Customers, on the other hand, don’t see it that way. Delivery is convenient. It’s usually pretty fast, and perhaps best of all, they can do it through an app — without ever having to talk to a person.
Although dine-in restrictions in most places have eased, delivery rates remain higher now than they were pre-Covid. In 2019, delivery accounted for about 7% of total US restaurant sales, according to Euromonitor International. After a spike in 2020, it settled at nearly 9% in 2021, according to Euromonitor’s forecast for last year (The company’s 2021 foodservice data has not been published.)
So whether restaurant owners like it or not, delivery is here to stay.
“Consumers have become accustomed to getting products delivered to their homes,” said Joe Pawlak, managing principal at Technomic, a food service consulting company. Now, restaurants “have to figure out what to do to make it profitable.”
For restaurants, fixing delivery means not only making it work better, but also finding ways to convince customers to choose carryout or drive-thru instead.
The problem with delivery
During the pandemic, restaurants had to shift to a delivery or takeout model to survive, said Tom Bailey, senior consumer foods analyst at Rabobank.
“They didn’t necessarily do the most efficient adjustment,” Bailey noted.
For some restaurants, the economics of delivery simply don’t add up. Third-party providers charge fees which can be as high as 30%. Restaurants, particularly independent ones, already have thin margins. For some, delivery fees can mean operating in the red.
“Our third-party delivery providers had Omicron-related staffing shortages, impacting their ability to fulfill a portion of our distribution needs,” he said. “This required us to greatly increase the…
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