Do the stop math
Count your time per stop, including parking, walking to the door and sending the message. Here is a sample week of 40 orders, at 6 minutes a stop.
Sample data.
That is before the driving between stops. Your own numbers will differ, and the big unknown is how many customers would really switch. So count a real week, then ask your customers. Our routes guide covers the driving.
To turn this into money, multiply the hours by what the driver costs. At $20 an hour, the 2.2 hours saved at the doors comes to $44 a week, before fuel.
Why gyms are a good fit
If you sell macro or fitness meals, your customers are already at the gym, a few times a week, on a schedule. A gym gets something to offer its members, and you get a stop with many orders and a steady stream of people who already care about what they eat.
Others do this in public. A YMCA in New Jersey lists a meal company that stocks a fridge at the Y twice a week, with free delivery there and a member discount code. In St. Louis, a meal company put refrigerated lockers in gyms, opened with a code. Offices, coffee shops, studios and churches can work the same way.
You don't need lockers to start. Look through your orders for a gym your customers already go to, and ask the owner a plain question: "Six of your members order from me each week. Could I drop their food here on Tuesday?" A named number of their own members is a better start than a pitch.
What to agree with a partner
- What they get. Most often a discount for their members, or a share of sales. Start with something simple that you can keep up.
- Where the food goes, and who owns the fridge. This is the big question, and the next section covers it.
- Pickup hours. Set a window, and check that the door is open for all of it.
- Who hands over the food, if not a fridge your customers open themselves. A busy front desk won't want to check names at 6 pm.
- What happens to meals nobody collects. Write down how long you hold them, who removes them and whether the customer gets a refund. Tell customers before they order.
- How either side can stop. Keep it short, in writing and friendly.
Keep it cold, and ask first
FDA's model Food Code holds cold food at 41°F or below, but the Code is a model, and your state or county sets the rule that binds you. We couldn't find one national rule on keeping your food in someone else's fridge. So ask your local health department before your first drop, and tell them exactly where the food will sit and for how long.
Then make it easy to prove. Keep a thermometer in the fridge or cooler, and write the temperature down at each drop. Check whether your insurance covers food held at another site. If you use a cooler in place of a fridge, test it on a hot day with a full load.
Try one location first
Don't rebuild your week on a guess. Run one location for four weeks, and let the numbers decide.
- Pick the spot with the most customers nearby. Sort your orders by zip code, and look for a cluster.
- Give people a reason to switch. Free pickup next to a paid delivery fee does most of the work. Tell your customers in that area first.
- Set a number that makes the stop worth it. Decide how many orders the location needs, such as 5 a week. If it misses that for four weeks, stop and try somewhere else.
- Count before and after. Write down your stops and your hours for the week before you start, and again at the end.
When home delivery is still the right answer
Some customers will pay well to have food at their door, and they may not come to you otherwise. So you don't have to choose. A common setup is free pickup and paid delivery, with a fee that covers the drive. Set the fee from what a stop really costs you.
The Eat Fresh Tech way
Here's how you would set up pickup locations.
You can have as many pickup locations as you like, at no extra charge, alongside home delivery.
- Each location is set up your way. It has its own address, a pickup window in your words, and the option to skip delivery fees.
- A location can have its own day. A gym can get its food the day before or after your main delivery day. Customers see that day, and your kitchen still works from a single menu date.
- Delivery regions set where you drive and what it costs. An address outside your area is steered to a pickup location.
- The kitchen sees each location. Totals and orders filter by location, so packing a gym's order is one list.
- Customers know it's there. Once the food is dropped off, you send a delivery confirmation to one customer or a whole location, by email and by text if you use texting.
A locker setup needs its own system for fridges and pickup codes. Agreements, cold holding and your health department's answer stay with you.