Rethinking your role in the food delivery industry: How QSRs can overcome common challenges and improve customer satisfaction

In theory, food delivery seems like an ideal way for restaurants to expand their reach and increase revenues by serving people who have already decided not to dine in. In practice, delivery has become a persistent source of customer dissatisfaction.

The reasons for customer dissatisfaction are easy to understand. We’ve all had the experience of treating ourselves or our families to ordering in — only to wait forever, receive the wrong food, or both. Whether the customer blames your restaurant or the delivery service provider (DSP) such as DoorDash when this happens, the outcome is the same: fewer repeat customers and lost sales.

The underlying problem is the sheer number of obstacles to a high-quality customer experience, especially when third-party services are involved. To attract and retain more repeat delivery customers, every QSR owner should take a minute to understand all points of vulnerability along the way, so that they can better control the critical variables and take a proactive approach to creating a 5-star customer experience with their restaurant.

Given the opportunity for more sales from delivery, Delaget hosted a 20-minute webinar with 20 actionable tips for QSRs who want to improve their delivery operations. It’s fast-paced with a lot of great advice that you can use.

Five delivery issues that compromise customer satisfaction

Much of the current third-party food delivery industry evolved rapidly during the pandemic out of necessity. Restaurants, including QSRs, did whatever it took to keep the orders coming. But many of these hastily assembled processes have now become permanent, even if they are not ideal. This will only become more of a challenge as DSP sales continue to increase in line with current food delivery industry trends.

The good news is QSRs can push back. As an owner, you don’t have to accept a certain level of cancellations, lost revenue and angry customers as the cost of doing business. All these issues can be addressed and improved with the right insights and technology, either by recovering more from disputes or by finding areas of your business that can improve the off-prem delivery process and improve order accuracy.

To understand why any changes will create a positive impact, however, it’s important to level-set on the top five reasons why customers are unsatisfied with their food delivery.

1. Delayed deliveries. Nobody likes to wait, but what can really hurt customer satisfaction is a delivery time that far exceeds the original quote. If a family is fully prepared to wait 45 minutes for their delivery, making them wait 70 minutes can be extremely disappointing.

2. Incorrect orders. This is a quality control issue with numerous factors. Of course, the biggest culprits are missing items or incorrect items, typically from a different order. But customers will also lose trust if there are mistakes in the drinks, sides or sauces. In a recent Intouch Insight survey on food delivery experiences, customers reported receiving their orders accurately just 90% of the time with DoorDash, 83% with Uber Eats and 79% with Grubhub.

3. Cold food. This is related to managing wait times, but it also speaks to how delivery orders are packaged for the journey between your store and the customer’s door. It doesn’t matter if the order is correct, for example, if all the mains are cold, congealed or soggy.

4. Inconsistent quality. DSPs employ a rotating cast of drivers of couriers, not all of whom will have the same attention to detail or commitment to quality. QSRs that rely on drivers to help with quality control (checking drinks, making sure lids are tight, etc.) may experience times when these checks are not done well or not done at all.

5. Surprise cancellations. These can happen when there is a mismatch between the hours posted in the restaurant delivery software and the actual operating hours of your store. It can be a particular issue around the holidays or other times when normal hours change. It can also be devastating to the customer experience. Not only do people not get their food, but they also must start the whole process over.

Four ways to gain a competitive edge

Given the prevalence of these issues across the entire food delivery industry, QSRs that can make meaningful improvements stand to gain a sizeable competitive advantage. Here are four ways owners can take control of the situation and prepare their crews for more consistent success.

1. Monitor delivery performance

Improving customer satisfaction with delivery starts with identifying any issues. That means tracking key metrics, either through franchise-owned portals or with food delivery software that is specifically designed to facilitate easy analysis. Ideally, it should be simple to access data about delivery times, customer ratings and the most frequent problems with delivery orders. With this information in hand, QSRs can prioritize areas of improvement and take corrective action.

2. Focus training on delivery orders

It’s important that crews understand that orders for DSPs must be treated differently than dine-in or drive-through orders. You can designate a “delivery expert” for each shift, train them on order verification, and assign them to check bags before driver hand-off. This can be part of a larger effort to create a culture — among your crew and delivery drivers — of double-checking every order before it leaves the store. You can place a special emphasis on common errors, such as incorrect drinks or loose lids that can wreck the entire order. Some restaurants are even incentivizing delivery drivers by offering small rewards for catching incorrect orders.

3. Reduce the risk of errors

Knowing the most common delivery problems can help QSRs resolve potential issues proactively. For example, you can set or change preset buffer times in the food delivery software of each DSP you use to avoid last-minute-orders that risk cancellation due to drivers arriving after the store has closed. Each DSP offers a recommended buffer time that is set as a default in each portal (which is 20 minutes for DoorDash and 30 minutes for Uber Eats and Grubhub). You or a team member can typically go directly into each delivery app to confirm sufficient buffer time settings and make any adjustments needed.

In the same way, store hours should be kept accurate to avoid surprise cancellations, which may also involve regularly verifying hours on each delivery platform. You can assign a crew member to check them — and even offer small rewards for catching errors. Ask this same crew member to update the POS and delivery platforms before holidays or for special circumstances such as weather-related closings to avoid being offline on the apps.

4. Partner with reliable delivery services

Lastly, give your business the best chance of a high-quality delivery experience by working with only a select group of services such as the “big three” of DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub. You can also focus on achieving special ratings, such as the DoorDash Most Loved, which account for customer ratings and will give high-performing restaurants increased visibility in the restaurant delivery software.

This isn't an exhaustive list of solutions, but it should provide an excellent starting point. For more ways to enhance QSR delivery operations and finances, check out our recent webinar, “20 delivery ideas in 20 minutes,” where I was a panelist. It was a fun, lively and insights-filled discussion I think you’ll find valuable.