There is no doubt that the rise of platforms like Deliveroo and Uber-eats have created a huge market for food delivery, particularly since the pandemic, however many independent businesses are struggling with the rising cost of delivering to their customers.

Part of the problem is increasing wages. The fact that people can now work for multiple delivery services, earning between £10 and £15 per hour means many businesses are struggling to employ their own delivery drivers. Add on the rising price of fuel and this makes delivery a much bigger cost.

On-demand delivery offers a cost-effective alternative, especially for smaller food service businesses, and is often cheaper, or no more expensive than employing your own drivers. If you’re considering starting out with delivery, then on-demand may be a good place to begin, here’s why:

• You’re not employing anyone – you pay a fixed fee for each delivery, usually based on distance, with no other ‘on-costs.’  You may get a different delivery driver every time, but the food will be collected and delivered in the same way, for the same fixed fee, with no worries about holidays or sickness.

• You only pay for what you use – employing staff means you pay them for the time they are needed to work, even if you have no deliveries. With on-demand you pay as you use, so it only costs something when you have the orders to fulfil. No more paying people to sit and wait!

• No more limits – if you employ just two drivers the number of orders you can fulfil is determined by their capacity. With on-demand you can scale instantly, with little or no restrictions, meaning you can grow your business quicker and more easily.

At App4 we work with several delivery providers, such as NASH, who offer a wide range of third-party delivery services, meaning you can get the maximum coverage, at an affordable price, which is automatically managed using our easy-to-use order management system.

Our integrations can provide you with:

• Driver tracking
• Delivery Management
• Last mile delivery
• Order Management

By linking online orders direct to the delivery provider, we can give you complete visibility of who is collecting the order, when they will arrive, where they are in transit and when the food arrives with your customer. Your customers also benefit from full visibility of where their order is and when it will arrive.

We also integrated directly with a variety of Epos providers to enable a seamless link between your Epos and online orders with your menu always in sync and up to date. For more information on how App4 can integrate your online ordering with on-demand delivery or Epos partners, call us on 01332 418 573 or email sales@app4.co.uk.