entirely quantifiable. Let’s take a look at how this works. First, we need to look at how people find you – a primer on marketing funnels – so we can see how social media ties in with the bigger picture of traditional marketing. The recommendations in this post are based on my own real-life experience of applying different techniques over many years…
The Real Cost of Online Reservation Systems
You are a restaurant and you want more customers. You want control over your booking system and a database of your customers. You want a simpler way for your customers to be able to book without needing to always have to speak to somebody, or for that same somebody to check emails constantly. And you want to be able to quickly and easily check the bookings you have. Enter the online reservation (or online booking) system. There are lots of companies that provide this system, including ResDiary, Open Table, Quandoo, Bookatable, Welcome Table, simpleERB, et al. Some offer fixed pricing, but the bigger players offer a per-cover model that is…
Types of Restaurant Finance
There is one key driver in the restaurant business – cash flow. If the cash is not flowing, the restaurant is not growing. And from time-to-time, you need an injection of money into the restaurant for anything from a refit, to expansion, restructuring or simply cash flow. Here is a list of the types of finance available to restaurants: Tax / VAT Funding Business Development Loans Cash-flow / Cash-release Facility Refurbishment Loans Asset Finance / Re-Finance (Leasing) Vehicle Funding Merchant Cash Advance Invoice Financing (Factoring) Personal Loans Secured Loans (2nd charge) Almost all lending is unsecured (ie not secured against property) but does require personal guarantees. I will cover these…
Q&A Chewsday: Just Eat vs Bespoke Delivery Systems
Chris Eke emailed me about my recent post regarding Just Eat: I just read your post on ‘How does Just Eat work for Restaurants?‘ and found it really interesting! I do have a few questions if you don’t mind, I understand you’re probably very busy, so no rush. From your experience, do JustEat provide their own drivers to most restaurants signed up to them? Or do many restaurants have their own delivery drivers still? Yes to both. You need to check availability in your area as Just Eat don’t operate a delivery fleet as widespread as Deliveroo or uberEATS (yet). Some restaurants prefer to use their own drivers as they…
MISADVENTURES IN THE RESTAURANT TRADE
