STARTING YOUR OWN FOOD DELIVERY BUSINESS IS NOT AS DIFFICULT

AS IT SEEMS

We’ve all heard the phrase “The way to man’s heart is through his stomach.” Well turns out this
applies to women too as each and every one of us from toddlers to oldies prioritizes food over
everything. Sadly not all of us have the luxury of time and energy to cook for ourselves. That is
why food delivery start-ups are the need of the hour. If we can get hygienic, healthy and
affordable food all at once it would be a win-win for both us. This article gives us a tour of how
to start our very own food delivery business.

1. We have to know our customers to make them happy, that is why we have to study our
target market and have enough knowledge about our clients. Our whole menu theme would be
dependent on the choices of our clients according to the areas we’re serving to:

For eg. Around universities and colleges, students would be the target customers and they
would like to have more appetizers and hassle-free items at a lower cost. But if you’re targeting
residents then you would have to keep in mind the nutritional values and needs for their family
in a single meal.

Although, it would be better if you keep a menu which would be suitable for all of the clientele
as it would be more profitable for you.

2. You may need financing to buy delivery vehicles, rent office space, and pay for insurance
and permits when you begin your business. If this is the case, use a bank loan to fund your
business. To see if you can locate prospective shareholders who might be interested in a portion
of the potential stock of your company. However, you could have your savings just to fuel your
business at the initial stage and then, later on, cope up with the profits and partnerships.

3. Choose and segregate the delivery areas you would like to serve at the initial stage - If you
live in a big city or deliver in a rural area, you're going to have to decide on a delivery area of a
manageable size. Customers expect your company to deliver their food promptly within, 15–30
minutes, so you can start by setting a radius of 15 minutes around your delivery centers. Pick 2
or 3 localities from where to build.

We all know that demand increases as the supply decreases, so we have to look for
opportunities where our delivery chain would stand out, for eg. If we could provide late-night
deliveries then we should center our services around hostels, PGs, etc. so that we could suffice
their late-night cravings.

4. Partnering with required restaurants and food chains, so this step is completely dependent
on the first requirement that is our client base, we would be selecting 2-3 restaurants matching
the choices of our client base. Tell them about how this offer would help them to expand their
businesses and the horizons we could explore together.

Partnering with a new restaurant would give them and you the mutual advantage of promoting
your business among the customers and avail discounts from each other.
Set the minimum commission on each delivered order: The main source of income for food
delivery businesses are none other than the commission they earn from the partnered
restaurants. If you are sitting down with each restaurant manager, hammer out a commission
sum that will allow you to keep your business ongoing but not prohibit the restaurant from
making profits.

Main head office for your business: A business is always remembered by its roots, so it is very
important to designate the main working center for your food delivery chain. So that when they
see your business card they can relate to where you are based upon and have a sense of trust
that you are operating from a known neighborhood. This head office could be your own home
too at the initial stage.

Most of the delivery food chains outsource delivery drivers, hence the core workers of our
company (these drivers) must be hardworking and trustworthy, we can be sure of that after a
thorough background study each time we hire someone.

Come up with a catchy yet unforgettable name that not only stays on the mind of the readers
but also shows some colors of your back story and the theme of your service.

Lastly, promote and advertise your business physically with posters through partner restaurants
and also on the internet through social media apps and websites.

As your business begins to grow never compromise with the quality of your service as unfulfilled
promises lead to loss of goodwill and you will eventually lose your customers’ trust.

Hence, as we saw starting a food delivery business is not that difficult after all but you will have
to work hard initially.