How To Start Your Own Food Delivery Business (Part 2)
If you haven’t already read Part 1 on how to start your own food delivery business, click here.
When starting any business, you must consider your target market (a particular group of consumers at which a product or service is aimed). The great thing about the food delivery business is that it isn’t too restricted – there is a wide range of available customers. All genders and age groups have a need for getting food delivered. The area that you wish to deliver in will have a variety of households, offices, schools, hotels, construction sites, hospitals and businesses.
In the last post, we talked a little about competition – it’s true that there’s a lot of it. Not only are you competing with the bigger players in the food delivery industry, but you are also competing with every other business that also sells food (kiosks, food trucks, fast food restaurants etc). However, as long as you have done your research and established your brand, you will do well. It’s important to work with the leading restaurants in your business location. Choose an area in town where many of these eateries are located, as well as where residences are. Another thing to keep in mind is the accessibility and road network of the location, as well as the traffic in the area.
You must also know how to attract and reach out to your target market. One of the first steps in creating a perception of what your business represents is choosing a name. Simple, right? Choose a catchy name that is creative because whatever you end up with is what you will build your brand off of. You must also choose a legal entity to use for your business and create a budget for insurance. If you need help, consult an insurance broker to choose the most important insurance polices for your food delivery company.
If you choose to start on a small scale, running your business can be quite cost effective. Choose to cover a small neighbourhood first with your vehicle. Be the only employee for as long as you can – at least while you ramp up deliveries. Aside from a vehicle, you may need other equipment such as a computer/laptop with Internet, smartphone, telephone and POS machines. You can also purchase a short term office facility but it is not necessary. When financing your business, you will most likely have to invest your own money first. Perhaps you have some of your personal savings or can ask your family or friends. If not, you can try to raise money from business partners or investors, or apply for a loan from your bank. If you think you have a really great idea, you can pitch it and apply for business grants.
You can also enter our dispatchNINJA Small Business Award contest. We want to help small businesses compete in their local market so we’re offering a prize of $5000 – there will be second and third place prizes as well! Click here for more details.
Once you have your business started, attracting customers is essential. Ensure that you create a marketable brand presence. If you have previous experience with customer service, make sure that people know that. The world is in a digital age – set up social media accounts for your business such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Create blogs and write on forums to get your message across and to promote your services. Create a domain online with the name of your company to give yourself an online presence. Incentives are extremely valuable to gain traction with new customers – use that to your advantage and provide discounts so people are more likely to order. You can also advertise in local newspapers, flyers and radio stations. Last but not least, never underestimate the power of word of mouth. Referrals will be critical – satisfied and engaged customers will give you referrals without you even asking! New customers will be more open to hearing from you because there is that level of trust established.
dispatchNINJA can be your delivery partner – we provide all you need to start up your own small delivery business. We give you the software and tools while you can focus on providing quick delivery and top notch customer service. To find out more on how you can start with just $5 a day, email us at [email protected] or call us at (844) 936-4652!