Stick With It

You’re still thinking about third-party delivery wrong.

If Matt Vannini, president and CEO of Denver-based Restaurant Accounting Services, Inc., has one bit of advice for the post-pandemic restaurant, it’s this: Do not abandon delivery. “Delivery is a four-letter word because people wrongfully thought DoorDash and Grubhub were delivery companies,” he says. “They are marketing and advertising firms; delivery is a function of what they do. Their job is to get you exposure to widen your footprint.”

And despite never wanting to put a meal in a box again, that to-go pandemic experience is exactly how you notched a new customer: “There is a segment of the public—mid 50s, middle class, that’s got a ton of money, that doesn’t cook—that learned during the pandemic how to use tech,” Vannini explains. “What’s beautiful about this segment is that once they adopt something they never change.” In a nutshell, this customer is not giving up delivery apps.

More than that, Vannini says, after the investment of dreaming up food that travels well, why unwind that knowledge? Instead, move it forward and continue to serve that now-loyal, off-premise consumer. If that’s not reason enough, then consider the labor crisis. After all, says Vannini, “It’s a lot easier to staff for delivery than it is for the restaurant.”

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