Restaurants in the London area can now offer a home delivery service with the launch of new online service Meals.co.uk.
According to the company’s own research, consumers are demanding a better quality takeaway experience and there are some 34,000 restaurants in the UK that currently have no delivery infrastructure to meet this demand. As a result quality restaurants are missing out on substantial, incremental revenues from their existing assets.
Restaurant quality food at home
The Meals.co.uk service aims to fill a gap in the market for restaurant quality food at home. Founder Dotun Olowoporoku claims:
“On the whole the standard of the average takeaway is poor and there is little in the way of a co-ordinated delivery service at the quality end of the market. Our target customers are young professionals and busy working families who are time poor and relatively cash rich but tired of the poor nutritional value and service quality of the typical takeaway.”
£200k potential restaurant revenue
Meals.co.uk has run a successful pilot programme in Bristol over the last year with over 5,000 meals delivered to date before launching in the capital. “We have studied the numbers and if the average restaurant sends just 15% of orders to home delivery this could result in an addition £200k of annual revenue. We often say it’s like having an extra table in your restaurant but without the staffing overhead, which is the most expensive cost for any establishment,” commented Dotun at the launch.
The delivery process
Consumers simply order their food using the service on the website or the soon to be announced mobile app, the restaurant accepts the order, and delivery is co-ordinated using a proprietary restaurant ordering and delivery logistics app developed by Meals.co.uk. Customers are notified when their order is ready and when they can expect delivery.
Meals.co.uk manages the whole delivery process so there is no wasted expenditure on under-utilised vans and drivers for the restaurant owner.
The company has made a major investment in the back end technology to ensure that operations are co-ordinated in the most efficient way, using GPS data to ensure prompt delivery of meals to the customer. “The emphasis is on quality, added Dotun, “We aim to match the quality of the restaurant brand with the quality of our service. That means prompt, accurate delivery and polite engaging staff, dressed in white shirts and bow ties rather than the usual cheap fleece and jeans approach of the takeaways.”
Wanted: 300 restaurants
Meals.co.uk is backed by a number of high profile individuals in the online world such as David Pritchard former CEO of Open Table/Top Table Europe, Chris Nixon, former CEO of TravelSupermaket, and Doug Scott who set up carrentals.co.uk . It is also supported by early stage venture capital company Midven. Meals.co.uk is aiming to have four hubs around central London and wants to sign up at least 300 restaurants over the next 12 months before launching across the UK in the next three years.
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