These days, more people are opting for food deliveries instead of going to restaurants themselves. It’s become so common that not having a delivery option, even as a small business, is frowned upon. There are many other restaurants that offer the same type of food as you do, so expectations are high.
How do you stand out?
The best delivery management software for all types of restaurants is one that’ll give you a competitive advantage over the fast-growing e-commerce food market. It should give you things like a faster dispatching process and location updates to improve your overall customer satisfaction.
Cartrack has one of the best delivery management software systems for different types of restaurants. Our software has all the features you need to run a successful delivery business, like:
Together, these features ensure your operations run smoothly, helping you improve your service and leaving customers more satisfied.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
In the delivery world, every second counts. Drivers need to be ready from the moment a customer places an order. As a fleet manager, knowing whom to give the order to can be quite difficult when you’re not sure which driver is available or how far they are from getting back to the restaurant. All restaurants need a dispatching system that’ll make it easier to figure out which driver gets which job, making the process quicker and more efficient.
Without the right technology you won’t know where your drivers are. Some could say they’re out for delivery, only to find that they were running their own errands, leaving you short-staffed. A good delivery management software should give you real-time updates on driver locations.
Manually planning routes can take time, and when it comes to takeaway deliveries there’s no time to plan. A good delivery management system should have a feature that helps organise deliveries for you by giving you routing suggestions that’ll help your drivers get to their destinations on time.
Tracking how well your fleet is performing requires a good paper trail. An advanced delivery management system should be able to break down data for you in a way that makes it easy to understand what you need to improve. You’ll be able to spot which drivers are always missing their deadlines, so you can find out what they struggle with and organise training.
According to Gran View Horizon, the online food delivery service market in South Africa is expected to reach a projected revenue of US $5 029.9 million by 2030. This means more restaurants will be hopping into this market, and to gain a competitive advantage you need a top-level delivery app like Cartrack’s.
When it comes to deliveries, most restaurants struggle with:
When you don’t have the right technology in place, these sorts of issues will always happen, leading to customer dissatisfaction and a loss of profits.
Here’s what we mean:
A busy restaurant is what every owner hopes for, but it can be overwhelming to staff members when it comes to figuring out how to get food to everyone on time without compromising the service for those who are already within the establishment.
It’s no secret that every drop of fuel counts. When there isn’t any proper route planning and close monitoring of drivers, the cost of deliveries goes up. This is because drivers aren’t given clear directions on how to get to their destinations. They chose routes they deem best, which in most cases aren’t the most fuel-efficient, costing you more.
Not every address is as clear as it seems on the map. Some places have complex street layouts; others have new developments which don’t yet show on navigators. This leads to your drivers getting lost and having to call the customer for assistance, causing further delays for the stops that come after that. Imagine one of your drivers getting lost for every delivery they’ve had to make in a day. That’s a lot of unhappy customers.
Food deliveries are very time-sensitive. Nobody wants to wait an entire hour for a takeaway or eat food that’s cold. Your customers expect the food to arrive quickly and in the same condition it would be if they were sitting in your restaurant. This is very difficult to achieve. For example, a toasted sandwich can arrive warm, which is a good thing, but soggy due to steam causing moisture in the container.
These issues put your drivers under immense pressure, causing them to rush through delivery stops and practise unsafe driving.
In order to stand out, a lot of restaurants use service guarantees, like saying “If your pizza is cold, then it’s free” to attract customers. This buys your customers' trust because they know it’s a win-win situation for them. When you set such high expectations, you have no choice but to meet them, or you’ll lose a lot of business.
It’s 10 am, you just opened the restaurant, and you check your emails and find a long email from a customer saying their food didn’t arrive last night. You check which order it is, and according to the information given by your driver the food was delivered. Who do you believe?
It’s your driver’s word against the customer's, but without proof you’ll have no choice but to refund the order or send it to the customer again. Either way it’s a loss on your side, and without a good delivery management software service this might keep happening.
The Cartrack delivery app makes job assignments so easy because every time an order comes in you’ll immediately know which driver is available. All you have to do is enter their details into the system and dispatch. You can indicate what time drivers should arrive so they know their deadlines.
You’ll have a display of the different delivery statuses for each order so you know how far they are. You also have the option of setting up recurring routes so you only save your client’s address once, making it easier to dispatch when they order again.
Your customers will get a link to trace their orders and see how far the drivers are. They’ll also receive instant updates on driver whereabouts and get accurate ETAs. This improves your level of service and reduces client dissatisfaction. Any changes or updates will also be communicated to the customer to manage their expectations.
See where your drivers are at all times and receive real-time location updates. This helps you ensure that everything is running smoothly. For example, if a driver has been in one place for too long, you can call in to check what’s causing the delay.
We give you a digital proof of delivery, eliminating the piles of paperwork, the issue of lost documents, and the he-said-she-said. Your drivers will be able to take pictures of each delivered item, and customers can sign on the handhelds to show they agree. If a customer claims they didn’t receive their food you can always check if there’s a photo or signature and take the investigation from there.
You can group food orders that are going to the same area with one driver and then use our platform to optimise their routes. Route optimisation is software that gives you the best routes for drivers to take to complete tasks. It gives you the quickest, most efficient routes for your drivers, ensuring the food arrives on time and in good condition so you can uphold your company's reputation.
Our route optimisation software also helps you reduce fuel costs by giving you shorter routes with less traffic.
Some customers have very specific requirements, like where they want the order dropped off or how to enter a complex. Our delivery software has an “add notes” section where you can input all customer instructions so drivers know what to do.
This also comes in handy in instances where drivers need to make deliveries in areas that are still under construction or where the roads aren’t clearly visible. You can leave the customer’s instructions on how to get there in the notes section so your drivers don't get lost.
Our delivery solution is designed to cater to fleets of all sizes. If you have a small fleet of delivery vehicles our solutions will help you grow your business, and once you have a larger fleet you won’t have to worry about switching to a new delivery platform. We can handle the volume and help you adjust, because our software is designed to scale with your business.
Smooth deliveries also require good hardware that won’t fail when drivers are doing their job. We give you a strong, durable smartphone that has a long-lasting battery, is shatterproof, and can withstand harsh weather conditions like heavy rain. It also has massive storage to ensure your drivers have enough space to take photos.
Our system gives you a more reliable paper trail that’s fully digital. You can download a report for any completed job, like when you need to send a customer proof of delivery. You can also access detailed Excel reports so you can view things like your monthly delivery stats and see how well the fleet is doing.
API stands for Application Programming Interface. It refers to systems connecting and communicating with each other for smoother operations. Our system has that option, allowing you to connect your existing restaurant software tools with our delivery software. This eliminates the issue of having to go through different platforms to complete a task.
15 On Grace is a South African business founded in 2018 that supplies locally sourced glass-bottled water to the hospitality industry. Their primary goal is to get rid of single-use plastic bottles by providing environmentally friendly options for water consumption.
Their main issues before getting our delivery software were:
"We were already using Cartrack’s vehicle tracking services when they introduced their Delivery feature to us, I thought, why not try it as I had nothing to lose? Since then, I have been very happy and will recommend Cartrack Delivery to any business.” | Zane Rabey, Managing Director
Whether you own franchises spread across the country or a small restaurant in your area that the community loves, we’ve got you! Our delivery app ensures you keep your clients satisfied and bring in more. Partner with us to handle your deliveries and put you ahead of competitors. If you want to learn more about this app, you can reach out to us and speak to a specialised delivery consultant.
Are you looking for delivery software that’s most suitable for your restaurant business? Find out why we’re one of the top contenders.
