Curbside pickup lets a customer order ahead, drive to your restaurant and have the food brought out to the car. This guide covers the mistakes that make it fail and the setup that makes it work.
What curbside pickup involves
The customer places an order, usually online or by phone, then drives over at the agreed time. Someone from your team takes the food to the car. It suits customers who want restaurant food without sitting in a crowded room.
Common mistakes
- No designated pickup area. Customers park wherever they can, block each other in, and nobody knows where to wait.
- Poor communication. If people are not told how to order, where to park and how to say they have arrived, they call the restaurant and the phone becomes the queue.
- Long waits. Customers choose pickup for convenience. A long wait at the kerb undoes that.
Set up the pickup area
Pick one or two parking bays close to the door and mark them. The signage should say the bay is for pickup orders and give the number to call on arrival. Keep those bays clear of staff cars.
Write the arrival instructions
Put the same instructions everywhere the customer sees them: the order confirmation, the website and the sign in the bay. Say where to park, what number to call or text, and what to have ready, such as the order number or the name on the order.
Get the timing right
Give an honest estimate when the order is placed and work to it. Keep pickup orders in their own place in the kitchen queue so a busy dining room does not push them back. If the kitchen falls behind, tell the customer before they arrive rather than after they have parked.
The ordering side
Most of the work above depends on the order arriving with the right details. A food ordering plugin handles that part.
FoodMaster (formerly WooFood) is a restaurant online ordering plugin for WordPress. It takes online orders, sends order updates to customers, and covers delivery and pickup orders. It works with WooCommerce, so it sits on the site you already have.
Start with the bay, the sign and the instructions. Those cost little and fix most of the complaints.