Fast Casual: Why More Brands Are Considering Home Delivery

New York University Professor of Clinical Marketing Scott Galloway shares an enlightening perspective on Uber in his speech last year in which he described the company's fleet of drivers as a “vascular system for business” and a “broadband pipe for atoms." The bottom line is that we’re entering an era in which it is incredibly inexpensive to move both people and things from point A to point B. Now, just about anyone can use on-demand logistics on a trip-by-trip basis.

As a result, restaurants who have never previously offered delivery now find themselves looking more closely at that possibility. This is particularly true after many restaurateurs discover that consumers have doubled their weekly use of home-delivery for meals in just the past five years alone. So a lot of restaurants are now seriously considering using a third-party, on-demand delivery provider like Postmates, GrubHub and Uber itself.

These companies are in the business of collecting food at the restaurant and delivering it to consumers wherever they are for a fee. Typically, consumers pay the additional cost for the delivery service, just as consumers pay shipping fees for e-commerce purchases. But, instead of being shipped, perishable food orders are delivered. The premise, however, is the same: One party prepares the food, while the other party delivers it.

When restaurant brands prepare operationally for delivery, they must start by learning the skills required to use digital ordering successfully. That means employees must be able to:

• Efficiently receive orders from outside the traditional point-of-sale interface.

• Prepare orders just-in-time.

• Package orders for off-premise consumption.

• Conduct all the above activities without disrupting in-store operations.