Understanding No Contact Delivery
When it comes to food, there are lots of different options to choose from. Not only can you choose between different restaurants and different cuisines, but you can also choose different ways to enjoy your food.
There are three primary options to choose from: eat in, take out, and delivery. But now, a new method of getting your food has arrived, and that is no contact delivery. But what is this exactly?
As the name suggests, no contact delivery is a delivery option that many restaurants now offer. Unlike traditional delivery, this method has a huge limitation on the interaction that you have with your delivery driver.
This limits the chance of your food being cross contaminated, and also reduces the risk of you picking up any pathogens or illnesses off of your delivery driver.
In this quick guide, we’ll be taking a deeper look at what no contact delivery is, as well as taking a look at how you can set it up for your restaurant. So, if you want to find out more, then keep on reading.
What is No Contact Delivery?
As we said earlier, no contact delivery is a fairly new concept. This is a practice that has come about due to necessity as widespread illnesses have made regular delivery more difficult.
When you place a food order for delivery to your home, there are two things that you really want. They are: quick service and warm food. There is nothing worse than your food arriving late or cold, and no contact delivery helps avoid this.
Even though no contact delivery was designed to create minimal human contact, to avoid the spread of diseases, it also speeds up the delivery process. No contact delivery requires no direct interaction between the delivery driver and the customer.
Instead, your food will be left upon your doorstep, and the delivery driver will knock on your door or ring your doorbell to notify you that your food is there. Some companies also offer a service where they will ring your cellphone to let you know that your food is there.
The desired purpose of no contact delivery is to minimize human interaction with your food. If this is kept to a minimum, then the chances of your food becoming contaminated will also be slim. But, it also means that you will get your food much quicker.
Just think about it. If your delivery driver had to knock on the door of every delivery they make, wait for an answer, then have a personal interaction with every single customer, then the delivery process would take much longer. But no contact delivery is much quicker.
So, there are lots of different benefits of no contact delivery. But how do you set it up? If you are a restaurant owner that is looking to offer this service, keep on reading to find out how to do this.
How to set up No Contact Delivery
Most restaurants that offer take out, also offer a delivery service. Even though no contact delivery is becoming more popular, there are still a lot of companies that do not offer this service.
As a business owner, you might have already considered this option and dismissed it as too much hassle. But, if you already offer delivery service, then offering no contact will be easy. If you want to learn how to do this, check out the steps below.
1. Design an Alternative Menu
If you want to set up a no contact delivery service, then the first thing that you need to do is create a separate menu for this. This menu doesn’t have to be that different from the one that you already offer. But, there will likely be some options on your regular menu that simply aren’t appropriate for no contact delivery.
When you are designing your menu, bear in mind that no contact delivery does not only apply to the delivery service. The whole point of this service is that human contact with a customer’s food is minimized as much as possible.
So, it is best to avoid meals that require very fiddly preparation. It is also best to avoid uncooked foods, such as salads and sandwiches, as these dishes require preparation by hand. Once you have selected a range of dishes that require minimal preparation, you have your ‘no contact menu’.
2. Offer Additional Training to Staff
As we have just said, no contact delivery begins in the kitchen. So, if you want to offer this service, you will need to begin by offering additional training to your chefs. No contact delivery orders need to be prepared differently from regular orders, as human contact needs to be as minimal as possible.
To begin, it might be worth preparing the dishes yourself so that you can figure out the best way to avoid touching the ingredients unnecessarily. This might include making changes to the preparation process, and wearing gloves while doing this.
It will also likely include using utensils to package food, instead of hands. Once you have figured this out, you can then train your kitchen staff on these processes.
3. Change your Equipment
Something else that you need to consider for no contact delivery is the equipment that you use. In particular, you need to consider the containers that you are using to package your take-out orders.
Some containers can be difficult to seal, and this requires additional interaction with them. Contact free delivery requires you to minimize interaction with a customer’s food, so you need to choose your containers carefully.
There are lots of different container options to choose from. You could use something known as ‘tamper-evident’ containers. These containers make it obvious if any attempts to open the packaging have occurred, so that your customers know that their food hasn’t been messed with.
Finally, you should invest in ‘no contact’ labels to use on this packaging, so that staff in your kitchen know that these dishes have been prepared with no-touch procedures for no contact delivery.
4. Set up Contactless Payment
No contact delivery goes both ways, so you will also need to set up contactless payment options for your customers. If you have an app or a website through which customers can place their orders, then it is best to offer these payment options on these platforms.
As well as offering online payment options, it is best to offer an alternative choice. Remember that not all of your customers will be good at using the internet, so it is best to also offer phone payments. If you do not already offer this, train all of your staff to be able to take card payments over the phone.
5. Train your Delivery Staff
Next, you need to outline your no contact delivery steps and train your staff on these. Your delivery drivers should always leave the food on your customer’s doorstep, and never remain there when the door has been opened.
You may also consider offering no contact collection services. If you do this, you should designate an area in your restaurant near the entrance. You should keep a minimum of 6 feet between the customer and your staff at all times.
6. Market Your Service
Finally, you need to notify customers that you are now offering this service. You should spread this information to existing customers, but it could also be used to attract new customers, as no contact delivery is becoming more popular.
You can use whatever marketing tools that you see fit for this process, but remember to outline the ‘no contact’ process in this marketing. This is a major selling point for your business, so ensure that your customers know exactly what they will be getting from this service.
Summary
If you are looking for a safer way to offer delivery services to your customers, then no contact delivery is the way forward. This service limits contact with the food at all times, so that the risk of contamination is incredibly slim, ensuring customer safety at all times.
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