Implementing Contactless Delivery: Tips To Do So
This article will give advice on implementing contactless delivery. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic means that most restaurants are limited to collection and delivery. Governments across the world have imposed lockdowns and social distancing is becoming the norm. Online food ordering is the one channel available to restaurants to serve their customers and keep their business thriving. You need to ensure your delivery is being carried out in a hygienic and safe manner. This is also known as contactless food delivery. This article will provide you with a guide on how you can implement contactless delivery seamlessly.
Implementing Contactless Delivery: What Is Contactless Delivery?
Good question and a very important one for you to know. The pandemic means that restaurants are not permitted to have dine in guests. However, restaurants still have the opportunity of online food ordering. If this is something your restaurant has not started, now is the perfect time to do so. The reality is you are most likely losing out on money. Online food ordering can be what helps your business through this crisis. Your customers are all self isolating in their homes. They are trying their best to limit contact with other people.
Given this, many of your customers will be ordering your food online to eat at home. However, some customers are skeptical and anxious when it comes to ordering food online. The measure of prevention is contactless delivery. It is a safe practice that will limit contact between restaurant workers and customers. Customers can still support their favourite restaurants by ordering their food and do not have to worry about health risks. Contactless delivery means that the customer and the delivery driver do not meet face to face.
Implementing contactless delivery means orders should be made online and payment taken online to avoid cash handling. The delivery driver should place the food order outside the customer’s home and step back to wait for the customer. The driver should then wait while the customer takes their order in. This way, there is no contact between the delivery driver and customer. The well-being of your staff and customers is most vital in these times.
How To Seamlessly Implement Contactless Delivery?
You can add a message regarding ‘contactless delivery’ option on your online ordering app or website. Say you have an app or website that customers use to order food from you. Then, make sure you make it clear that your drivers are operating a ‘contactless delivery’ policy. Ensure this is visible to your customers.
You should also provide the customers with a place where they can instruct the delivery driver to drop off their food. This is in the best interest of your employees and customers. It also means that your delivery driver is not wasting time.
How MENUU Can Help You
Our white label online ordering platform provides secure payment transactions which are easy for your customers to use. With so many digital payment systems available today, it’s difficult to keep pace of change. MENUU integrates with the market leaders.
Our platform will give your customer the option to save their card details. This is so each time they order from you, it’s a simple and fast process. They can remove or update their saved card details at any time from their Profile area. Whether this is on your restaurant’s app, mobile or desktop site.
Our platform is white labelled to your brand, so your customers will effectively be paying securely by card through YOUR website or app.
We have advised our restaurant partners to switch off the option to accept CASH payments during this time so that customers are only presented with a CARD payment option thus ensuring a contactless process for both them and your employees.
Implementing Contactless Delivery: Sanitization Practices
Covid-19 means that you need to step up your sanitization practices. In other words, every surface on the restaurant premises must be cleaned and disinfected thoroughly. Therefore, ensure that the orders you send out are packed and sealed effectively to ensure that there is no increased risk of infection.
In other words, ensure employees regularly wash and sanitize their hands, preparation and cooking surfaces. Remember, employees should stick to the 2 metre social distancing rule and there should be no direct contact with customers at all. All delivery drivers must also regularly sanitize their hands and you should equip your delivery drivers with masks and gloves so that they are well covered when delivery food.
Implementing Contactless Delivery: Regularly Check In On Your Employees
Although your primary focus is on providing the best possible service to your customers, you need to focus on your employees well being too. In other words, ensure you discuss with them any changes in protocol that are being implemented. Put up posters and guidelines for hygiene and safety so that they know exactly what to do.
Therefore, ensure you have the materials for them to sanitize and wash their hands regularly. If an employee shows any minor symptoms, insist that they stay at home and only return to work when they are feeling better.
Implementing Contactless Delivery: Provide Options For Online Payment
It is highly encouraged to only take contactless payment, this is because cash payments increase the risk of infection given that it has travelled through many hands. You should offer all the options out there for online payments so that paying online is as easy for your customers as possible.
Use Social Media
When implementing contactless delivery it is important that you communicate with your customers. You need to talk to them about how your restaurant is managing during the crisis and about the practices you are implementing so that they can order from you without any risk of viruses. As a result, the best place to do this is social media channels.
Therefore, inform them about the contactless delivery, contactless payment and the hygiene and sanitization procedures you, your restaurant staff and delivery staff are taking. Customers will enjoy seeing how you are coping, this shows a more human side to your restaurant, as a result they will want to support you.
Conclusion
This article gave advice on implementing contactless delivery. The covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact across the globe. As a restaurant, you need to use online ordering as a means to drive your business during this time. Therefore, you need to make your customers aware of the practices you are putting in place for them to get their food safely and germ free. Remember, although your customers are vital during this time, you also need to check in on your employees well-being and support them too by ensuring best practices are in operation.
