Two types of food delivery:
advantages and disadvantages

Living conditions in the modern world, full of bustle, contribute to the emergence of new trends in all areas of our lives. Food delivery is no exception; it is also undergoing significant changes. People, instead of standing at the stove for hours creating culinary masterpieces, prefer to relax and spend more time with their loved ones by ordering delivery from their favorite cafe or restaurant.

The demand for food delivery apps is increasing every day. For clarity, in 2014, 1.32 billion people used online delivery, while in 2020 the figure increased to 2.05 billion people. Impressive, isn’t it?

Consumers are realizing the convenience of ordering food through apps, as they can view a variety of restaurants and their food offerings in just a few minutes and quickly make a choice.

One of the good examples of a well-thought-out successful organization of a delivery service is the 24-hour TanukiFamily , which operates in large cities of Russia and offers, along with popular European recipes, dishes of Italian and Japanese cuisine, especially loved by residents of Russian megacities. This unique company has made a name for itself by focusing on the extremely high quality of products and production technologies, while remaining within the mid-price segment.

Food delivery these days

Several food delivery services are leaders in the Russian market. There are hundreds, if not thousands of organizations in the country that deliver food, and their overall funding is constantly growing.

Despite the large number of services, there are only two most common models by which these services operate. These business models will be discussed in the article.

Why is it important to keep up with the times?

In many American films and TV series, you can observe the following picture: a client dials the number of his favorite pizzeria, orders the necessary dishes, and after some time the doorbell rings - the courier has brought the order.

However, phone calls fade into the background, because it is much more convenient to order what you need with a couple of clicks on your smartphone. Therefore, cafes and restaurants that deliver food to home need to keep up with the times and develop applications aimed at placing online orders. According to statistics, 55% of consumers prefer to order delivery without communicating with the operator accepting orders.

Types of food delivery apps

As already mentioned, there are two most common application models through which a customer can order food delivery.

1. Direct delivery from the restaurant to the client.
2. Delivery from platform to client.

Each of these models has its own pros and cons.

Delivery with the participation of intermediaries

The essence of this type of delivery is that delivery services from the platform to the buyer accept orders, transfer them to restaurants, and then pick them up and deliver them to the customer. That is, platforms are intermediaries that offer customers the choice of the desired cuisine from the entire variety presented on one website or in one application.

This model is good for consumers because it gives customers the opportunity to compare prices and read reviews of restaurants and cafes.

Advantages of the method for restaurants

Platform-to-consumer delivery has a number of benefits not only for customers, but also for restaurants. Intermediary platforms take care of questions about the transportation of goods and insurance. Restaurants benefit from this because they do not have to spend time and resources on these aspects, so they can work on other, higher-priority goals and objectives.

What about profit?

Intermediary platforms resolve issues that require a fairly large amount of money to be spent on, for example, payment for the services of drivers and couriers. To operate the platform and further develop it, it is necessary to cover costs, and therefore companies take a percentage of the cost of orders both from the restaurants with which they cooperate and from the customers who placed the order.

Players in the market

Leading American grocery delivery companies account for 90% of the total food delivery market. 10% are companies that allow customers to place orders not only in popular restaurants, but also in nearby cafes, coffee shops and other small establishments. Thanks to such new applications, which are undoubtedly useful and convenient for consumers, user activity is growing, and the work of intermediary services is gaining momentum, bringing even more profit.

Delivery directly from the restaurant

The difference between this model and the previous one is that restaurants deliver food without intermediaries. In this case, the company independently resolves issues of courier delivery and various technical problems that arise.

Disadvantages of delivery from restaurant to customer

The most significant disadvantage of the model is that it requires a fairly serious investment of funds, because you will need to pay employees, purchase certain equipment and transport.

Therefore, before deciding whether to work with intermediaries or independently, restaurants and cafes are advised to weigh all the pros and cons of both business models and calculate all possible risks.