In brief
- In 16 restaurants of a large, well-known chain, we replaced the delivery dispatch system from a major vendor used there before with our tools.
- Average delivery time fell from 40.2 to 35.3 minutes (−12%).
- Courier productivity rose on average from 1.99 to 2.42 orders per working hour (+22%).
Starting point
The chain runs deliveries with its own fleet. Dispatch was handled by an off-the-shelf system and a supervision team. Fleet productivity was about 1.9–2.0 orders per courier working hour.
What we did
In every restaurant we carried out a full implementation:
- courier app and restaurant app,
- integration with kitchen display screens (KDS) and full synchronisation with the kitchen,
- supervision panel,
- integration with the chain’s ordering system,
- reporting,
- automated dispatch and re-planning of every order.
The operating model stayed the same: the same couriers and the same vehicles, still under the restaurants’ control.
Results
Average delivery time in minutes, restaurant by restaurant
- before the change
- after rolling out our tools
On average from 40.2 to 35.3 minutes (−12%). Delivery time fell in most restaurants; where it rose slightly, the gain from dispatch went into higher productivity.
Orders per courier working hour in the restaurants where we worked on productivity
- before the change
- after rolling out our tools
On average from 1.99 to 2.42 (+22%). Productivity rose in every one of these restaurants.
After the system change, delivery time fell in most restaurants, by 12% on average. Where, alongside dispatch, we started planning the number of couriers from the demand forecast and took steps towards higher productivity, productivity rose in every restaurant, by 22% on average.
In all 16 restaurants we introduced automated dispatch, which made better use of the available couriers and shortened delivery times. In 10 of them we also introduced tools aimed at higher productivity, above all courier demand planning. Restaurants 3–5 worked on a shared fleet after the rollout, so they have one combined result.
Takeaways
- Switching to automated dispatch alone creates a gain that can be taken as shorter delivery times or higher productivity.
- Higher productivity shows where schedules were matched to the system’s suggestions.
How we measured
- “Before” is the average of the 3 months before each restaurant switched over. “After” covers 2 weeks to about 3 months after the switch, depending on the restaurant.
- The productivity gain (+22%) compares the same restaurants before and after the change.
- This is a simple before-and-after comparison without a control group. For the success fee we use the full model, with a baseline adjusted monthly for operating conditions (how we calculate the savings).