What is Restaurant Delivery Management Software?

The world is rapidly changing, introducing new technology every day. Things like AI-generated content, self-driving cars, and automation software are becoming more common by the day - and the restaurant industry is no different. While we’re still a way off from robotic fry and burger flippers, restaurant delivery management software is very real, and it’s here to help.

Whether you’re brand new to the delivery game or were an early adopter of third-party delivery platforms like GrubHub or Uber Eats, I’ve got great news. Delivery management software for restaurants is finally at the point where it can easily improve your restaurant’s performance. But just saying that doesn’t mean anything - so today will be a simple one. 

Let’s start with definitions, shall we?

Delivery Management Software for Restaurants

Restaurant delivery management software is a very long term to describe the (not so simple) act of aggregating and automating your third-party delivery services. In other words, that set of tablets that you need a server constantly watching for orders to transcribe? Yeah, that’s automatic now.

As if that weren’t enough, there are more advanced systems called restaurant middleware or “all-in-one” delivery management platforms. These take the concept of delivery management software and extend it to your POS; everything you need to manage orders is suddenly in one spot. And once that’s done, some (i.e., high-quality) delivery management platforms will even help you gather data to further improve the customer experience (more on that farther down).

So, we know what delivery management software for restaurants is, but why should you care?

Why Use Restaurant Delivery Management Software?

We will focus on what every restaurant always needs: money, time, and efficiency.

There are near-countless reasons that I could use to extoll the virtues of delivery management software. But today, we’re sticking to the basics, so we’re going to focus on the four things that every restaurant always needs: money, time, and efficiency.

Ease of Use & Efficiency

Let’s be painfully honest for a second - when you first started with third-party delivery, your wait times probably left quite a bit to be desired. While that can feel embarrassing, ultimately, it’s just the truth of the matter; bringing in new services and software to your business can take some work and occasionally cause hiccups.

This is where restaurant delivery management software comes into play. Rather than trying to retrain your staff and instruct them on the specifics of a potentially complicated piece of software, quality software does the work for you and helps boost your restaurant’s efficiency. They automatically aggregate the most important aspects of your delivery service into one easy-to-use place, ensuring that your orders come in accurately, in order, and on time.

And considering that it’s kinda the whole point, high-quality delivery management software will help your kitchen, too, by clarifying orders. They’ll separate sides from entrees, color-code orders, and more - all to ensure orders are correct and that each second is spent in the most efficient manner possible.

This brings us to our next point - tablet hell. 

Tablet Hell

As an extension of the argument of efficiency for restaurant delivery management software, we must address the elephant in the room. At its most concise description, tablet hell is the moment when all of your delivery tablets ring orders at once. Weeded, screwed, “86 hope,” whatever your joint calls this moment, it’s not good. 

Delivery management software for restaurants solves this. It automatically brings all your orders together and, importantly, does so without costing your staff time or attention. This frees up your servers, hosts, and bartenders to do something else. Whether that’s rolling the silverware, tending to tables, or chatting up the kitchen for free fries, you’ve cut a task out of your staff’s laundry list of chores permanently.

Money & Time

And now we make it to the two factors that matter the most in business - money and time. They’re inextricably linked, and when you lose one, you lose the other. This means that every iota of time saved is a blessing; it frees your staff to do the most important aspects of their job rather than babysitting a tablet. 

And while the FOH will undoubtedly love their newfound freedom from their tablet overlords, it’ll benefit the kitchen, too.

You see, when orders come in all at once, it can be challenging for the kitchen. No matter how grizzled those Back of House veterans you have in the kitchen are, they can only cook so much food and only so quickly. By ensuring that your third-party delivery services ring in their orders swiftly and accurately, you cut that out of the equation (for the most part). 

While moments of craziness are bound to happen in this industry, having software to handle the painful (and occasionally frustrating) bits makes it that much easier to power through.

Data

This is one of those factors that’s often forgotten - but it’s super helpful. While not all delivery management software does this, a select few (cough, cough… Cuboh…) do. 

By “this,” of course, I mean collecting user data. “But why should I care about that? We’re a pizza/sushi/Mediterranean restaurant, not a marketing agency,” I can hear you saying. And you would be correct - but do you know what most restaurants could really use?

That’s right! Most restaurants need customer data and metrics to determine the health of their business. Knowing who comes to your joint and why is crucial to monitoring your restaurant's performance. If you select the correct system, that’s information you could collect without any significant effort. You can discover who frequents your restaurant through delivery, where they’re at (location-wise), and more - and that’s not all.

We talk a lot about KPIs and specific metrics that measure the health of your business here. If you’re new to our blog, you can find guides to specific metrics, data, and KPIs here.

But if you’re not new to our blog, you know where we’re going with this. Restaurant delivery management software and, by extension, restaurant middleware gathers loads of numbers on your restaurant and then does the math for you. Things like revenue per seat, per hour; sales per guest, labor cost percentage, and more are all collected in real-time and given to you in an easy-to-find hub. 

Ultimately, restaurant delivery management software isn’t just about, well, managing deliveries. Quality delivery management systems will encourage you to invest further in your business’s success by helping make your life (and that of your staff) easier. 

Communication & Control

Whether you offer in-house delivery, third-party, one or the other, or both, being able to communicate with and monitor delivery drives is a top priority. A top-notch restaurant delivery management system will allow you to easily (this is important) communicate with drivers. 

That could mean that it allows you (or your staff) to mark orders with various statuses like completed, in route, and more. It could also allow you to process refunds, up-charges, and enable your restaurant to communicate with the drivers directly, rather than through a roundabout in-app mess like some services use.

Ultimately, communicating with and, if necessary, controlling your deliveries more personally makes the entire process smoother and less error-prone. It ensures that you can work out issues in the moment with the people involved rather than needing to deal with out-of-state (or country) customer support teams.

What’s the Solution?

Surprise! It’s self-celebration time. 

In case you’re wondering (you are - you’re here), Cuboh offers an excellent restaurant delivery management system with more than the basic “combine tablets” features. We help ensure that your restaurant is its best self - and that requires additional tools on our part.

As such, we offer a shockingly extensive portfolio of tools to keep your joint up and running as efficiently as possible. You can use Cuboh to manage your online presence (i.e., your website) and adapt your menu and ordering system as needed.  Additionally, we automatically collect all the data you’ll need to stay in the know and put it in a simple, easy-to-understand, one-stop-shop hub. 

And perhaps best of all, we’ve partnered with the most prominent names in third-party delivery: GrubHub, Seamless, DoorDash, Uber Eats, ChowNow, and SkipTheDishes. We’re also partnered with some of the most well-known payment processing services (like Square, among others), inventory management, and first-party delivery services. 

So, in short, Cuboh offers so much to users that it’s tough to just… ignore. Partnering with Cuboh will bring you:

1. Integration with the most well-known third-party delivery services on the market (Psst… DoorDash and Uber Eats took up nearly 80% of the delivery market last year. So, in case you were wondering - yes, third-party delivery is here to stay.)
2. Partnerships with Square and several other top-notch payment processing services
3. Access to partners in first-party delivery and inventory management (BBot, Lunchbox, Market Man)‍
4. Aggregation of your third-party delivery orders into one place. (And in-house delivery, if you have it.) 
5. Collect data on the health of your business.
6. Manage your POS and other internal systems with one, simple software to rule them all. 

If this sounds like your cup of tea, reach out and schedule a Cuboh demo today.

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