Delivery drivers can be a great asset to your restaurant delivery business, or a great headache. As the face of your business to your customer, a professional, friendly driver can add a touch of great personal service to each customer interaction. But if they aren’t prompt and organized, they can ruin the experience for your customer even if the food is delicious.
Luckily, tech tools can help your delivery drivers deliver outstanding service along with your outstanding food. There are apps for delivery and apps for online ordering, and now delivery management modules can be just as portable. Here’s some ways today’s driver management apps are helping restaurant delivery drivers.
Need to Know
Say good-bye to the messy pile of paper tickets! Using an app to organize deliveries lets drivers see exactly what they need to know about each order. In addition to customer information, a driver app can give insight into how much time the driver has to get to the house before the order is considered “late”, what payment to expect, any coupons to collect, and even special messages about the order. Maybe the customer specifically requested a to-go menu, or wants you to call on arrival. This is all neatly summarized in a good delivery management app.
Quick Navigation
Need a little extra help getting where you’re going? We’re all familiar with navigation apps and drivers have used them for years. Tying navigation into your driver management app helps keep drivers eyes on the road by launching navigation with just one click.
Click to Call
Sometimes, an old-fashioned phone call to the customer is required - like when the driver can’t track down the gate code, can’t find the front door, or is cornered in the yard by a ferocious dog! A quick click in the driver app makes a phone call easy.
Arrival Accountability
As a restaurant owner, you probably track key metrics, like on time deliveries. But how do you really know when the driver dropped off that pizza? If the customer complains that their pizza was cold, is it possible that your driver made a pitstop on the way to the house? With a driver management app, you’ll know for sure when the driver arrived in the actual vicinity of the house. That’s what GPS is for.
Where’s My Driver?
Speaking of GPS, have you ever wondered what happened to the driver that left 40 minutes ago? Is he ever coming back tonight? With a driver management app, driver locations can be reported back to the in-store map, so you can easily tell exactly where those drivers are hanging out.
Payment Upgrades
When a customer pays online or over the phone with a credit card, a good driver management app can help encourage a generous tip with an on screen signature function. Just hand the phone to the customer so they can electronically sign and tip. This saves the hassle of driver or managers having to enter the tips manually at the end of the night, and helps protect you by keeping the electronic signature on file.
With all these benefits, savvy delivery restaurant operators are relying more and more on driver management apps to help deliveries flow smoothly.
Sound intriguing? The Thr!ve technology suite includes Dr!ve, our full featured driver management app that integrates with the Thr!ve POS system.
