Delivery Only Takeaway -- Thoughts?
Discussion
Was one round by me, lasted around a year. Operated from an industrial estate unit next to car breakers yards and building supply yards.
Food started great then went really downhill, they kept doing offers during the week to get the punters to order.
We stopped using them as the eastern European delivery drivers kept trying on the old extra delivery charge even though it had already been added to the total amount.
Food started great then went really downhill, they kept doing offers during the week to get the punters to order.
We stopped using them as the eastern European delivery drivers kept trying on the old extra delivery charge even though it had already been added to the total amount.
maffer7 said:
Love peoples thoughts on A; it as a business idea and B; would you order from something like this.
My gut feel is you will make a small fortune from this. If you start out with a large one. You need to find a unit with A5 planning permission of a big enough size that you can have all the woks, fryers, tandoors, pizza ovens, normal ovens, prep space, storage etc for all the different cuisines. The unit needs to be close enough to a catchment area that you've got some customers to deliver to and the foot is still hot and edible when it gets to them. You need to pay rent, service charge, business rates, insurance, utilities, telecoms, security, pest control etc to run the unit. You need vehicles, branding and hot boxes to transport the food. You need to staff the kitchen with experienced chefs who can cook the cuisines. You need staff to process the orders, do the buying, do the deliveries, run the operational side. You need to pay those staff, give them paid holidays, pensions, have employers liability insurance etc. And you need to do this from a business that is open in the evenings only and probably generates most of its income on 2 or 3 days of the week. Assuming you can advertise / market the business enough that people will try, and keep returning to, your generic jack of all trades take away rather than the specialist one trick pony down the road.Best of luck but I can't see it working as a business.
Is the city a university city? Might be good rate of trade throughout the day?
Are the current takeaways close to each other or do they currently offer delivery?
I like Chinese and the wife likes Indian so we order from different locations anyway! This is in a small town, the only collection meal is fish and chips and quite often I will pick that up and then pick up the Indian.
I think you are trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. An Indian takeaway/delivery only shop opened up in our town, had a counter and some seats and nothing else, it ceased to exist after 3 months.
You wont compete with Dominos either so don't try and do Pizzas.
Are the current takeaways close to each other or do they currently offer delivery?
I like Chinese and the wife likes Indian so we order from different locations anyway! This is in a small town, the only collection meal is fish and chips and quite often I will pick that up and then pick up the Indian.
I think you are trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. An Indian takeaway/delivery only shop opened up in our town, had a counter and some seats and nothing else, it ceased to exist after 3 months.
You wont compete with Dominos either so don't try and do Pizzas.
At least one of the major players is starting to do this - industrial unit with kitchens let to multiple 'brands'. I think the idea is to allow brands without a local presence to serve an area - so a slightly different angle to you.
I'd suggest £75k setup is low if it is to include professional kitchens, marketing etc - I think you'd be looking at multiples of this.
I'd suggest £75k setup is low if it is to include professional kitchens, marketing etc - I think you'd be looking at multiples of this.
drainbrain said:
LOL! Next you'll be saying the prices are shyte too! What else COULD there be to complain about?
(and you think this "works well"....)
basic concept works well yes, but they run it with bad customer service and mediocre food, despite the negative reviews they have online I still see their two sign-written vans all over the place delivered, they're still open after several years.(and you think this "works well"....)
perhaps you should look at the complaint of delivery times as a sign they are busy and need an extra van instead of taking it negatively?
Maxf said:
At least one of the major players is starting to do this - industrial unit with kitchens let to multiple 'brands'. I think the idea is to allow brands without a local presence to serve an area - so a slightly different angle to you.
I'd suggest £75k setup is low if it is to include professional kitchens, marketing etc - I think you'd be looking at multiples of this.
You obviously haven't seen the kitchens in most of the takeaways we're all buying food from if you think £75k isn't going to do it. I'd suggest £75k setup is low if it is to include professional kitchens, marketing etc - I think you'd be looking at multiples of this.
But I guess you do have to pass some basic health and hygiene test once. Scale is everything you can knock out a surprising amount of food with very little kitchen space.
BoRED S2upid said:
You obviously haven't seen the kitchens in most of the takeaways we're all buying food from if you think £75k isn't going to do it.
I assumed the OP wanted to set up a proper enterprise making multiple types of food in a professional kitchen - his usp being that his food is good quality, made well/authentically with lots of different food types (therefore needing a reasonably substantial kitchen). £75k wouldn't touch that, IMO - and that's without marketing, website, delivery uniforms, van leases etc. As soon as you start cutting costs it just becomes the typical takeaway which has no usp and people don't use.As mentioned earlier, Deliveroo are investing millions in this in the UK, setting up 30 around the country, look up Deliveroo dark kitchen, or Deliveroo Roobox.
The difference is they already have the data as to which types of food are missing in any town, they then use that to offer the kitchen space to local or national restaurants that can provide it.
The difference is they already have the data as to which types of food are missing in any town, they then use that to offer the kitchen space to local or national restaurants that can provide it.
mcg_ said:
If it's on just eat, the reviews are good and it tastes nice, it doesn't matter where it comes from (for me)
A family member has Ben running a successful takeaway for a couple of years. Delivery side generate significantly more revenue than Over The Counter and deliveries are also more profitable.
As a result he's opened a Kitchen-Only in an industrial unit . It's lower overheads and it increases his geographical coverage. He uses the branding/website from the shop so it reassures people who prefer a physical presence but it's significantly better from a logistics point of view.
Unless you're on site all the time you need somebody who can keep a close eye on quality though.
mcg_ said:
If it's on just eat, the reviews are good and it tastes nice, it doesn't matter where it comes from (for me)
I'd be inclined to agree with this. I quite often order from a Chinese in Camberley as it's better than any others in Farnborough. I've never been there, it always gets delivered. Could be run out of a garden shed as far as I know, but I don't care, the food is always good.There was a London based - multi cuisine, delivery only food company called `Deliverance` which started out in Battersea. It think it started in the mid 1990`s and was set up by 2 extremely gifted entrepreneurs. In its heyday it had a very big and impressive professional kitchen, the food was generally much better than average & they turned over some serious coin.
They sold it for a tidy sum, 3 to 5M range IIRC - I think that was in 2003 or 4 ? The private equity firm who bought it could not provide the constant micro management that it needed & their plans to roll it out nationwide were stillborn. Eventually it folded completely- in 2016? after burning a significant amount of money in expansion costs and operating losses.
The `Deliverance` founders went on to start `sofa.com` which was sold to a private investment firm in about 2015 after one of the founders died (far too young) - i think, from a rare leukemia.
The surviving entrepreneur has since founded `pooky.com`
There is probably lots to be found on the web about the Deliverance story if you have a search. Meanwhile here is something I found in haste. But I think the message is clear - if a multi kitchen operation, with deep pockets - in London, has failed to survive - it is probably not a winning formula.
http://www.london-insider.co.uk/2013/03/deliveranc...
They sold it for a tidy sum, 3 to 5M range IIRC - I think that was in 2003 or 4 ? The private equity firm who bought it could not provide the constant micro management that it needed & their plans to roll it out nationwide were stillborn. Eventually it folded completely- in 2016? after burning a significant amount of money in expansion costs and operating losses.
The `Deliverance` founders went on to start `sofa.com` which was sold to a private investment firm in about 2015 after one of the founders died (far too young) - i think, from a rare leukemia.
The surviving entrepreneur has since founded `pooky.com`
There is probably lots to be found on the web about the Deliverance story if you have a search. Meanwhile here is something I found in haste. But I think the message is clear - if a multi kitchen operation, with deep pockets - in London, has failed to survive - it is probably not a winning formula.
http://www.london-insider.co.uk/2013/03/deliveranc...
Edited by rival38 on Wednesday 23 August 09:54
Edited by rival38 on Wednesday 23 August 10:07
Edited by rival38 on Wednesday 23 August 10:14
Dr Interceptor said:
mcg_ said:
If it's on just eat, the reviews are good and it tastes nice, it doesn't matter where it comes from (for me)
I'd be inclined to agree with this. I quite often order from a Chinese in Camberley as it's better than any others in Farnborough. I've never been there, it always gets delivered. Could be run out of a garden shed as far as I know, but I don't care, the food is always good.
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