Restaurant Delivery: The Old Way vs The New Way

Here’s the scene of a restaurant using third-party delivery… Dine-in customers walk into the smell of delicious food, but the atmosphere feels more like a busy train station than a place to eat. Drivers are clustered around the hostess stand asking questions, sifting through bags of food looking for a specific name, or waiting for their assigned pickup to be ready. 

Along the wall, food bags are lined up like an e-commerce fulfillment center. Each bag has been carefully packed up and tagged, but there’s still a scramble. Drivers are rifling through, searching for the right bag. They often pick up the wrong one in their rush. Bryan C. gets Bryan G.’s order. Your restaurant gets a chargeback for both orders. 

Many bags sit waiting, their assigned drivers stuck in traffic or finishing up their last drop off. Marketplaces, in response to the shortage of drivers and poor unit-level economics, are batching orders that might not be ready at the same time, or even coming from the…