If you’re reading this the chances are you’ve been toying with the idea of offering a takeaway business from your restaurant and there are plenty of advantages in doing this. Let Alliance talk you through how to create a thriving takeaway business. Adding takeaway to your repertoire is a great way to maximise on profit, Just Eat reported an increase in profit by 50% on the first half of 2015 (a year before in 2014 they reported 58% increase) so eating in courtesy of restaurant cuisine is on the up.
Offering a take-out service also gives your customers an opportunity to further enjoy your food in the comfort of their own homes. It opens up doors to new customers too, especially those who have never sampled your cuisine because they prefer to eat at home unable to get to a restaurant regularly, this is especially true for those with a young family who find it hard to get out in the evenings.
To Deliver Or Not To Deliver That Is The Question
If you’re concerned about the delivery function of running a takeaway there are ways round it. Firstly, if you don’t have the facility to deliver don’t worry too much because customers today are much more prepared to pick up their food order on the way home from work, while running errands or pop out if your restaurant is local. While Just Eat doesn’t offer a delivery service, Deliveroo does (provided it’s active in your area and they take a 25% commission on all orders). Working with Deliveroo is easy, the customer places the order with them and the order appears on the restaurant’s system where it is prepared and collected by Deliveroo. Then the order is delivered to the customer’s doorstep. This gives a restaurant a huge advantage because they don’t have to deliver the food themselves, saving time and potentially having to employ a delivery driver who may or may not be busy on some nights. Deliveroo works with over 800 restaurants in the UK and is growing daily.
Keep Busy!
Restaurants enjoy peaks and troughs during the working week. Notoriously, restaurants are at their busiest Friday and Saturday followed by Sunday lunchtime, unless your restaurant is in the centre of town where it may well be busy most lunchtimes especially if it is in an office area. Local restaurants tend to have a lull during the beginning of the week and Sunday nights can be quiet. However, takeaways enjoy good trade on a Sunday night because this is when people are in but want to eat and don’t want to cook! So if your restaurant does have particularly busy and quiet times, adding a takeaway option could see a generous rise in your profits.
Getting Started
Menus
To begin with and to certainly test the water, create a simple version of your current menu and choose food that is quick and easy to prepare so you offer takeaway meals fast! Your customers will thank you for this and come back for more at a later date. Your food offering should include popular dishes too because then you can be confident your new takeaway customers will enjoy their meals. Don’t forget to list your takeaway menu on your website with an order now button for ease and speed so customers don’t have to hunt for your phone number.
Decide Where You Deliver
Remember to decide on your takeaway radius and keep it local – too far and the food gets cold plus it adds delivery time which could irritate customers. If you don’t offer a delivery service, your local customers will collect their meals anyway. You could offer flyers promoting your takeaway service perhaps with a discount code for the first order or for repeat custom. Use social media to drive awareness too, so promote your new takeaway menu on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram perhaps with unique social media codes too. Always capture email addresses when taking takeaway orders because then you can build up a good quality database which you can use to promote your business later on by sending out email promotions, menu changes and special offers.
Staff Rota
Create a rota for your staff so some of them focus on taking the takeaway orders (if you aren’t using an exterior service) this way your other staff can focus on what’s going on inside your restaurant and it doesn’t confuse jobs.
Purchase disposables. You will need disposable plates, cups, ramekins, containers, serviettes, cutlery and bags. It’s wise to get your bags printed with your livery and logo so they are easily recognisable and they act as a marketing tool too. Always place a takeaway menu in the bag because if your customers enjoy their food – they’ll no doubt want more and customers tend to keep takeaway menus. Disposables are available on the Alliance website; choose from sustainable, recyclable and environmentally friendly products.
Get going! Once you’ve purchased all of your takeaway disposables, worked out your menu and designated jobs to your staff you can be up and running in days. Getting the word out is the most important part in getting your takeaway business off the ground and don’t forget to let your in-house customers know about your take-out service too, they are already your customers so should be easy to convince!
For all you need to set up your takeaway visit the Alliance website where we provide everything from fast food appliances to take-out disposables.