Investing in Driver Network Helps DeliverThat Provide Greater Levels of Consistent, High Quality Service
Over the past six months, the key to survival during the pandemic for so many operators and businesses in the restaurant and foodservice industry has been to re-imagine their businesses in creative ways in order to generate revenue. For DeliverThat, the key has been to adapt their business model by focusing on a core asset – their delivery driver network.
Based in Ohio, DeliverThat provides high quality delivery services to restaurant operators and retailers. Founded in 2013, DeliverThat is a national last-mile delivery service that has grown to be recognized as the industry leader in restaurant catering delivery and setup.
“Like many businesses, our 2020 started off strong but by April our order volume had dropped over 80 percent and we were facing some difficult decisions around our internal team and supporting our network of over 2,500 drivers,” said Darien Terrell, DeliverThat President.
“As a leadership team, we came to the decision that we wanted to be the best partner possible supporting our restaurant and retail customers during this very challenging time, so we placed our focus on our operations – looking for greater efficiency and effectiveness – and investing in our driver network.”
Terrell explained that the DeliverThat “standard” was being severely impact by the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. With hands-on driver education and in-market “ride withs” for new driver onboarding no longer an option, the company realized it needed to adapt if it was going to grow and survive.
“By leveraging technology to assist with communicating the key elements of our DeliverThat standards, the quality of our driver education has not only been maintained, but greatly improved,” said John Zinno, DeliverThat Chief People Officer.
“By embracing a virtual approach, we were able to develop and deliver onboarding content for new drivers in a consistent manner and really create a deeper level of understanding among new team members of our standard. This is key because we are now able to assist any restaurant/foodservice brand with optimizing their off-premise business,” added Zinno. “Another positive outcome of moving to virtual onboarding programs is that DeliverThat has grown its footprint from 45 to 85 markets during the pandemic, and its driver network by 120 percent.”
Another element of this new driver education program is working with restaurants to tailor content with their brand guidelines so that DeliverThat drivers are truly aligned with the customer’s brand standards and prepared to deliver a catering order in a high quality, professional manner.
“We appreciated the team at DeliverThat inviting us to participate in their driver education program and provide guidelines for our catering deliveries that are important for promoting the Luna Grill brand and building guest loyalty,” said Kevin Redding, director of digital catering for Luna Grill, which provides made to order Mediterranean cuisine at its locations in southern California and Texas. “Catering really is making a difference in the profitability of our locations, even during the pandemic, and is a great way to reach more of our guests as well as consumers that may not be familiar with our fare.”
“We have a particular way we like our catering orders to be set up, and DeliverThat has been a terrific partner in terms of understanding our brand and being a great ambassador for every catering order they deliver,“ said Martin Granillo, General Manager, Tocaya Organica, a modern Mexican concept with locations in Southern California and Phoenix. “DeliverThat really operates as an extension of our staff and our restaurants.”
“Doing the right things for our drivers is having a profound impact on our business. We’ve reduced our acquisition costs for new drivers by fifty percent and created a more efficient and effective driver education program. This is enabling us to provide a higher standard of consistent delivery execution to our partners as they continue to focus on returning their catering sales back to pre-pandemic levels, and grow our business as well,” noted Terrell.
James Bracken, a 25-year restaurant industry veteran, recently joined DeliverThat as a delivery driver in Indianapolis, and has also worked with other food delivery services. He saw a real difference at DeliverThat beginning with his onboarding experience.
“This company is way more organized, and the dispatch team is far superior to the competition,” said Bracken. “The overall support offered to drivers from our service and dispatch teams is outstanding, and its clear to me DeliverThat is committed to helping everyone in its driver network be successful.”
Founded in 2013 by Aaron Hoffman and John Zinno, DeliverThat is a national last-mile delivery service operating in 85 markets, and the company is recognized as the industry leader in restaurant catering delivery and setup. DeliverThat’s network of 2,500 professional drivers ensures every delivery is fulfilled according to each individual restaurant’s standards. Committed to providing an efficient and effective catering delivery service, DeliverThat takes pride in seeking new and innovative ways to enhance the entirety of their delivery processes for drivers, restaurant partners, and end-user customers. For more information about DeliverThat, please visit ideliverthat.com. Connect with DeliverThat at facebook.com/deliverthat.
