Business plan for home delivery of products. Money at lunches: how to make money by delivering ready-made food
♦ Capital investments – 500,000 rubles.
♦ Payback – 1 year.
The rhythm of life of business people is so intense that there is practically no time left for cooking.
You have to be content with catering establishments (not everyone can afford them), semi-finished products or dry food.
But you really want hot, delicious lunches and dinners.
It is on such simple desires of people that those who discover food delivery business.
This area of entrepreneurial activity has, of course, its disadvantages, but it has many more advantages.
Therefore, if you want to open a simple and profitable startup, then it’s time to start writing a business plan with specific calculations.
Possible forms of food delivery business
If you are looking at a business related to catering, but do not want to open a restaurant, a cafe, or even a fast food stall, then take a closer look at the food delivery business.
Opening such a startup is much easier than a stationary establishment, and you will have to invest little money.
There are several forms of food delivery business.
Choose the one that is closest to you:
- Cooperation with a cafe or your city: they cook, and you just deliver, making money on the difference in prices.
- You prepare your own food from natural products at home or in a specially rented room, and then deliver lunches to offices, government organizations, etc.
You cook exactly as much as your customers pre-ordered for you. - You prepare some simple dishes (several types of meat and fish), a couple of side dishes, a vegetable salad, pies and go, for example, to the market with an offer to buy a delicious and hot lunch from you.
- Cooking from semi-finished products: hamburgers, dumplings, dumplings, cutlets, etc.
There is also a demand for such a product. - A catering company whose main field of activity is banquets, corporate events and celebrations.
You will have to prepare mainly gourmet snacks.
Advantages and disadvantages of a food delivery business
I would like to start with the disadvantages of the food delivery business, which should be taken into account by entrepreneurs looking at such a startup.
So, the main disadvantages are:
- High level of competition.
In any city, even a small one, there are companies that deliver meals and cater banquets. - Difficulty finding clients.
The most promising places may already be occupied, or you may not be able to convince people to buy products from you. - Problems that may arise with government inspection authorities if you decide to formalize your business.
And yet, despite some difficulties, the food delivery business has many more advantages:
- Relatively small amount of capital investment required to launch a startup.
- Easy to implement the idea even at home.
- High profitability if you can build a wide customer base.
- The opportunity to expand your own business, for example, in the future you will be able to open a stationary cafe.
- Unlimited scope for activity, especially if there are few lunch delivery companies operating in your city.
- A large number of potential customers who need food delivery.
It is from them that you can form your customer base. - Availability of many options for finding clients and conducting an advertising campaign.
Where to look for clients for those who want to open a food delivery business?
The profit of food delivery companies directly depends on the breadth of their customer base.
The principle is simple: the more products they order from you daily, the higher your income will be.
That is why, before you open a lunch delivery business, you need to decide how exactly you will advertise your company and look for clients.
There are only 3 most common ways to find clients:
- Visits to offices and government organizations in your city.
You can leave your business cards and price lists, or you can do something even more cunning: prepare several dishes to try.
If they are tasty, then your chances of getting a client will increase significantly. - Using traditional advertising tools: advertisements, flyers, booklets, etc.
- Internet.
This resource needs to be used to the maximum: social networks, contextual advertising, communication on the forum.
If the amount of starting capital allows, then you can create your own website so that customers can familiarize themselves with the range of your dishes, pricing policy, see how appetizing the dishes look, read reviews from satisfied customers, and even place an order.
How to make your lunch delivery business profitable?
Opening a startup is much easier than making it successful and profitable.
If you want your food delivery business to pay off in the first year after opening and continue to develop in the future, you need to create competent competitive advantages:
- Good taste of the dishes you prepare.
- Acceptable pricing policy.
- The ability to deliver hot lunch not only to central offices, but also to companies that operate on the outskirts.
- A system of discounts and nice bonuses for the holidays for regular customers.
- Thematic decoration of dishes during the pre-holiday and holiday periods.
- Constantly updating the menu.
- Having a platform where your customers could put forward their suggestions, thank or complain.
This is the only way to study the tastes of your consumers as much as possible in order to give them exactly what they require. - Polite and friendly staff.
- Punctuality in delivery.
- Cleanliness in the kitchen where you cook.
One hair in your lunch and you are guaranteed to lose a client.
Food Delivery Business: Calendar Plan
The timing of launching a startup directly depends on how large-scale the business project you plan to open.
If you are going to cook right at home and sell the finished products at the nearest market, then you need no more than a week to start your business.
If you want to do everything officially: register, rent a room, launch an advertising campaign, etc., then all this will take you several months.
| Stage | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registration | |||||
| Renting premises | |||||
| Purchase of equipment | |||||
| Recruitment | |||||
| Advertising campaign | |||||
| Opening |
Registration for a food delivery business
Interesting fact from history:
The largest dish prepared since ancient times is considered to be fried camel. This dish was served in the courts of Moroccan rulers hundreds of years ago and continues to be prepared today at Bedouin weddings. This camel is stuffed with one whole lamb, 20 chickens, 60 eggs and many other ingredients.
Many businessmen who deliver meals prepared right in their home kitchens do not register at all.
If you are going to serve food, for example, at a market, then you can follow their example.
If you want to open a serious company that delivers lunches to all major offices in your city, then it is better to legally register your business and rent a suitable premises for cooking.
To start engaging in this type of activity, it is enough to register as an individual entrepreneur, register with the Tax Service, pay all state fees and select a form of taxation, for example, UTII.
The most difficult part of the registration procedure is obtaining permission from the SES and the Fire Service to operate the premises, as well as issuing medical records for all its employees.
If you doubt that you can handle all this on your own, you can involve a qualified lawyer in the case.
Premises for food delivery business
You don't need a huge premises to start a business.
50–80 squares are enough to place all the utensils, kitchen surfaces, ovens, stoves and refrigerators.
The location of your business does not play a big role, the main thing is that it is not too far from potential customers, because they will want to receive hot lunches.
There is no need to make major renovations to the rented premises - clients won’t see it anyway.
You just need to meet the requirements of the SES, make the room clean, dry and safe for cooking.
Equipment for food delivery business
Of course, to prepare lunches, you will need standard kitchen equipment: a stove, oven, refrigerator, freezer, as well as a variety of cooking utensils, cutting boards, etc.
The quality of the dinners you prepare does not depend on the cost and brand of equipment, so you should not buy the most expensive things.
Look for unnecessary pots and pans in your home, and take a closer look at used or discounted household appliances.
If you don't have anything, you'll have to buy everything from scratch.
To open a small food delivery business, you will have to buy the following set of equipment:
| Expense item | Qty | Cost (in rub.) | Total amount (in rub.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total: | 200,000 rub. | ||
| Kitchen stove with oven | 1 | 50 000 | 50 000 |
Microwave oven  | 1 | 10 000 | 10 000 |
| Food processor | 1 | 10 000 | 10 000 |
Hood  | 1 | 15 000 | 15 000 |
| Fridge | 1 | 30 000 | 30 000 |
| Freezer | 1 | 30 000 | 30 000 |
| Kitchen surfaces with bedside tables | 2 | 9 000 | 18 000 |
Pans of different sizes  | 3 | 1 500 | 4 500 |
Sauté pans  | 2 | 1 000 | 2 000 |
Pots of different sizes  | 3 | 1 500 | 4 500 |
Cutting boards  | 4 | 250 | 1 000 |
Knives  | 5 | 600 | 3 000 |
Roasting and baking dishes  | 4 | 1 000 | 4 000 |
Ladles, spatulas, spoons and other utensils  | 5 000 | 5 000 | |
| Graters | 2 | 500 | 1 000 |
| Other | 12 000 | 12 000 |
Staff for a food delivery company
Even a small food delivery business is difficult to manage alone.
You can, of course, try to combine the responsibilities of a cook, delivery driver, advertising agent, administrator and accountant, but this is quite difficult to do.
If you cannot turn this business into a family one, for example, run it together with your husband/wife, inviting an accountant to resolve financial issues, then you should think about hiring staff.
The best option is to hire a cook and an auxiliary worker who will not only do the grunt work (peeling vegetables, washing dishes), but also clean the room, and leave the delivery of ready-made meals, searching for clients, purchasing groceries and accounting matters to yourself.
The cost of staff salaries in this case will be from 25,000 rubles per month.
| Qty | Salary (in rub.) | Total (in rub.) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total: | 25,000 rub. | ||
| Cook | 1 | 15 000 | 15 000 |
| Helper worker | 1 | 10 000 | 10 000 |
How much does it cost to open a food delivery business?
Your expenses for starting a food delivery business directly depend on the future size of the company, on whether you will cook in your own kitchen or in a rented room, on whether you will be able to save on the purchase of equipment, on the city where you are going to work , and other factors.
If you want to make everything official, then get ready to invest about half a million rubles in launching a startup:
| Expense item | Amount (in rub.) |
|---|---|
| Total: | 300,000 rub. |
| Registration | 10 000 |
| Equipment purchase | 200 000 |
| Thermal bags for lunch delivery | 30 000 |
| Purchase of disposable tableware | 10 000 |
| Purchase of the first batch of cooking products | 20 000 |
| Advertising | 10 000 |
| Additional costs | 20 000 |
You should definitely include money for three months of business maintenance in capital investments.
It usually takes three months to start making more or less decent profits.
In our case, the amount for running a food delivery business will consist of renting premises, staff salaries, taxes and consumables (gasoline for cars, groceries, plastic dishes).
Multiply 65,000 rubles. by 3, which is equal to 195,000 rubles, add 300,000 rubles to this amount. to start a business and receive half a million rubles in capital investment.
This amount will increase even more if you do not have a car, which is necessary for everyone who organizes a food delivery business.
You can buy an inexpensive car in decent condition for RUR 150,000.
Download a ready-made business plan for food delivery with quality guarantee.
Contents of the business plan:1. Privacy
2. Summary
3. Project implementation stages
4. Characteristics of the object
5. Marketing plan
6. Technical and economic data of equipment
7. Financial plan
8. Risk assessment
9. Financial and economic justification for investments
10. Conclusions
About how large home food delivery companies work
watch the video:
Profitability of food delivery business
Experts have different assessments of the food delivery business.
Some – 10%, and some – 25%.
Let’s say the average cost of one set lunch is 100 rubles.
You have 60 clients who order lunch from you every day, that is, you earn 6,000 rubles per day.
Your clients’ days off are Saturday and Sunday; on these days they don’t need lunch, which means you make a profit only 20–22 days a month.
We multiply the number of working days by the amount of daily revenue and get an amount of 120–132,000 rubles per month.
It takes away the amount you spend on business maintenance and consumables (65,000 rubles) and we get a monthly profit of 55–67,000 rubles.
As you can see, with such indicators food delivery business becomes self-sustaining within a year of operation.
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The number of offices is growing, and along with it, the demand for the opportunity to have a quick and tasty lunch during a short break is increasing. Of course, there is already quite high competition in the food industry, but the new company will still be in demand if it can achieve high quality services. Where to start in this area of business?
First steps
Producing ready-made meals is a great idea for a food delivery service. But before you start, you should think everything through carefully.
To achieve maximum profitability, you will need to invest in the full cycle of work, which includes preparing dishes and delivering them to the client.
If your culinary skills allow, you can do the cooking yourself. At the same time, it is important to be able to approach business creatively and cook from the heart, so that not a single client is left disappointed with the quality of the food.
Delivery of ready-made lunches to offices can be carried out by the same person, if you think through the schedule well and prepare everything in advance, but the load in this case will be very high. It is better to immediately consider the possibility of hiring a courier, although with the right amount of enthusiasm you can manage without one for some time.
Paperwork
To conduct business legally, you need to officially register your business. Lunch delivery is often carried out without any documents, since the owners plan to register a company only after profits become stable. But this is a serious risk.
Such activity may result in large fines. So it’s better to register as an individual entrepreneur from the very beginning. It is necessary to visit the tax office, pay the state fee and fill out a form, and also write an application for inclusion in the state register of Russia, which lists all individual entrepreneurs in the country.
After this, you should proceed to obtain permission from the sanitary and epidemiological service. To do this, you will need a package of documents, which includes an application, copies of a certificate of state registration and a rental agreement for premises, and hygienic certificates for finished products.
After submitting all the papers, the chief sanitary doctor will issue the necessary confirmation. You will also need a health certificate and a bank account if the company plans to provide non-cash payment options. It will take about a month to complete all the necessary paperwork.
Kitchen equipment
Before starting work, you should check which devices are already available, and include the purchase of all missing ones in your business plan. Delivering lunches to the office does not require expensive supplies. Kitchen utensils should be of high quality, but not necessarily new. As a rule, you need different pots, several frying pans, a blender, a set of knives, cutting boards, a grater, and baking dishes. A microwave or pressure cooker can also be useful, as this will make cooking much faster.
The minimum that will have to be spent on equipment is five thousand Russian rubles. Quite a small amount that will quickly pay for itself after delivery starts. If it still seems serious, you can use used equipment. Replacing it later will not be a problem, and for the first time this will be enough.
Order raw materials
Like any other business, lunch delivery must be of the highest quality. This means that products should be ordered from trusted suppliers and used fresh. You can save money by shopping not at the supermarket, but at wholesale centers and markets. You can find a large company that supplies food and make a commercial offer for lunch delivery. You will receive raw materials at the best possible price, providing your partner company with food.
Be sure to ask new suppliers for documents confirming quality. Only then will you have successful and popular lunch delivery. The business plan should take into account not only the cost of food, but also the cost of purchasing related products: napkins, special containers for soups and main courses, plastic plates and cups. For the courier, you will need to purchase a spacious thermal bag, with which you can deliver food still hot even in winter.
Marketing activities
No business can do without advertising. Lunch delivery is no exception, so you should pay attention to marketing from the very beginning. First of all, be sure to print out your business cards.
They can be distributed not only in offices with potential clients, but also in stores, banks, parking lots and services. A great promotional idea would be to offer a free trial meal. People who like your food will likely order it.
Despite the fact that the ready-made food delivery market today is quite competitive, finding your customers in this business niche is quite possible.
In order for a food delivery business to be profitable, it is more profitable to specialize in the full cycle of operation of your enterprise, that is, to organize all services, from preparing dishes to delivering food to the client.
At the initial stage of business development, you can get by with your own kitchen; you will need a person who knows how to cook well, plus several couriers for delivery.
An investment of $5,000 is sufficient to set up a ready-to-eat meal delivery business. This amount should be enough to purchase products, a minimum set of equipment, and staff salaries.
Companies that have been delivering lunch for several years and are actively developing their business, as a rule, already have operators on their staff who take calls, an administrative apparatus, high-tech equipment and invest significant funds in promoting the service.
However, in any case, to develop this business you need to be prepared for growth. And remember that the company's main capital is its clients.
As a rule, the basis of the range of food delivery companies is semi-finished products that are purchased from wholesale manufacturers.
According to statistics, lunch delivery services in the range of 100-150 rubles are in high demand. This line of activity brings ready-to-eat food delivery companies up to 80% of their profits.
The presence of a client base is an indicator of a professional approach to organizing and running such a business.
I have a canteen in Novosibirsk, I would be glad if someone distributed food and looked for clients.
Everything is fine, but what about the full legalization of business, because in an apartment this means underground
You don't necessarily need $5,000 to start a food delivery business. we opened with a minimum investment of less than 1000 rubles. It’s easy to find a restaurant canteen and negotiate, but the main question that arises is how to find a client!? If interested, take a look at our website http://www.obed.etork.ru/
Do I have the right to supply lunches to markets prepared in my own kitchen?
Make do with your own kitchen!?!? Tough. Damn "advisers"!
Why, I wonder, is delivery so expensive for 100 rubles?) Lunch is delivered in a time machine from 2001?
Hello. Tell me how to organize mass acceptance of orders for lunch delivery? Thank you.
Let's say a business can be organized, but how to keep these lunches hot? weeks there are special thermoses that are so big? otherwise you won't get anywhere
Here is a lawyer’s explanation about peddling (delivery of sushi and pizza), which shows that delivery of food from restaurants is not legal, hence the lack of delivery in restaurants and cafes. Please provide clarification on what basis (article of law, etc.) I can deliver food from restaurants and cafes, thank you. "Passage trade is retail trade carried out outside a stationary retail network through direct contact between the seller and the buyer in organizations, in transport, at home or on the street. This type of trade includes trade by hand, tray, from baskets and hand carts; 10/04/2012 Changes have been made to the Rules for the sale of certain types of goods. According to these rules, beer cannot now be sold as a peddle." RULES FOR SALE OF CERTAIN TYPES OF GOODS dated January 19, 1998 N 55 as amended on October 4, 2012." "4. When carrying out retail trade at the buyer's location outside of stationary places of trade: at home, at the place of work and school, in transport, on the street and in other places (hereinafter referred to as peddling trade), the sale of food products (with the exception of ice cream, soft drinks) is not allowed , confectionery and bakery products in the manufacturer's packaging), medicines, products made of precious metals and precious stones, weapons and ammunition, copies of audiovisual works and phonograms, programs for electronic computers and databases." The ban does not apply to ice cream, soft drinks, confectionery and bakery products in the manufacturer's packaging. Sushi is also not included in the list of goods allowed for peddling pizza. Pizza production enterprises must meet sanitary requirements. Pizza production. must comply with Rospotrebnadzor standards for enterprises producing bakery products."
just yesterday I started this business lunches in offices, cool idea
In my city, a girl opened sushi to order. At first, they actually did it in their kitchen (her husband is a sushi master))). because It’s a small town, we all know it, and we know that it’s not g.. but they put it there, and they posted photos with food, their kitchen, equipment, and a video of the cooking process. we even know which store they buy everything from. they delivered it themselves. communication was via contact, cell phone and skype. then they expanded and rented space. are thriving. so don't judge without thinking.
I want to open a delivery service for different cuisines. Is the cooking kitchen itself on the second floor of a garage 70 km2 real?
Not a single health station will allow you to cook food at home or on the second floor of a garage. It is very difficult here to find premises suitable for this business. I have been searching for three months already. The premises must be located in a separate building and many others. There is a lot of information on the Internet, and everything is very difficult if you cook it yourself.
About a separate building - pure nonsense. In addition, the sanitary service turns a blind eye to such “truths” as ceiling heights of at least 3 meters. 70m2 is an excellent area for placing a kitchen, but there are still many points that need to be taken into account. Go to the consumer safety department and find out everything there)
I also thought of such a thing, but first I’m thinking of trying to deliver (delivery) food from our cafes and restaurants. Place an order from a client for yourself in the same cafes, restaurants, etc. and deliver it yourself. And there the cook can rent a room for tricky dishes, well, in general, criticize ...
Before delving into all the secrets and deciding to open your own business, you need to understand how food delivery services work.
Food delivery is a service that provides users with the opportunity to order dishes from restaurants and receive food in a short time, and also provides information about catering establishments in the city:
- prices;
- stock;
- menu.
How do companies in this business sector make money? The partner restaurant pays a percentage of each order delivered to the delivery service. This service is convenient not only for customers, but also for restaurateurs, because with its help it becomes possible to attract more customers.
Food delivery business: where to start
If you have decided to open a business in this area, then you should start by creating your own website. It should be simple and understandable for users. The website should present a colorful menu of various restaurants with prices and descriptions of dishes.
Another important point when organizing a business is the geolocation service - automatic determination of the customer’s location, based on which a choice of restaurants located within a radius of 2-5 kilometers is offered. This will reduce the waiting time for your order.
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When organizing such a business, it is important to take into account the fact that more than 50% of global Internet traffic comes from mobile devices. That is why special attention should be paid to creating an application for platforms such as:
- Android;
- Windows.
The owners of Delivery Club, the largest food delivery service in Russia, note that more than 70% of orders come from mobile devices. In addition, the Delivery Club smartphone application provides the ability to select a geoposition. Users can pay with both plastic cards and cash.
The owners of the food delivery service Foodfox, after launching a mobile application for iOS, decided not to stop there and created a courier application. It allows you to track the location of couriers and update the order status online. For now, this function is available only to administrators, but in the future the owners plan to provide this opportunity to their clients.
Partnership with restaurants
If you want to open a food delivery business, one of the main tasks will be finding partner restaurants. How to establish mutually beneficial terms of cooperation with catering?
Your task is to select a number of restaurants with which you want to start cooperation. Next, you need to send a commercial offer by email or personally talk with the owners of the establishments. In most cases, organizing a delivery service for restaurateurs is a complex, time-consuming process, so they willingly agree to partnership.
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There are two options for cooperation:
- fixed payment for delivery: the client places an order for any amount, but at the same time he needs to pay separately for food delivery (this amount will be the organization’s income);
- fixed minimum check amount: the client can place an order for a minimum set amount. In this case, your company receives profit in the form of interest paid by the partner restaurant.
These conditions must be discussed in advance with the owners of catering establishments.
At this stage, it is important to remember one rule: “The client will re-order only if he is satisfied with the food he ordered.” If a restaurant loses a customer, then your business loses income.
It is important to follow trends and take into account the taste preferences of the audience. The head of the center for expert business support "KLEN" Vladimir Mikhailov believes that today.
Restaurant rating
If you decide to organize your business in this area, then special attention should be paid to the distribution of restaurants on your list. It is not necessary to include all catering establishments in the city on your list. Establishments whose dishes leave much to be desired can be completely removed from the list. Establishments with the best service and delicious food should be ranked first.
- number of failures, for example, per month;
- reviews;
- number of repeat orders.
Accordingly, if a restaurant does not have repeat orders, and customer reviews are not the most flattering, then the establishment drops in the ranking from the first lines to lower positions.
Transferring orders to restaurants
Another challenge many food delivery services face is handing over orders to restaurants. Typically, email is used in this situation. However, this process creates many inconveniences, for example, the establishment needs to hire a separate person who will check mail and transmit orders to the kitchen. The service itself also loses precious minutes, and the waiting time for the client increases.
The owners of Delivery Club have found an excellent solution to this problem. An application is installed on the tablet, which displays information about the receipt of the order, as well as the address and form of payment. Next, the tablet is handed over to the waiter, who will work with the device in the same way as he serves restaurant guests. That is, the waiter takes the order through the tablet and passes it to the kitchen, where the chefs begin preparing the ordered food.
“Lucky is the one who is lucky”
Another very important point when starting a business is the organization and timing of delivery. Generally, food customers want their food to arrive hot and as quickly as possible.
Alexey Ovchinnikov, a 32-year-old startup entrepreneur, paid special attention to solving this problem in his project “Hunger”.
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The business project “Hunger” promises to deliver food to its customers within 8 minutes. This figure was determined for a reason. Ovchinnikov analyzed the procedure for ordering food and determined that more than 60% of the time is spent on preparing food and only 40% is spent on delivery. In addition, it takes about half an hour to select dishes. The businessman suggested reducing the choice to a minimum:
- fish;
- meat;
- chicken.
In this case, dishes must be prepared in advance. Ovchinnikov also conducted an experiment and calculated that the average delivery time for dishes in Moscow is 8 minutes. In addition, it was estimated that the courier spends quite a lot of time searching for a parking space and an office.
When ordering food through “Hunger”, the client must comply with two conditions: pay with a card and go out on their own to order. As practice has shown, for the sake of fast delivery, people don’t mind going out and picking up their lunch. However, in an interview with RBC, the entrepreneur said that at the moment the service does not fit into 8 minutes, and the delivery time takes 2 times longer.
The Foodfox service has found another solution to this business problem. The client is invited to choose food only from those restaurants that are located within a radius of 2-2.5 kilometers from him. Thus, the delivery time of the dish is about 15-18 minutes, plus 20-25 minutes for preparation. As a result, the client receives hot food within 40-45 minutes.
But the most original solution was used by the owners of the Pizza Empire restaurant. Their courier is an ordinary dog. In order for the animal to correctly find customers, a special device was developed with a GPS navigator and two vibrators (left and right), it is these vibrations that guide the dog along a given route. The administrator of the establishment can also track the position of the “courier” on the map. In addition, special packaging was developed to ensure that the pizza retains its original quality.
Today, most people find it difficult to find time to go to the supermarket for groceries and prepare home-cooked meals. In such situations, various services for the delivery of food and ready-to-eat dishes come to the rescue. This means that business in this service segment will become profitable and quickly recoup the initial costs. However, before investing in a food delivery service, you need to create a detailed business plan and evaluate your capabilities.
Analysis of the feasibility of investing in a food delivery business
Modern society is characterized by a high pace of life; many people have irregular work schedules that do not allow them to stand at the stove for hours. The average city dweller is forced to reduce the time spent on food, and in most cases, an hour of working time is valued more expensive than ordering ready-made food. This is why the demand for food delivery services is increasing.
These factors have made the food delivery business the fastest growing segment of the restaurant business. Data from the analytical agency RBC.Research and statistics from the Delivery Club service suggest a rapid growth in demand for home delivery services for ready-made lunches and dinners.
Every day in Russia, food delivery services deliver 150,000 orders
Table: information on the development of the business area in 2017
It is obvious that the demand for delivery services still far exceeds supply, which means that the quantity and quality of the service can be improved. This statement is an external prerequisite for starting your own food delivery business.
Internal reasons for investing in this segment include:
Ideas for starting a food delivery business
A food delivery business can be opened in 2 formats, which require radically different approaches and an incomparable level of initial investment:
- wok noodles;
- pizza;
- sushi and rolls.
Photo gallery: the most popular dishes for home delivery
The highest incomes, subject to proper customer attraction, are observed among catering companies serving banquets and corporate parties. Such an organization requires high skill of cooks and the availability of expensive equipment.
To reduce costs at the initial stage, you can:
Video: how to make money delivering food
Own production and delivery
Its production requires obtaining a full set of permits from regulatory authorities and resolving issues with the operating procedure:
Self-production requires renting large premises, purchasing expensive equipment and obtaining permits to work with food.
Organization of food production is an independent topic with many nuances, so in this article we will consider only issues related to food delivery itself.
Mediation between catering establishments and clients
Many restaurant and cafe owners are forced to abandon the organization of home delivery services due to the high costs of this method of increasing sales. Delivery requires hiring additional personnel, who need to be paid money, regardless of the number of orders per day; in addition, you will have to advertise the service and allocate funds for disposable packaging and repairs of transport.
Most restaurants are not ready to organize their own delivery service, which means you can enter into an agreement with them to provide intermediary services
If a consumer likes the menu of an establishment that refuses to provide delivery services, all he can do is come and place an order in person or use delivery elsewhere. But not everyone has time to go to a restaurant, and therefore customers, including potential ones, get lost. The problem is resolved after concluding an agreement with the delivery service - this is beneficial to both parties.
Table: advantages of cooperation between catering establishments and food delivery services
The advantages of this food delivery business model are:
How to open a food delivery business: step-by-step instructions
To start your own food delivery business to homes and offices, follow the instructions below:
Business registration
First of all, you need to register your business, otherwise the activity will be illegal, fines for tax evasion will follow, and it will be impossible to conclude an agreement with public catering establishments.
To open a food delivery service, it is better to register a legal entity
Russian laws prohibit the sale of takeaway prepared food, with the only exceptions being pizza, pies and some baked goods. And while large companies are often forgiven for such violations, individual entrepreneurs will not be able to register such activities.
A serious approach to organizing a business involves registering a legal entity - doing business becomes more difficult in terms of taxation, accounting, reporting and large fines for violations, but LLC still has its advantages over individual entrepreneurs:
Also pay attention to the choice of taxation system - if you do not indicate during registration that you would like to switch to a simplified system (USN) or a single tax on imputed income (UTII), the general system (OSNO) will automatically be applied to you, which involves paying a large number of taxes. taxes and preparation of many reports, which will significantly complicate running a business for a beginner.
Preparation of documents and obtaining permits
In order to start a legal business activity, you need to have the following documents on hand:
The full list of documents depends on the current requirements of regulatory services. Do not forget to save all accounting reports and primary documentation (checks, invoices, etc.), otherwise fines from the tax office will follow.
All documents relating to the financial aspects of a businessman’s activities must be kept in perfect order.
Menu creation
In the case of delivery of ready-made dishes from restaurants and cafes in your city, you create a menu based on the offer of establishments with which you were able to conclude an agreement, replenishing the assortment as new agreements are signed.
If you organize your own production, everything will depend on the financial capabilities of the business owner and on the catering establishments available in the city. See which kitchens are the most in demand, conduct a survey on the website or on social networks. If, for example, Chinese cuisine is chosen, and there are no lovers in the city, you will have to completely re-equip the kitchen and start all over again.
A varied menu will attract a large number of customers
It is best to offer customers variety, but remember that this will require large financial investments, hiring many employees and having a warehouse. Therefore, to begin with, it is worth focusing on one thing, and it is desirable that there are few similar offers in the city.
Selecting a room
In fact, any small office space is suitable - 10–15 m2 is quite enough. There is no point in renting a place in the entrance part of the city - there is no point in attracting the attention of passers-by; only call center dispatchers will work in the office itself. Therefore, choose a premises that does not require large expenses and is equally distant from the outskirts of the city - this will allow you to adjust the cost of delivery for customers living far from the center.
For a food delivery service call center office, it will be enough to rent a room with an area of 10–15 square meters. m
Own production will require large areas (50–100 m2) and a location near busy streets - this will allow, in addition to delivery, to sell takeaway food.
Equipment purchase
If you plan to work as an intermediary between catering establishments and customers, then you will only need to buy thermal bags and, possibly, a computer for the dispatcher to receive orders. If you plan to make cashless payments, you will have to purchase 2 terminals.
For a food delivery service without your own production, it is enough to purchase 4 thermal bags
But the full production cycle will be expensive and will increase the initial investment many times over. The list of equipment in this case depends on the menu - the more varied it is, the more clients you will be able to attract, and the more expensive equipment you will have to purchase. For example, let's take a standard set of equipment for preparing and delivering pizza.
Table: equipment for pizza production and delivery
Recruitment
When the delivery service is just opening, a large staff is not required - it takes time to form a customer base and enter into contracts with as many catering establishments as possible.
First, you should hire two call center operators and four couriers with a personal car - they will work in shifts, changing every 2 days. Then one dispatcher and two couriers will work simultaneously.
Even if potential employees convince you that they are ready to work every day, seven days a week, do not take only one operator and two couriers - employees can get sick, the machine sometimes breaks down, unforeseen situations happen, and overtime hours according to labor law are paid at one and a half and double times.
Finally, it is better to hire a full-time programmer. Of course, if the site fails, you can contact a third-party IT company, but this will take a lot of time, and a non-working site means direct losses and loss of customers. To save on a specialist’s salary, you can hire an employee to work remotely and part-time, with the condition that he will be in touch at the right time.
It is better to hire a full-time site administrator than to contact third-party companies every time
It is worth noting that dispatchers are initially hired on a remote work basis - this way you can reduce your salary and not buy your own laptop or computer.
Business plan for home food delivery
Registering your business and investing money should always be preceded by drawing up a detailed business plan. Remember that your goal is to rationally and impartially evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a food delivery business, and not to try to convince yourself of the merits of opening such a service. This way you can protect yourself from unjustified costs and ruin even at the planning stage.
Description of the sales market
When studying the sales market, you need to focus not only on statistical data, but also on the conditions for doing business in a particular city. Before you fill an empty niche or compete with existing delivery services, pay attention to the following factors:
Target Audience
Since, regardless of the economic situation and food prices, the demand for food does not decrease and is not seasonal, and the wide range of ready-made dishes offered can satisfy any taste, the target audience for this market segment is quite diverse.
Table: food delivery service clients
Competitor analysis
The only competitors of the food delivery service are similar services. The market capacity for this type of service is quite large, so there will always be demand. In addition, competition will not hinder the development of the new delivery service due to the fact that there are several times more catering establishments whose menu items will be offered for home delivery than delivery services.
The following improvements will help you stand out from your competitors and surpass them:
Prospects for food delivery business development
If you have reserve funds or third-party cash injections into business development, you can think about the prospects:
Sales and Marketing
The main thing in the development strategy of a new food delivery service is to assess the shortcomings of such services and offer a convenient customer service scheme. It is necessary to continuously work on the speed and quality of service and control over these indicators. And you should also organize reserve funds from the very beginning of the business, since only the availability of resources for rapid expansion as the sales market increases will allow you to cope with growing demand and remain at the forefront.
Opening advertising campaign
Distributing booklets is an effective method of advertising food delivery services.
It would also be useful to attract customers with discounts provided to first customers - this way the largest number of people will want to try their luck and be one of the first to use the service.
Creation of a website and mobile application for a food delivery service
From the first day of operation of the service, the site must be in working order - this is the face of the delivery service. The assessment of an enterprise whose services the client has not yet used will be given based on the first impression of the design of the Internet resource - it should be as simple as possible, load quickly, and contain high-quality, clear and bright photographs of dishes that arouse the appetite.
It is imperative to provide a catalog divided into categories - the customer cannot be forced to view the entire assortment, it should be hinted with an inscription like “this dish is perfect with...”. The client should be able to register a personal account, which would display the order history and the current discount - this will save him from having to fill out a form and address for each order.
The website of a food delivery service should be as convenient as possible, and the pictures should whet your appetite
Many people browse business offerings on their phones and tablets while on the bus or car on the way home and planning dinner. Sites that are not oriented towards mobile phones are not displayed fully or seem inconvenient - in this regard, it would be worthwhile to order the development of a mobile application. The money spent will be repaid many times over.
Today it is possible to purchase a ready-made website and order a complete development of the resource “from scratch” according to an individual design. Of course, the second option is more preferable - the client will immediately notice your corporate style. Although the first one saves time and money.
Current Marketing
Advertising is required for a business not only at the start, but also on a regular basis in order to maintain the interest of regular customers, disseminate information about current promotions and expand the range, as well as to attract new customers. For a food delivery service, advertising on the Internet and social networks would be ideal, where people could leave comments and ratings, helping to dispel the doubts of potential customers.
It is effective to distribute booklets by promoters and attach them to each order by couriers. But the main thing is the smooth operation of the site and its promotion to the forefront of search engines. It is for this purpose that a programmer is hired - he must monitor for failures in the system, quickly solve problems, carry out SEO promotion of the resource and buy advertising in Yandex and Google.
Cooperation with catering establishments
The revenue of the ready-made food delivery service consists of payments directly for home delivery services and commissions from orders received by restaurants thanks to its service. It is advisable to think through several options for cooperation, in which the percentage of sales depends on what services the delivery service is ready to offer the partner. It is expected that couriers will independently pick up orders from restaurants and cafes. Such cooperation will bring the food delivery service about 22% of sales revenue.
Additional options may include:
Sales plan
When drawing up a sales plan, you should focus on the number of orders per day. To begin with, while the business has not yet taken a stable position, you should limit yourself to hiring two couriers, each of whom is capable of delivering a maximum of 15 orders per day. The average check will be 1 thousand rubles. Calculate how many kilometers the courier will travel when delivering food to different areas of the locality. You can also develop a simple application, similar to those installed in taxi services, which will allow call center operators to instantly calculate the price of delivery.
You should not set a delivery cost of more than 500 rubles, otherwise ordering food at home with an average bill of 1000 rubles will be unprofitable
Delivery cost should not exceed 500 rubles. You can increase the price if the courier simultaneously delivers an order for all office employees or picks up dishes from several restaurants. On average, the delivery service will cost 250 rubles per customer. Make a sales plan based on the indicated indicators, but do not count on a large number of orders in the first two to three months.
Financial plan
A financial plan is also necessary to determine the amount of initial investment, monthly recurring expenses, tax expenses, and so on. This will help assess the feasibility of opening a food delivery business with the resources available to the entrepreneur, the payback time and the size of the reserve in case of unexpected costs.
Starting capital
What investments will be needed to start a food delivery business project? It is assumed that the company is being created from scratch, not as a franchise - otherwise you will have to count on additional costs of about several hundred thousand rubles. And we also do not take into account optional expense items, for example, printing development, legal advice, intermediary services, etc.
Table: components of initial investment
Monthly expenses
It would seem that a food delivery service is just a call center and several couriers. But, if you look at it, this business, like any other, requires certain regular costs.
Table: Monthly Costs of Running a Food Delivery Business
Profitability calculation
According to the latest results of the work of marketers, 1 million residents of a locality account for almost 20 million rubles in the annual income of public catering establishments, and the potential revenue of food delivery services varies from 12 to 20 million rubles per year. Indicators may vary depending on the popularity of cafes and restaurants, the city’s population and the average per capita income of its residents.
With proper business organization, the initial investment can pay off in just 2 months
Table: profitability analysis of food delivery business
Risk factors
The food delivery business is characterized by moderate risks.
Table: risks of food delivery business
Starting a business
At the initial stage, it is necessary to check the coherence of the teamwork of customer service personnel. The business owner must check whether the instructions are followed and whether there are any delays in order fulfillment. At first, constant monitoring will be required until employees gain experience, learn the assortment by heart and are able to resolve conflict situations.
At the initial stage of business development, the manager must continuously monitor the work of employees until the performance of job duties reaches automaticity.
The quality of service determines whether the customer will remain on the list of your regular customers or choose another food delivery service. At the initial stage, it is especially important to establish yourself and show that you are the best. No one can take better care of your business than you. If you want to motivate your staff, provide bonuses and allowances for good performance at the end of the month - otherwise, employees will work “from paycheck to paycheck” without particularly caring about revenue.
Service delivery process
The customer service flow looks like this:
Every year, food delivery services to your home, office, and during holidays are gaining popularity. Students, single and unmarried people, overworked employees, fast food lovers, as well as anyone who simply does not like to stand at the stove, often buy ready-made dishes and ask for their order to be delivered. Thanks to this, the business of delivering ready-made food does not lose its relevance and will always find its client, despite the fairly high level of competition in the market.
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