When you’re deciding how your restaurant should handle food delivery, it’s essential to find a solution that suits your team and your customers. The type of delivery service you choose — third-party or in-house delivery — should reduce stress and keep everyone happy. Before you make a choice, take the time to evaluate both options to determine which one best supports your current restaurant operations and long-term business goals.

In-house delivery vs third-party delivery

There are two primary delivery service options for restaurants:

• In-house delivery service. With this traditional system, your business handles all delivery operations. You must hire and schedule drivers, accept orders over the phone and online, assign drivers to each order, and manage the process to ensure each order gets to the customer in a timely fashion. In-house delivery comes with a demanding logistics, management, legal requirements, and customer service workload. Because customers expect online ordering and real-time order monitoring, it may also require you to upgrade your technology infrastructure to include a custom app, online ordering website, and GPS tracking.
• Third-party delivery service. If you go this route, your restaurant outsources all delivery tasks to a third-party delivery service such as Grubhub. Your employees’ only tasks are to accept delivery orders, package them for pickup, and hand them off to a driver. The platform handles everything else, including payment processing, order tracking, route planning, order timing, logistics, and customer service. Some platforms offer even more; for example, an important part of how Grubhub serves you is by providing access to robust technology, marketing tools, business resources, and dedicated account support to help your restaurant thrive. In return, you pay the company a fee and/or a percentage of the total cost for each order.

There’s no need to choose just one option — if you already have an in-house delivery service, you can use third-party delivery tools including Grubhub for extra support when demand is high.

Benefits of Grubhub delivery

At Grubhub, we have one focus: providing a top-notch delivery experience for both customers and restaurant partners. Your success is our success, so we go the extra mile to deliver benefits that boost your business and build a foundation for growth.

Cost efficiency

There are costs associated with both in-house delivery and third-party delivery services. If you offer in-house delivery, you’ll need to invest in:

• Hiring drivers
• Driver salaries
• Driver training
• Mileage reimbursement
• Digital ordering and payment processing technology
• Logistics technology
• Scheduling employees to take phone orders and handle service calls
• Vehicle maintenance and insurance

When you work with Grubhub, there are no up-front costs. Instead, you’ll pay a marketing fee and a processing fee; we offer three pricing plans based on the delivery services and support you need. Your customers will also pay a delivery fee for each order. In return, we provide everything you need, from technology to drivers, to start offering restaurant delivery. Use our profit calculator to determine how Grubhub could improve your bottom line.

Operational efficiency

Grubhub eliminates the challenges involved with in-house delivery by streamlining operations for each part of the process:

• Order processing. The industry-leading Grubhub platform displays your menu, allows customers to order and customize their food, offers multiple payment options, and sends the details to you.
• Order acceptance. You can accept an order with a single click. Then, it flows right to your kitchen display system using our POS integrations.
• Order packaging. Your team packages food and hands it off to our trained delivery drivers.
• Order delivery. We handle delivery logistics by scheduling drivers and selecting a safe and efficient route.

Working with a specialized delivery provider frees your employees to focus on the thing they do best: prepare fantastic food. Click here to see Grubhub in action.

As a restaurant owner, you know delivery demand shifts from hour to hour. Grubhub services are completely flexible, so you can manage changing order volume with ease — and without paying drivers to sit idle during slow periods or rushing to find extra drivers during busy hours. With Grubhub, you can offer delivery service as often as you need without incurring additional fees.

Expanded reach and market penetration

Grubhub serves over 33 million customers in more than 4,000 cities across the United States. Adding your restaurant to the platform automatically increases brand visibility among hungry diners in your area. Our system displays restaurant options based on customers’ location and search filters — it’s a great way to get your brand in front of a broader group of people who are actively looking for new restaurants. Whether you operate in a small town or a large city, Grubhub can increase your revenue potential.

As a Grubhub restaurant partner, you get the support you need to succeed in a competitive industry. We offer a full library of helpful business and marketing resources, promotions and loyalty tools, free templates for social media marketing, and dedicated account assistance.

Customer experience

Customers have come to expect fast and convenient ordering, and Grubhub delivers. Our robust technology infrastructure offers an unparalleled experience for diners; they can order a meal with just a few clicks on the delivery app or website. And once they save an address and payment method, the process is even faster.

Want to give website visitors an easy ordering experience? Add a free, branded online ordering website to your current site with Direct.

We also take customer service off your plate. If a customer has a problem with an order, they can connect with our representatives right in the Grubhub app. The team resolves problems quickly to ensure positive reputation management and contacts you only if necessary.

Compared to an in-house delivery system, which often includes a high volume of ordering and service calls, long wait times, and manual payment processing, Grubhub offers a more consistent and reliable delivery experience.

Technology and integration

One of the biggest benefits of working with Grubhub is the opportunity to access the latest food delivery service technology without the hassle. Our team manages the platform and updates it regularly; all you need to do is log in to access convenient features, including order tracking, real-time updates, and delivery notifications.

Grubhub is designed to integrate seamlessly into your restaurant’s existing tech stack. We offer POS integrations for most popular systems for efficient order flow, real-time menu updates, and reduced training requirements.

For most restaurants, it’s not financially or practically feasible to achieve a similar system in-house. After all, the process involves managing a complicated technology build-out, integrating tracking and logistics software, troubleshooting problems, training employees, providing tech support to customers, and updating each system.

Streamline delivery today

Food delivery is an essential service offering for successful restaurants, but not all delivery services offer the same features and benefits. With Grubhub, you can enjoy a comprehensive delivery experience without the challenges and costs of in-house delivery. Want to find out more? See Grubhub in action by partnering with our team today.