To avoid going out to buy food in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, more and more people have turned to food delivery to get their meals. Alongside online grocery shopping, food delivery has become increasingly common in the past month to get meals delivered right to people’s doors. Especially as people attempt to avoid spreading the virus to their loved ones, food delivery is on the rise. The question is how businesses are adjusting to this change.
How restaurants and businesses are adjusting
People are being ordered to stay at home for everything except essential services, which includes going grocery shopping and to the doctor. This means that restaurants and businesses are being asked to deliver more food than ever for the people who do not want to or unable to leave the house.
Safe Delivery
In order to reduce the transmission of the virus, delivery services are increasingly practicing safe delivery practices. This includes safe delivery practices such as the option for the food to be left at the door, while the payment is done entirely online.
Consumers are increasingly leaving delivery instructions to just leave the food, while restaurants have begun curbside pickup. This is all to increase the safety of their delivery drivers, especially with so much demand.
Hiring Drivers
With so many people out of work, since their jobs are not deemed essential, many of them have been able to find temporary work at restaurants and businesses that are still in operation. Companies have moved to hire more people in order to handle the increased demand, especially since they’re no longer serving customers in person.
This means that more people are driving around for deliveries, and there are more options for businesses to both serve their communities and market themselves just a little bit while they’re at it.
Long-Term
With so many people now ordering online or over the phone and getting their food delivered, there may be long-term changes to the food delivery business in general. As people use these services now, it’s possible that people will continue to operate through delivery in the future.
The world was already shifting to e-commerce before the virus began, and during this pandemic, this shift is only advancing. The question is whether it will last.
Increasing your marketing efforts
During this season, companies have the opportunity to increase their marketing efforts due to the influx of deliveries and delivery drivers. The easiest way to do this is through the usage of
car toppers.
Car Top Signs
Using car top signs is simple: drivers just place it atop the car, and anyone looking out their windows or driving can see the business, a phone number potentially, and a logo. They’re already common with pizza delivery companies, but for many businesses, they might not have even thought about getting one of these signs for their drivers.
With so many drivers, now is a perfect time. A car top sign has the potential to increase business in the future by displaying businesses so clearly. There might not be many people on the road right now to see it, but people will remember the businesses they order from, and those signs will still be effective when it’s a little safer to go outside.
Speed Up Delivery
There’s another benefit to these car top signs: they speed up delivery. Especially now when people don’t want to leave their houses, they’ll be relieved to notice a delivery sign when a driver pulls into the driveway. If they want to leave cash outside for the driver to take before the food is dropped off, this is the perfect opportunity.
Gain More Orders
It’s easy to gain more orders when people see that sign. One thing that people are wondering more than anything right now is whether their favorite restaurant still delivers. Or they see a sign atop the car and think “I didn’t know that they were still delivering.”
Having a car top sign shows people what businesses are still delivering, and gives them a few more options to order from if they’ve been getting tired of the options they currently have frozen in their freezer. Of course, it helps that people who see the signs may just make an impulse order to buy something new.
Easy for Customers
Having a car top sign makes it easy for customers to find a business during this pandemic. Instead of trying to search something up on their phone or online, since they might not want to leave their house to look, car top signs can have information like a phone number printed right on the sign. People with their cellphones can easily call in.
Easy for Drivers
With so many more people making online orders right now, drivers might be heading to houses and neighborhoods that they’ve never been to. There are so many apartments that are squeezed together and hard to find, but the car top sign can do a lot to help your drivers figure out where they’re going.
For instance, if a driver doesn’t know which apartment to leave the food at or where they’re going, they can call the customer and ask. Your customers can easily direct them since they can see the car top sign right on the roof. This will help with leaving delivery instructions too since a customer can direct the delivery driver where to put the food, where they’ve left money if they’re paying in cash or leaving a tip, and let them know how grateful they are.
Conclusion
There’s a lot changing in the world right now. It’s frightening to many people and businesses alike, but at the very least, there’s been more business for restaurants that have been unable to serve their customers in person. It may be a while until it’s possible to serve people in person, but on the flip side, there are new marketing opportunities available that restaurants can utilize.
