Running your own delivery: what to decide first

Delivering your own orders means no commission and no stranger handing over your food. It also means you're responsible for every step between the counter and the door. These are the decisions to make before the first driver heads out.

How far you deliver

Start smaller than you think. A tight radius keeps food hot, keeps drivers making several runs an hour and keeps promised times honest. Grow it once you know how long runs really take at your busiest hour. Measure the radius from the restaurant and make sure your ordering system checks every address against it, so nobody can place an order you can't deliver.

What delivery costs the customer

• A flat fee is simple and easy to understand.
• A fee that rises with distance is fairer when your area is large.
• A minimum order stops a single drink from costing you a whole run.

Work out what a run costs you in driver pay and running costs, then set fees so an ordinary delivery order still makes money.

Who drives

Whether drivers are employees or contractors isn't just a label: in Canada it depends on how the work is actually done, and it affects pay, deductions and holidays. Check your province's employment standards, or ask your accountant, before you decide.

Insurance matters as much. A personal car policy often doesn't cover using the car for commercial delivery. Talk to your insurance broker about what cover your drivers need, and keep proof of it on file.

Cash at the door

If customers can pay cash on delivery, decide up front:

• how much change each driver starts with,
• how the cash each driver collected is recorded against their orders,
• when and how drivers hand it in, and who counts it.

A system that records the cash on each order makes the end-of-shift count a check, not a guess.

Getting orders to drivers

• One screen showing which orders are ready, which drivers are out and where they're going.
• Pairing two nearby stops into one run when it won't make either order late.
• Giving drivers the address and customer details on their phone, not on a scrap of paper.

Busy nights

Decide what happens when drivers can't keep up: longer promised times, a smaller radius for the evening, or delivery switched off for an hour while pickup keeps running. It's better to say "pickup only for now" than to deliver cold food late.

In gofood, delivery covers these: a radius and fees checked on the server, a driver board, a personal link on each driver's phone, cash recorded per order, and one switch to turn delivery on or off.