EasyRoutes Food Delivery: A Low-Cost DoorDash Alternative

With food delivery companies charging exorbitant fees for their services, it’s no surprise that so many restaurants, caterers, and meal and food delivery companies are looking for a DoorDash alternative, as well as alternatives to Grubhub and Uber Eats.

The pandemic sparked a surge in demand for restaurant meal deliveries and prepared meals delivered to consumers’ homes in 2020 and 2021. Consumers and companies alike, however, paid a high price for the convenience.

Consumers should expect to pay up to 91 percent more for meals provided by DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub, according to a recent article in the New York Times.

Just 37% of restaurants, caterers, and prepared meal delivery companies said meal deliveries helped them thrive, according to a December 2020 Restaurant Business magazine survey. The rest of the survey respondents, including high-flying, fast-casual chains like Chipotle, were financially harmed and lost revenue as a result of the high costs associated with providing meals.

Is it any surprise, then, that the number of people searching for “DoorDash alternative” on the internet has increased dramatically?

EasyRoutes delivery route planning program is a DoorDash alternative that will minimize delivery costs and raise sales for restaurateurs, fast-casual chains, and prepared meal delivery companies.

What is DoorDash?

DoorDash is a food delivery service that is available on demand. Simply put, it’s a food version of Uber (much like Uber Eats). The DoorDash app, which was founded in 2013 and is based in San Francisco, allows you to order food from a number of nearby participating restaurants. It also allows people to register as food deliverers (dubbed Dashers) and, of course, restaurants to register to have their food delivered to customers.

It is the most popular app-based food delivery service in the United States, according to a November 2019 study from market insights firm Second Measure, ahead of Uber Eats and GrubHub. Due to changing times, the app currently controls about 38% of the US food delivery market, and it is only expected to grow in popularity in 2021.

Using EasyRoutes Delivery Route Planning Software to do your own route planning and deliveries is the best DoorDash alternative

Although DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub have paid so much for their meal delivery services that local governments have passed legislation to limit markups, the best approach is to design and deliver your own routes.

EasyRoutes route optimization software, which has paid plans starting at $9.99 to support businesses of all sizes, makes this easy. Our app has been shown to lower delivery costs while also allowing restaurants and meal delivery services to increase the number of meals served every day.

EasyRoutes, a delivery route planning software tool, is both inexpensive and simple to use. Since it’s integrated with Shopify and your orders, all you have to do is choose the day’s meal delivery orders, and EasyRoutes can calculate the most effective path. This powerful route can be printed or exported to a driver’s mobile phone or tablet.

One important point to remember for restaurants is that one-time, impulse meal orders will not support your company. For route optimization to work, restaurants that rely on prepared meal deliveries to stay afloat must set up a “subscription” meal service and function like prepared meal delivery companies.

The following are some of the advantages of effective food delivery routing software:

• Reduces the cost of providing meals significantly (EasyRoutes reduces fuel costs & driver labor costs.)
  
• Increases the amount of business done (By reducing the number of miles driven to complete the job, you can deliver more meals in a day or within a delivery window.)
  
• Meal delivery systems are no longer subject to exorbitant markups. (EasyRoutes helps restaurants and prepared meal delivery companies to bypass DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub’s high markups.)

Discover how the Uproot Food Collective was able to scale up their food delivery service because of EasyRoutes

Learn how the Uproot Food Collective used EasyRoutes to for their meal and food delivery.

3 Quick Tips for Successful Food Delivery

#1 Make sure that your food products can travel well

Build a simplified menu with a few main items to improve the productivity of your takeout operations. While it’s important to have the best-selling products, focus on food that won’t be a soggy mess when it arrives at the customer’s house. Make sure your food moves well by packing sauces individually, separating hot and cold foods in separate packs, and piercing hot food containers for ventilation.

#2 Optimize your menu for profitability

To ensure an effective and profitable off-premise service, update your menu to concentrate on higher-margin products, best-sellers, and dishes that can be prepared ahead of time. You can also promote upsells by using protein as a topping on salads, bowls, burgers, and other products.

#3 Make food hand-offs to your drivers as seamless as possible

Find a location in your restaurant where your drivers can easily pick up orders without disrupting operations until the item is ready to be shipped.

How EasyRoutes Assists Businesses in Managing Meal Deliveries

EasyRoutes, an affordable delivery route planner, means that even a small local restaurant or prepared meal delivery service can handle their own deliveries. Here’s how you can do it:

• Low-cost of entry: EasyRoutes offers paid plans starting at $9.99 to assist businesses of all sizes. For companies that are just getting started, we also have a free plan.
• Easy to understand and use: EasyRoutes was designed from the ground up to be simple to understand and use. In minutes, several EasyRoutes users build their first delivery routes.
• Uses current employees or low-cost contract drivers: As restaurants, caterers, and prepared meal delivery companies manage their own deliveries, they may use underutilized employees (bartenders, wait staff, and so on) as drivers, saving jobs. EasyRoutes enables prepared meal delivery companies to use either their own fleet or contract delivery drivers (individuals who will use their own vehicle to handle the deliveries).

The bottom line is that EasyRoutes is a strong, low-cost DoorDash alternative that enables restaurants, caterers, and prepared meal delivery companies to cut costs, boost profits, and empower their businesses.

Do you want to give EasyRoutes a spin? Try our 14-day free trial on the Shopify App Store.