Catering and home food deliveries are becoming increasingly popular among consumers. It's no wonder. We live faster and faster and increasingly often we don't have time to prepare meals ourselves, not to mention planning a menu or selecting ingredients. The value of the dietary catering industry is estimated at PLN 1 billion. In 2019, catering companies completed approx. 20 million deliveries compared to 13-15 million in 2018. So how can we serve a growing number of customers without losing the quality of services? The Routimo application may be the solution.

Efficient logistics in catering

It is not uncommon for demand to grow at a rate that far outstrips supply. In the restaurant industry, this means the number of customers a given establishment cannot serve so that everyone receives a hot meal quickly. Food service logistics it is still largely planned manually, which cannot be considered an effective activity nowadays.

The most common problems with on-time delivery reported by drivers include:

  • problems finding a delivery point
  • non-optimal route proposed to the driver
  • an order to deliver food to several places at once

The speed of delivery in the catering industry is a significant element of competitiveness, which attracts customers, which at the same time generates higher profits. Even the tastiest dish will not compensate a hungry consumer for a long wait. Next time, he will order somewhere else, and the establishment will lose the customer.

The use of a delivery planning system in everyday work is a response to the growing requirements of catering company customers. The driver does not have to look for a delivery location, which often involves unnecessary detours to the destination; the route planning system eliminates this problem, leading the employee straight to the destination. Automated route planning also provides insight into statistics, the availability of which is important in the decision-making process regarding, for example, increasing the range of delivery or optimizing weak points. Automatic route planning and optimization means not only timely deliveries, but also effective use of fleet and human resources.

The problem of delivering food on time is not only a problem for restaurant meals, but also for the entire industry. The longer food (or semi-finished products) spends in transit, the greater the risk that it will arrive damaged or of poorer quality. In addition, the longer the journey, the shorter the shelf life of food. Storage and transportation in gastronomy these are issues that keep farmers, distribution centers, wholesalers and retail outlets awake at night.

Logistics in gastronomy – specifics

There are a number of obstacles that can stand in the way of a food delivery person, including a courier for a company specializing in boxed diets. The main obstacles that can stop them on the route (or slow them down) include: bad weather, roadworks and related detours, traffic jams and car breakdowns. In addition, there are factors such as: employee fatigue, unused time windows or too many orders. Most of the mentioned factors are a result of poorly planned routes, which significantly reduce the efficiency of the delivery and expose the company to losses.

To avoid or reduce costs generated by delivery delays, it is worth considering using a route optimization tool. It will allow you to arrive at the pickup location on time, save on fleet costs and have a positive impact on the comfort of drivers.

Routimo – a modern solution for gastronomy

The Routimo application enables efficient route planning and minimization of delay costs. The system generates optimal routes for points/data imported from Excel files or other systems. After planning the routes, the order schedule is sent to the mobile application on drivers' devices. The coordinator/dispatcher receives ongoing information from the field about the status of order execution. The route planning process takes into account a number of business assumptions, such as: time windows, vehicle type, fastest/shortest route, etc.

The Routimo application is a web-based system. Starting to work with the system does not require long-term training, signing long-term contracts or purchasing dedicated equipment. The solution is available in three purchase plans, allowing you to adjust the system to the company's needs in terms of fleet size, number of routes to plan, etc.

The number of companies in the dietary catering industry using Routimo is growing every month. Don't get left behind, test it Routimo for free.