Forty-three years. That’s how lengthy I’ve been delivering pizza. And whereas there have been dramatic modifications in expertise, competitors and tools, it all the time comes again to buyer expectations for a delivered pizza. These expectations have all the time been tied to the identical elements: ease of ordering, timeliness and a great-tasting pizza.
What would an article about supply operations be with out mentioning Tom Monaghan, the founding father of Domino’s Pizza? I had the chance to work for the corporate within the Eighties. Most of the requirements that Monaghan set for Domino’s supply operations are nonetheless the usual in the present day. Over the previous six a long time, enhancements in POS methods, pizza ovens, ordering and fee strategies, packaging and even pizza dough haven’t modified buyer expectations. If something, these advances have merely made it extra doable for pizzerias to realize these expectations.
Buyer Expectations
Forty-three years of listening to clients when their expectations should not met have given me perception far past what any research, focus teams and even synthetic intelligence (AI) can present. (Though AI is catching up.) A pizza supply buyer has the next expectations:
Ease of Ordering
Every buyer has totally different preferences about how they place their pizza supply order. Phone, web site, app and third get together (Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub) are in the present day’s strategies for ordering pizzas. Whichever ordering methodology is utilized by the client, it have to be easy and straightforward.
Timeliness
Domino’s set the expectation of supply in half-hour or much less, and that’s nonetheless the expectation in the present day.
Nice-tasting Pizza
The problem of offering a great-tasting pizza past the partitions of your pizzeria requires each software out there to pizza operators in the present day. Placing a pizza on a desk 20 ft from the oven is far simpler than guaranteeing the identical high quality to a supply buyer’s desk 2 miles away.
Pizza Operations for Supply
Efficiently assembly these buyer expectations depends upon the way you design and execute your operations. Nice workers can’t overcome poor design – and even one of the best design is ineffective if an worker doesn’t have the talents to execute.
So far as the design and execution of ordering, a buyer should have the ability to place their supply order in lower than 5 minutes, whether or not by phone or digital ordering.
Phone
Streamlining cellphone orders begins with the tools. Your cellphone system ought to have a greeting message that identifies your small business in 30 seconds or much less, after which connects callers to a dwell operator – or, if one isn’t out there, an ACD (computerized name distributor) that routes the client to the subsequent out there operator. The cellphone system ought to have the power to document requires coaching functions, notifying the client of this as a part of the 30-second greeting.
The cellphone operator should have the ability to reply the decision away from background kitchen noise (utilizing headsets or a cellphone station) with out interruption. The following merchandise wanted to realize the five-minute normal is coaching. Cellphone operators should know your menu and have an actual script to comply with. The script permits the operator to take management of the dialog and lead it in essentially the most environment friendly methodology to take the order rapidly and precisely. Lastly, your POS system ought to help the five-minute objective. A “repeat final order” function reduces time spent on the cellphone.
Digital
Your web site ordering, your app and your menus on third-party platforms ought to be constant in construction, making it straightforward for shoppers to find gadgets. Meals images ought to be skilled and constant throughout every of those ordering websites. Having a number of fee strategies and saving fee info with PCI Compliance helps to fulfill the five-minute ordering normal.
Delivering on Time
Three-minute makeline, 10-minute kitchen. Hustle. Quick in your ft, not on the road. Most two orders per driver. Correct driver routing. These have been all tenets of Domino’s success in delivering pizzas in underneath half-hour. Guess what? They nonetheless work in the present day.
Have a look at your kitchen design. Does the POS system ship the order on to the correct station? Makeline, grill, fryer and driver dispatch? What number of footsteps should an worker take to maneuver the meals by way of their station? Does your POS have a visible supply order display screen or app that helps correctly route drivers?
Pizza High quality
The 30-minute-or-less normal served the pizza enterprise not just for buyer comfort but in addition for high quality pizza on the buyer’s door. How can pizza be stored crisp and sizzling for the journey? Have a look at packaging. Pizza packing containers ought to have correct venting and (relying on the kind of crust) could profit from a protecting liner to maintain pies crispy. The new bag additionally ought to be correctly vented and have adequate insulation to maintain pizzas sizzling.
Way forward for Pizza Supply
Third-party supply corporations are right here to remain. Their ordering platforms have higher meals images particular to your menu. They’ve tailored the identical ordering format so clients can simply navigate the ordering course of. Fee choices have expanded and are securely saved for buyer comfort. Their delivery-tracking methods and driver-routing requirements have improved. They’re even bettering the standard of delivered pizza by utilizing sizzling luggage!
BWG World highlights modifications looming for the pizza-delivery enterprise in its “Restaurant Supply Outlook Q&A.” In line with the examine, autonomous car adoption (robotic supply) will occur throughout the subsequent two years. Third-party supply corporations are transferring towards higher supply operations – not solely with their very own operations however by measuring and demanding larger requirements from their pizzeria companions. In the meantime, DoorDash’s entry into the POS market means higher integration.
The route the large gamers are taking merely makes them higher at assembly normal buyer expectations outlined right here. Rising pizza supply gross sales on your pizzeria will all the time depend upon assembly requirements in ease of ordering timeliness and great-tasting pizza.
DAN COLLIER is the founding father of PizzaMan Dan’s in California and a speaker at Worldwide Pizza Expo.
