Delivery, drive-thru and click & collect seen to provide respite to restaurants amidst COVID-19 outbreak
Some companies are offering free software to set up these services for operators.
Delivery, drive-thru and click & collect channels are expected to provide much-needed respite to both Britain’s population and hard-pressed foodservice operators amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to global information company The NPD Group, there was a 20% rise in food deliveries in China during the last 10 days of January when Chinese government restrictions began to be implemented.
January data from China indicated that different foodservice channels were affected in different ways. Full-service restaurants, coffee bars and cafés were hardest hit whilst QSRs were “relatively stable” because selected outlets were able to migrate quickly to delivery services.
“Any local outlet offering delivery, drive thru or takeaway by click & collect, along with outlets providing pre-packaged food and beverages or vending machines, will be able to mitigate some of the effects of the inevitable business downturn prompted by the coronavirus outbreak,” Dominic Allport, Insights Director (Foodservice), The NPD Group, said.
NPD explains that the delivery channel is “ideally suited” to minimize person-to-person contact. Since 2017, delivery visits have grown by almost 19%, or nearly 100 times faster than the 0.2% visits growth seen in the overall British out-of-home foodservice industry.
Delivery visits now account for 8% of the total out-of-home (OOH) or eat-out foodservice market in Britain, and 9% of spend. Digital delivery visits, where consumers can order by app or online, account for nearly two-thirds (64%) of all delivery visits, 24% higher than 2017.
“With the British government advising us to avoid pubs and restaurants, where people eat on the premises, consumers will understandably turn to the foodservice channels that allow them to minimize human contact. Delivery, drive thru and click & collect provide the opportunity to continue ordering in food and beverages in that manner. These channels can provide much-needed business to some of Britain’s hard-pressed foodservice operators,” Allport added.
NPD said drive-thru has increased its footprint in British foodservice, now offering consumers almost 2,000 outlets in Britain. In 2019 alone, there were 508 million drive-thru visits with spend of £2.5 billion, up nearly 19% since 2017. Those visits made up almost 5% of the entire British foodservice industry.
Click & collect, meanwhile, has grown by 28% in visit terms since 2017 and spend has reached £929 million in 2019.
Support for restaurants, more delivery partnerships
Delivery platforms and other companies have devised ways to support restaurants during this time.
Just Eat said it will waive sign-up fees for new restaurants as part of a £10 million package. Their support also includes a commission rebate of a third (33%) on all commissions paid by independent restaurants to Just Eat and zero commission on all collection orders to help reduce the pressure on restaurants’ delivery operations.
Sky News reports that Deliveroo sent a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, urging him to relieve the pressure on Britain's supermarkets by launching an information campaign to promote the safety of restaurant food as thousands of outlets face insolvency.
Concepts such as Zia Lucia and The Athenian, meanwhile, have partnered with Deliveroo for orders.
Software company Vita Mojo said it fast-tracked development of their delivery and ecommerce platform to support businesses in adapting for the weeks and months ahead.
Access Hospitality said it will be providing software to set up delivery and/or click and collect service within 48 hours for restaurants, which will be free for the first two months.
Fresh food supplier Bidfresh is also adding direct-to-consumer home delivery services from its depots around the UK, which will operate in selected postcodes.
