Delivery Only Takeaway -- Thoughts?

Delivery Only Takeaway -- Thoughts?

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Discussion

maffer7

Original Poster:

13 posts

84 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
Lurker - time to pop up with a post!

I THINK this has been discussed before but I couldn't see it. Thoughts appriciated:

Delivery only Takeaway/Restrauant. Industrial Unit near a City Centre, doing a wide range of Takeaway food delivered. Strong brand, smart packaging, decent app/website. Own delivery drivers in branded vehicles, uniforms etc. Wide range of foods, so an order could include a Chinese Meal, an Indian etc

Call it something like 'The Kitchen', spend a boat load on Marketing, Social Media etc. And employ decent chefs, quality food, high level of hygene etc. Charge a slight premium.

Main challenges as I can see it is people being concerned about ordering from a place they can't see, and costs associaited with own delivery fleet and marketing. Costed it out something like £75K to set up with some contingency.

Love peoples thoughts on A; it as a business idea and B; would you order from something like this.

kiethton

13,883 posts

179 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
Why take on additional risk (delivery) when companies like Deliveroo can do it for a pittance?

Also allow a 14%+ margin to be taken by others e.g. just-eat if you list via there too

R8Steve

4,150 posts

174 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
Personal opinion only here but i would never order from somewhere that does chinese/indian/italian/etc.

I would have no problem from ordering from somewhere i can't see though, a lot of the places i've ordered from on JustEat i've never seen.

AllyBassman

779 posts

111 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
To be honest,

Everytime I order a takeaway, I always get it delivered. So if it's from a highstreet business or one based out of an industrial unit, I couldn't care less aslong as the food is good and it does not take an eternity to arrive!

I don't know if it's just me, but i'm sceptical of places that offer multiple cusines. The term 'jack of all trades, master on none' always rings true.

Europa1

10,923 posts

187 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
Contradictory thread title is my thought.

Sorry, it's Friday afternoon, and I've lost the ability to be serious.

drainbrain

5,637 posts

110 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
Only rarely eat takeaway but don't most people (almost everybody) only order deliveries from places near them?

That would seriously limit your market and maybe alter your decision on where to site it.

Plus - I don't think the branded/liveried notion adds any much value to the idea. What people really really really really want from delivery is 1) good grub 2) reasonable price 3) reasonably speedy delivery. What the delivery man is wearing or driving isn't really of any interest at all.

Plus - I think people slightly 'distrust' the many varieties of food under one roof' places in the sense of believing the better quality comes from the places focussed on one niche. Not many are drawn to order fish n chips from a Chinese, or something pasta from a kebab shop.

OTOH if you could establish a takeaway which WAS a centre of excellence for a variety of different types of food you'd have done something unique and then there'd be a value in the branding, i.e.: "let's get something at Joe's(the brand)" knowing that whatever anyone wanted was going to be guaranteed good because all Joe's stuff is good.

Difficult one to do I'd say given how few of them are much good at anything. Usually it all starts off pretty well, and once a clientele of regulars is established it starts slipping downhill.


AllyBassman

779 posts

111 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
I guess this would only work if the business was a restraunt first, established itself first then branched out into the delivery service.

MrBarry123

6,025 posts

120 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
R8Steve said:
a lot of the places i've ordered from on JustEat i've never seen.
And judging by the state of the food* when delivered, I wouldn't want to!

*still delicious though

AW111

9,455 posts

132 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
We eat takeaway about once a month - it's about 2/3 walk to the noodle shop 5 mins away, 1/3 delivered from somewhere.
For a new delivery service, the first thing I do is work out how far away they are. I want my food hot, not soggy.

karona

1,918 posts

185 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
https://goo.gl/maps/LShoNCBV9yj

An extremely busy takeaway. Collect or delivery. The hole in the wall is the whole 'front of house' experience, and you look right into the kitchen. The town has dozens of takeaway and traditional sit-in restaurants, but this is about the best.
I'm biased because I used to deliver for them, covering the whole town and surrounding villages.

maffer7

Original Poster:

13 posts

84 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
Thanks for all of the comments thus far. Wouldn't neccessarily disagree with any of it.

I think the Deliveroo point is valid, although I think if you are going for quality you need to control each area of the service and delivery is most important, mainly because of the condition (and temperature) of the delivered product.

The points on multipule food types is interesting. I'd see it as a benefit as a customer but it seems I'm in the minority?

Dr Interceptor

7,743 posts

195 months

Friday 18th August 2017
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It would solve a lot of arguments in my household.

I love Indian, other half hates Indian but loves Chinese - I like Chinese, but it has to be good, not the st that most local takeaways deliver.

We end up either having an average Chinese, or a pizza.

Somewhere that could do a Chicken Jalfrezi for Dad, Crispy Duck for Mum, and Pizza for the kids in one fell swoop would I imagine prove very popular... Providing the food was good.

BoRED S2upid

19,643 posts

239 months

Friday 18th August 2017
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I don't see why it wouldn't work in a big city the key is the quality of food.

21TonyK

11,494 posts

208 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
It works and is already being rolled out by several established players, such as Deliveroo. Just google "dark kitchen".

To reinvent it yourself would be a waste of time and effort. I looked at it a year ago but the market was already being taken by companies investing ten of millions.

maffski

1,866 posts

158 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
AllyBassman said:
I don't know if it's just me, but i'm sceptical of places that offer multiple cusines. The term 'jack of all trades, master on none' always rings true.
No reason why you couldn't operate more than one brand using the same people and facilities.

sideways sid

1,371 posts

214 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
OP, IIRC the model that you are referring to ran in London for a few years called Deliverance.

It no longer exists.

Perhaps learning about it and why it no longer exists would be a helpful exercise and also highlight pitfalls that you would need to overcome. Also, IIRC it was one of the first of its type and had London to itself before Just Eat, HungryHouse etc arrived.

Algarve

2,102 posts

80 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
I don't want my food delivered by people in smart new branded vans. I want it delivered cheaply by an illegal immigrant in a Toyota Corolla with a dodgy MOT. Or a student on a moped. As long as its cheap and quick, I don't care.

I definitely don't want to order from somewhere that does indian, chinese, italian etc. That just screams slops, generic food made by someone who doesn't know much/anything about it. I want Indian food made by actual Indians. Chinese food made by Chinese... I suspect the vast majority are in the same boat. Its going to be absolutely impossible to do each cuisine well (without effectively running multiple kitchens).

technodup

7,576 posts

129 months

Friday 18th August 2017
quotequote all
Algarve said:
I don't want my food delivered by people in smart new branded vans. I want it delivered cheaply by an illegal immigrant in a Toyota Corolla with a dodgy MOT. Or a student on a moped. As long as its cheap and quick, I don't care.

I definitely don't want to order from somewhere that does indian, chinese, italian etc.
Agree.

The only places I can think of that do that are the world buffet outfits and they're ste. A wee Indian that's been round the corner for years is always going to be perceived as better than an Indian section of some factory kitchen churning out every cuisine you can think of.

Although I don't do delivery at all. I only use one kebab shop where I go and watch it being cooked so know it's fresh and hot, and the sides are right. The Chinese I can't actually see making it, and the Scottish woman on the counter is a right old boot but again habit means I go and get it at it's hottest, not on the third drop off for the driver.

Bullett

10,873 posts

183 months

Sunday 20th August 2017
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There was a place round here, worked out an industrial unit did thai, indian, chinese, burgers and pizza. It was called the Kitchen or kitchens.

Used it a couple of times and it was ok. Not seen a leaflet for some time and the only ad I can see online is not the one I thought so they may have gone under.

strain

419 posts

100 months

Monday 21st August 2017
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Theres a place like this near me, although not city-centre, bearing in min its probable a 5 mile radius the main complaints seem to be delivery times and quality of the food.

I think it works well as a concept but I would be tempted to change it slightly.

Why not have an industrial unit with the one kitchen, but operate it as different eateries and welcome joint orders? People wouldn't be put off by the different cuisines and it would be a god send for the dad who wants a curry.

I don't think the money would be in an app / website at first, I would look more at starting with one/two cuisines and getting the name about with the likes of just eat, then maybe expand and offer another cuisine to the customers you have - not through JE?

A lot of people are onto the game with middle men type companies, most will go direct if possible, use JE as an entry platform, then after a month or 3 (depending on JE contract) pop leaflets into all the deliveries offering a discount or free desert if you go direct (good website/app with payment will be needed here)

problem with basing your business on this method is your app/website needs to be good and working, or it falls apart, and you have no idea on return until you try it. use JE to get running and if people like the food then go down your own path