There are several kinds of holiday diners: those who planned out that dinner either with friends or family, those who are Christmas shopping and decided to caress their empty stomach, and those random thoughts of dining out, or ordering your food online.
The holiday rush is some serious stuff, serious business. If you happen to be in Hong Kong during the holiday season, you’d have to wait for yourself to get seated at the minimum an hour, and you cannot simply book that flight out of the country, because whether you’re in Milan, or New York City, the situation is generally the same.
It’s known as the holiday dining rush, and as much as things are bad dining-in, restaurant staff are stressed out of the orders even online. Hey, people got the money, and can’t these people refuse! The best thing they can do is to manage those orders, or prepare before the big storm. Here’s a Grubhub guide for you:
The first rule, according to Grubhub, is to train your staff. A new staff member who is trained can outsmart a staff member years in the business, but without training.
Grubhub recommends, “Make sure your team is trained on your delivery process and how to use your delivery partner platforms, such as Grubhub for Restaurants. Make these processes clear to your in-house staff who are in-charge of bagging orders and having them ready to go for drivers.”
Next, organize your orders and optimize your menu. Allot a clear spot for these delivery and to-go orders. You can update the information for the Grubhub delivery staff. And, reduce special requests from diners that tend to go the same by listing all possible menu add-on options. Lastly, check your boundaries.
Grubhub also teaches what to do when preparing your delivery and takeout orders, “Once your chefs are done cooking up an order, provide a status on the ticket online so that a driver can be assigned and the diner can be updated on the estimated delivery time. Before you send the order off, re-read the full ticket to catch any add-ons or special instructions. Finally, label each item with the diner’s name and the menu item to ensure you prepared everything on the ticket.”
Those may be the main event, but packaging and labeling right are also a must. So, pack hot and cold items separately, label correctly, select the right packaging, and securely seal your bags.
And, and, and, don’t make mistakes on the directions. If the customer from KFC ordered Macaroni Salad, don’t give these guys Coleslaw, and don’t forget to add ketchup for fries, and whatnot.
“It’s a pet-peeve of mine when the restaurant forgets my ketchup for my fries!” exclaimed customer Denisse Lauren.
At the end of the night, it’s all about timeliness and order accuracy.
“The last step is to get the order ready for pickup, either by the diner or delivery driver. Make sure you designate a specific area in your restaurant that delivery drivers and to-go diners can easily find their orders. It can help to have an employee watch over the to-go order area to ensure the orders are going to the right consumer,” Grubhub added.
This, is RSF! ‘Til then, okay! Happy holidays!