business plan for food delivery business

Food Delivery Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Food Delivery Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your Food Delivery business plan.

We have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their Food Delivery companies.

Below is a template to help you create each section of your Food Delivery business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

Dig In is a newly established food delivery business located in San Diego, California. The company will have an online platform that will also be able to be downloaded to users’ phones as an app. Users will be able to create a login profile and have instant access to all the local restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, and fast food establishments.

The company will outsource its delivery to local drivers that will be employed as Independent Contractors so they will be able to set their own schedule and hours. The drivers will receive orders through their app, select which user they want to deliver to, pick up the food order from the chosen establishment, and deliver to the user in a timely manner.

Dig In will reward users that frequently use their app. Users will be able to earn rewards and discounts for every order they place through the website or app. This will enable users to keep ordering their food delivery through Dig In.

Dig In will be owned and operated by John Hutchinson, a local entrepreneur who has been in the tech industry for over 15 years. He has developed other apps and platforms for tech companies and has started mapping out this business’ platform for over two years. At this point, he has perfected the technology and is ready to reveal the new local food delivery service in San Diego, California.

Product Offering

Dig In will provide food delivery services for the residents of San Diego. Residents who want the convenience of food delivered to their doorstep can download our app, find the establishment of their choice, and order whatever they’re craving for. Most of our sales will come from orders to local restaurants but we will also offer delivery from grocery stores and drug stores. Customers will be charged a small delivery fee or have the option to join our membership for reduced fees and special deals.

Customer Focus

Dig In will target all residents living in and around San Diego. It will appeal to students, families, retirees, white collar, blue collar, and government employees. Because our fees are moderately priced compared to other delivery apps, all income levels will be able to enjoy our delivery services.

Management Team

With his entrepreneurial and tech knowledge, John will be able to quickly fix any issues with the platform. He has also formed relationships with the most sought after restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores in the area to sign them up to be part of the food delivery platform. He has also hired a team of independent food delivery drivers to earn extra money by completing the food delivery orders.

Success Factors

The following success factors will set Dig In apart from the competition:

• Comprehensive List of Restaurants and Food Stores: Dig In will include a more comprehensive list of restaurants, grocery stores, and drug stores for customers to choose from.
• Membership Rewards: Dig In will allow users who create a profile to earn rewards for every order they place through its online platform. The rewards can be redeemed for delivery fee and order discounts.
• Faster Delivery Times: Dig In promises to have faster delivery times than its competitors.
• Pricing: Dig In’s price point for delivery fees is on par with its customers, if not cheaper.

Financial Highlights

Dig In is seeking a total funding of $500,000 of debt capital to launch. The funding will be dedicated for the design and development of the app, marketing expenses, working capital, and three months worth of payroll expenses. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Platform Development: $150,000
• Marketing and Brand Development: $100,000
• Three Months of Overhead Expenses (Payroll, Rent, Utilities): $150,000
• Working Capital: $100,000

The following graph outlines the pro forma financial projections for Dig In:

Company Overview

Who is dig in.

  The company will outsource its delivery to local drivers that will be employed as Independent Contractors so they will be able to set their own schedule and hours. The drivers will receive orders through their app, select which user they want to deliver to, pick up the food order from the chosen establishment, and deliver to the user in a timely manner.

Dig In’s History

John Hutchinson has spent the last 2.5 years creating the food delivery online platform. As a tech entrepreneur, he knows how to map, develop, and implement an online platform. He has been instrumental in creating other apps and platforms for ecommerce companies and has created attractive and efficient apps for numerous Fortune 500 companies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, John was on lockdown and working from his home. He used other food delivery services, but they were all slow, got his order wrong, or didn’t have a good selection of restaurants and establishments. It was then that he started developing his food delivery business and would implement and perfect all of the things that the competition suffered at.

Since incorporation, the company has achieved the following milestones:

• Mapped out the online platform for the food delivery business
• Developed the company’s name, logo, and website
• Approached multiple local restaurants, grocery stores, and bakeries to be a part of Dig In’s platform
• Determined necessary insurance and legal requirements
• Began recruiting key employees
• Written and developed the Delivery Driver processes and procedures.

Dig In’s Services

Industry analysis.

The Food Delivery industry has grown substantially in the past five years. The convenience of ordering food from home has appealed to large demographics and now nearly everyone orders through a food delivery app at some point. Food delivery apps became a necessity during the COVID pandemic and now they are a mainstay in modern society.

According to Grand View Research, the Food Delivery industry is set to grow at a CAGR of 18.7% from now until 2030. What helps this growth is the increasing popularity of smartphones and the expansion of these services overseas. Food delivery apps are becoming an essential tool in modern society, which makes this a great time to create a new food delivery service.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market.

Dig In will target millennials, young professionals, and college age students as this demographic is more comfortable with online delivery services and regularly use other similar apps such as Uber and Tasty.

However, we expect Dig In will appeal to other demographics as well as it will be a convenient and moderately priced option to get food delivered quickly. For example, we expect working parents will enjoy our app as well as elderly residents who have trouble leaving their home to go grocery shopping or go to a restaurant.

The precise demographics of the San Diego area are as follows:

Customer Segmentation

Dig In will primarily target the following customer profiles:

• Young professionals
• College students
• Working parents

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

Dig In will be competing with other popular food delivery apps. A profile of each competitor is below.

Food at Your Door

Food at Your Door is an online and mobile platform for restaurant pick-up and delivery orders. The company is known for connecting over 30 million customers and processes on average about 500,000 daily orders in most cities around the United States. Customers are able to search for restaurants, order directly through the website or app, and then await their delivery from independent contractor drivers.

The company generates revenue from delivery fees paid by consumers as well as commissions paid by participating restaurants. Food at Your Door’s other offerings include a program for corporate food ordering, website design and hosting for participating restaurants, and point-of-sale integration services. The company is continuously updating its platform with innovative technological advancements to stay on top of the competition.

Fast Foodie

Fast Foodie is a technology company that connects people with the most popular food establishments in their neighborhoods. They enable local businesses to meet consumers’ needs of ease and convenience while enabling their independent contractors to generate an additional source of income. The company is passionate about transforming local businesses and dedicated to enabling new ways of working, earning, and living. They empower their local economies by ensuring that people have equal access to opportunities to reach their full potential.

Fast Foodie has expanded their database to include not only restaurants, but convenience stores, pet stores, grocery stores, and drug stores.

Ding Dong is an operator of an on-demand goods delivery platform that is intended to facilitate smooth delivery of essential goods. The company’s platform offers full-service and in-store shopper services through a network of independent shoppers with same-day delivery and pickup service of fresh groceries and everyday essentials. This enables users to select items from their favorite grocery stores and get them delivered almost instantly.

Ding Dong was the first online platform to expand their services and products by including anything that can be purchased at a local grocery store, convenience store, or drug store. The drivers/shoppers are required to ensure delivery during the selected timeframe that the user selects.

Competitive Advantage

Dig In offers several advantages over its competition. Those advantages are:

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

Dig In will offer the unique value proposition to its clientele:

• Comprehensive list of restaurants and grocery stores
• Membership rewards and specials
• Faster delivery times
• Moderately priced fee structure

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for Dig In are as follows:

Social Media

Dig In will utilize the most popular social media platforms for ads since the majority of the clientele will be active on social media. The company will also have business accounts on each major platform to post regularly of food options that are available for delivery.

Collateral Material

Dig In will develop numerous collateral materials to have on hand to give out to potential customers at the local farmers markets, events, or restaurant or store events.

Website/SEO

Dig In will invest heavily in developing a professional website and app that displays all of the restaurant and store options the company will be able to deliver for. The company will also invest heavily in SEO so that the brand’s website will appear at the top of search engine results.

Billboards/Signage

Dig In will invest in attractive signage and billboards to increase the brand awareness of the local food delivery business.

Dig In’s fee structure will be moderate so clients feel they receive great value when placing their food delivery orders.

Operations Plan

Operation Functions: The following will be the operations plan for Dig In.

• John Hutchinson will operate as the CEO of Dig In. In addition to running the general operations, he will oversee the app development and provide app support.
• John will hire 2-3 additional web engineers to run the website and app.
• John will hire 20-30 delivery drivers to work on an independent contractor basis.
• John will also hire an administrative team for accounting/bookkeeping, sales and marketing, and customer service support.

Milestones:

Dig In will have the following milestones complete in the next six months.

• 8/202X – Finalize app development
• 9/202X – Hire and train initial staff
• 10/202X – Kickoff of promotional campaign
• 11/202X – Launch Dig In
• 12/202X – Reach break-even

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

Dig In’s revenues will come primarily from the fees it receives from the food delivery orders.

The delivery driver commissions, website platform fees, supplies, marketing, and labor expenses will be the key cost drivers of Dig In.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Key assumptions.

The following table outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and pay off the business loan.

• Initial Number of Orders Per Day: 100
• Average Order per Customer: $25.00

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, food delivery business plan faqs, what is a food delivery business plan.

A food delivery business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your food delivery business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can easily complete your Food Delivery business plan using our Food Delivery Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Food Delivery Businesses?

There are a number of different kinds of food delivery businesses , some examples include: Restaurant Delivery, Meal Kit Delivery, Grocery Delivery, and Veggie Box Delivery.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Food Delivery Business Plan?

Food Delivery businesses are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.

What are the Steps To Start a Food Delivery Business?

Starting a food delivery business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Food Delivery Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed food delivery business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast. 

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your food delivery business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your food delivery business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Food Delivery Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your food delivery business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws.

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your food delivery business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms.

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations.

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events.

7. Acquire Necessary Food Delivery Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your food delivery business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation.

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your food delivery business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful food delivery business:

• How to Start a Food Delivery Business

Ultimate Guide on Online Food Delivery Business Plan

• Last Updated: May 30, 2024

As a food delivery service, you will be expanding convenience and choice for your existing and potential customers. You will be working towards making it easier for them to order a wide variety of food from various restaurants.

In the last few years, there have been huge changes in the food delivery market . These changes have come into effect due to:

• Increasing demand and competition;
• Competitive prices;
• The rise of digital technology;
• Evolving customer behavior; and 

At the time of creating a food delivery business plan , you may be required to consider several aspects in advance. In this blog, we will help you create an effective food delivery plan for small businesses in the online food delivery sector.

Table of Contents

Why Do You Need a Food Delivery Business Plan?

Key statistics to observe before entering the food delivery market, different food delivery business models, how to write a food delivery business plan, let upper help you grow your own food delivery business.

The customers have evolved. Their demand for food options, types of food delivery, and behaviors have changed. These points show how:

• Offer great speed of delivery and boost customer retention rate;
• Most meals are ordered from & delivered to homes;
• High volume of orders on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

In order to tackle these challenges and many others, you need to formulate a detailed food delivery business plan and affordable prices. The plan is not only an executive summary or roadmap, it is much more than that, incorporating advanced technology to meet these evolving needs.

Here’s how a well-developed winning business plan can help you:

• Offers an understanding of your industry, key competitors, target audience, food delivery platforms, and trends.
• Conducting a SWOT analysis for the food industry and getting insights on your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• Works as a benchmark on how to conduct the business and know average prices for your products.
• You can find out the requirements of new members, tools, and equipment to help you reach any major goals or business goals.
• Helps with cash flow statements, financial statements, competitive strategies, and revenue models of the food business along with investment strategy.

Source: Statista

• The global revenue in the online food delivery segment has doubled since 2017.
• 57% of millennials prefer to have restaurant food delivered.
• 33% of consumers are willing to pay higher fees for faster delivery services.
• 60% of restaurant owners & operators said that offering delivery generated incremental sales.
• Joining hands with third-party delivery services has raised restaurant sales volume from 10% to 20%.
• 70% of consumers prefer to place delivery orders online for a seamless robust experience . 
• Ghost kitchens or cloud kitchens are going to be an office food delivery industry worth $1 trillion by 2030.

When you are ready to create a plan, you must know which business model you will acquire and how it will benefit you. Business models should be considered based on what are your requirements. Basically, it helps you choose which services you will offer to your target audience including strategic locations and operational cost. While doing so, you should decide whether you will run a food store or an online food delivery service business.

Here are different types of popular food delivery business models .

1. Order Only

This type of food delivery is followed by food delivery companies like Grubhub. These services only function as a software layer between the standard restaurant and the customers. Order-only platforms like Grubhub & Postmates have experienced remarkable growth.

This model becomes ideal for those who want to provide on-demand services. In fact, it is the best way to customer contact more easily. This business model will act as a medium between your restaurants and online services. Hence, making it easier for online users to take benefit of online purchase of food. This is why so many food business owners prefer to consider online order requests.

By opting for an order-only business model, your main job will be to deliver food to the buyer. In this process, the business cum restaurant will earn a commission of 10-15% for every order request they receive.

2. Order & Delivery

Apps like DoorDash , UberEats, and Deliveroo are food delivery platforms that bring in extra orders to restaurants in the form of takeaway and delivery. The apps manage the deliveries for these restaurants using their fleet of independent drivers.

It is quite different than what we understood in the previous model. In simple terms, the delivery process is not directly connected to restaurants. In fact, you need to hire a third-party delivery service that can provide timely delivery to the customer’s doorstep. Delivery service providers jointly work with the local restaurants to provide quicker meal deliveries or drinks to customers, but they also put on extra charges for received orders.

This order and delivery model also comes up with challenges that you should look at before acquiring it completely. Since you are handing over the delivery duties to another party, they should store the food at a consistent temperature. If not done, food may not have the same taste and freshness. Thus, you need to put a systematic delivery system. 

3. Fully Integrated

Fully Integrated delivery businesses develop their apps using which customers can get meal deliveries from cloud kitchens to the ideal location. These popular food delivery apps focus on convenience and direct experience to consumers.

It is usually preferred by startup restaurants or family businesses where they can prepare meals and deliver them to the food buyer. Business owners opting for a fully integrated model only serve in a specific service region. They also collaborate with chefs to provide a different range of foods and a better quantity of food. Going for this model, you need to pay for the cost of equipment which means your operational cost may raise.

With this model, you are likely to provide quicker deliveries and may find it easier to adjust the delivery schedule as per consumers’ requirements. Moreover, in the competitive delivery market, the ability to optimize delivery routes can give your business a significant edge.

Here are the handy tips to apply while creating a new plan to make a successful food delivery business.

Do In-depth Industry Analysis

Identifying your usp.

Make something memorable: A good USP is one that is memorable, makes a case against existing products, and offers valuable interaction with customers. How will you embody your USP in your products, services, user experience, and office food delivery brands?

What are you doing differently?: In order to identify your USP, look at the direct competitors, and indirect competitors and find out what you are doing differently from your major competitor. An on-demand delivery market analysis, customer analysis, and knowing the relevant market size will be helpful.

Notice patterns in the market: If you notice a pattern in the market about features or aspects missing in the competitors, note that down and see if you can offer those features or food services.  

Talk to your customers: Conduct a thorough survey of the food delivery market. Talk to your loyal customers or different types of customers and see what they have to tell you. It will help you find out what’s working for your food delivery model and what’s not working.

Developing your USP

Don’t try to be the best: Don’t try to be the best brand or product out there. Just carve out a niche for your own business in the food delivery industry and stick to it. You will not be concerned about the competition once you make the rules yourself. 

Who are you targeting?: Be particular about who your target market is. Focus on that particular audience. It will help you achieve corporate sales goals and keep your brand image consistent because you can’t be everything to everyone. 

Develop a personality: Incorporating a strong personality into your USP will make your product more memorable. Once you infuse a personality into your brand or product, it will be difficult for others to not notice you.

Create your USP 

Write things down: Create a list of all potential differentiators. You will find these points if you do a thorough actual market trends. Wrap these points around your advertising strategies, business strategies, and detailed strategies.

What are your unique angles?: Pitch your most unique angles against the customer’s needs. Learn about their pain points as it will help set long-term goals.

Compile data: Collect all the data you receive from your consumer and market research and integrate it with your product, service, marketing plan, and business idea.

Prepare a Financial Plan

Your budget will be dependent on your approach and the food delivery business model you choose. Your approach to market and growth strategy will also be an important factor in the total operational costs or key costs you incur. 

As an office food delivery company, you can choose if you will be building an in-house tech platform and support or whether you will be dependent on third-party services for the same. It is an expensive thing to integrate advanced technology in-house. You need a great amount of investment just to get started.  Figure out a budget considering all the major factors of your business model, revenue model, and food delivery marketing plan. You will have several financing options to choose from:

• PayPal Working Capital Loan: PayPal offers short-term loans to help small businesses grow. The application process for a PayPal Working Capital Loan is quick and easy and there are no extra fees and prepayment penalties. 
• Credit Cards/Personal Loans: Business credit or personal loans can be acquired to fuel the daily functions of your business. Small business owners can easily qualify for credit cards and personal loans.
• SBA Loans: You can apply for a small business loan under the Small Business Administration advantage program. SBA offers small business financing with lower interest rates compared to other options. SBA Microloans can be used for inventory, supplies, working capital, and machinery.
• Government Grants & Subsidies: There are several State and Federal Government grants and subsidies available to businesses. In recent times, the government has helped several small and medium-sized businesses to revive their existing food delivery business or any type of meal kit delivery startups.
• Crowdfunding: Reach out to investors and financial institutions to see if you are eligible for a loan. There are great opportunities for businesses with innovative ideas. An online platform where innovative businesses are identified and valued is KickStarter and Indiegogo .

Resource and team management

• Acquiring New Equipment & Vehicles: Decide which major sources and equipment or standard kitchen utensils you will require for your standard food delivery company, considering cash flow. Do you need bikes, box trucks, or cargo vans? Depending on your business model and budget, plan out the lease or acquisition of vehicles and new equipment to gain a competitive advantage.  
• Hiring Drivers: You will have to choose whether you want to hire contract drivers or full-time drivers. It will depend on your delivery business model. Look for drivers on industry-specific job boards. Make use of social media platforms to search for suitable drivers, while considering payroll expenses.
• Training Drivers: A thorough training will have to be provided for your newly hired drivers, whether they are involved on a full-time basis or a contract.
• Train your entire staff for your last mile delivery process; 
• State their responsibilities as a delivery driver;
• Form a strong management team to work with a customer-centric mindset;
• Give access and train management staff for the tools and equipment they will be using on the job;
• Help them establish excellent customer service culture;
• Train drivers to prioritize their health and safety over the package from time to time.

Generate an operations plan

• Plan Your Last Mile Process: Your last mile delivery process is the front-end process that is often trackable and visible to the customers. Try to make this process as efficient as possible. A month of operation on customer-facing troubles always be crystal clear and should be carried out without any uncertainty. 
• Simplify the Process by Employing the Right Tools: One major way of simplifying your last mile delivery process is to cut down planning and optimization time by eradicating a manual procedure. In order to automate these steps, you will have to integrate a food delivery planner and route optimization software in your last mile delivery process. 
• Executive Summary: As a food business owner, you will be employing multiple drivers and creating multiple routes for them daily. You will need to be prepared for every unexpected challenge. Create a summary of how your food delivery operations will take place. You can give an overview and discuss the business model with your delivery team. Address your marketing team to work on key issues that help them attract target customers.

Developing a meal delivery business plan can be challenging. There are quite a few aspects that need to be considered seriously. The increasing competition in the office food delivery services industry only makes it more difficult for new entrants to make space for themselves.

With a reliable food delivery business plan, you can never go wrong. Make sure you consider all the important pointers mentioned above before setting up your own online food delivery system. 

One of the most important aspects, as mentioned above, is planning and optimizing your delivery routes. Without proper optimization and a strong last mile delivery setup, you will not be able to gauge an audience in the market. 

Use a delivery management software like Upper to make sure your routes are optimized and you save the delivery time. It keeps an eye on your personal savings while achieving more deliveries per route.

Utilize Upper to Automize Food Deliveries

Preparing a food delivery business plan? Why not include the best route optimization for getting faster delivery routes. Start using Upper for better delivery management and timely deliveries.

Offices food delivery services are booming currently. The rise in quarantine and lockdown restrictions has people locked up in their houses. It has given a huge boost to online food ordering. Most businesses recorded the highest revenue only because of online food ordering and delivery.

Food delivery businesses either prepare the cooked food on their own or partner with the entire restaurant to handle food deliveries on behalf of them. These are the two main ways in which food delivery businesses operate. A food business that prepares and delivers on its own either receives orders through its website, third-party mobile app, or phone call.

You can start accepting orders for your homemade food online through your social media platforms, website, or phone calls. Many small businesses that sell homemade food accept orders through phone calls or online business plan software that helps them sell and deliver their food to the customers.

Food delivery services businesses like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Postmates are some of the most popular food delivery services having the potential market share in the online food delivery service industry.

If you are new to the food industry, it means you need to work hard for business planning. We discussed significant factors that should be considered while making your own business plan. So, all in all, you must analyze the current market statistics that may help you make a robust operations plan. For a new player like you, it becomes necessary to understand business models before implying them to your business.

Successful online business may not be possible even if you finish your food delivery business plan template, as you may need support from online tools. Upper is one such tool that streamlines your food delivery services and helps you reach the food buyers’ locations easily. You can manage unlimited food deliveries with route planning software . Import your data, optimize them, and hit the dispatch button with just a few clicks. Book a demo with us to get more insights into Upper Route Planner.

Rakesh Patel, author of two defining books on reverse geotagging, is a trusted authority in routing and logistics. His innovative solutions at Upper Route Planner have simplified logistics for businesses across the board. A thought leader in the field, Rakesh's insights are shaping the future of modern-day logistics, making him your go-to expert for all things route optimization. Read more.

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Delivery Service Business Plan: Guide and FREE Template

Did you know that the delivery service industry is expected to reach $658.3 billion by 2031 ? If you’ve been thinking about starting a small business like food delivery or grocery delivery, there has never been a better time. Customer demand is at an all-time high and startup costs are under $10,000 on average. 

The first step to creating a successful delivery service business is — no surprises here — writing a business plan. In this guide, we’ll outline everything you need to know to turn your business idea into reality, and provide a free template for you to get started.

💡If you’re already done your homework and just want to get started, go ahead and start filling out our free delivery service business plan template .

Six reasons to create a business plan for your delivery service 

Did you know that 71% of fast-growing companies have a detailed business plan? And entrepreneurs who have a written plan are 260% more likely to actually start their business and see success. 

That’s because your business plan is your blueprint for getting started, and then guiding you to success in your new business. It will help you:

• Decide if your business idea is viable.
• Conduct a market analysis to understand your competition, customers, and growth ability.
• Set your goals, and create strategies for achieving them.
• Make important decisions about products, marketing, staffing and funding. 
• Raise funding from banks or other investors. 
• Track your progress, growth and profitability.

The main components of a delivery service plan

A business plan is a summary of all your business’s potential operations, so it includes multiple components. Here they are:

1. Executive summary

This section is an introduction to your business, so you want to make it appealing. Answer the following questions: 

• What’s going on in the delivery service industry? 
• What type of delivery service business are you opening? 
• What sets your business apart from well-known delivery options, like FedEx and USPS? 
• Who are the key members of your team? If you are just starting out, your only team member might be you. In this case, list your experience and commitment to success. 
• What are your financial projections showing? What are your operating margins and tentative profitability? 

You don’t want to bore the reader in this section. Make it engaging, and outline key points and advantages of starting your business. Don’t include any negative information.  For example, you shouldn’t say that the delivery service market is oversaturated. If it was, opening a new business wouldn’t be very successful, would it? 

Another common mistake to avoid is understating the qualifications of your team. Don’t say you lack the capital to hire team members, or that you don’t have the necessary experience to run the business. Instead, stay positive with words like “the (company) plans on hiring additional help once we enter a growth phase.”

2. Company overview

The company overview is a deeper dive into the fundamentals of your delivery service. Here, you will pinpoint the type of business you will operate. For example, will you be a pure delivery company, like a courier or express messenger? Or will you be delivering your own products, like food, beverages or flowers? Or maybe you’ll deliver on behalf of other producers, like many grocery delivery services that work with different farmers. Will you offer same-day delivery?

A courier service business plan will be different in some ways from a plan for a grocery delivery service company, but you’ll need to answer all the same questions.

It’s not uncommon for delivery service businesses to engage in more than one service. List all services that you plan on operating. 

In the company overview, you will also outline your “why” for starting the business, important milestones you have already achieved, and information on the legal structure of your business. You may also want to include a mission statement here. 

3. Industry analysis

Now, it’s time to get down to the facts. Include industry growth facts, such as that the compound annual growth rate in the United States is 5.7% or that there are currently over 250,000 courier and local delivery companies . 

Properly completing this section will require some industry and market research. Great research starting points include IBISWorld , the Small Business Administration (SBA), and your state’s website, if you are offering local courier services.  This is not only beneficial to show the opportunities in the market, but you will also develop insights into how to set yourself apart from competitors. 

Be sure you include information on market conditions, main competitors, key suppliers, current trends, and where the industry is headed. 

4. Customer and market analysis

Who is your primary customer? Are you looking to work with individuals or businesses? What types of businesses or individuals are your ideal potential customers? Identifying your target market, and how will you win new customers, is critical to developing accurate marketing strategies. 

Try to be as detailed as possible. Pinpoint the age, gender, geographic location, income levels, and needs of your target market. 

5. Competitive analysis

The competitive analysis section will highlight your competition and how you plan on setting your business apart. You should uncover data to back up your claims. For example, recent studies show that 73% of customers have had bad delivery experiences , and 16% have advised friends or family to avoid the retailer. 

Statistics like these can help to show that prioritizing customer service is how your business will shine. You might choose to include a chart or graph on common traits that your business and competitors have. Identify weaknesses, strengths, pricing differences, and the target market of competitors as well. 

Could you offer local delivery to companies in your area to boost their revenue? How about delivering outside of normal hours, such as overnight? Do you have the capabilities to specialize in fragile package delivery? These are all ways that you can differentiate yourself from competitors. 

6. Marketing strategy

Using all of the information and data you have accumulated, you will piece together a marketing strategy. Going through the four Ps can give you a comprehensive marketing plan:

• Product: Discuss the type of services you are providing again, including the specifics, like late night delivery or fragile package options. 
• Price:   Reinforce your pricing structure and make a comparison with competitors. 
• Place: Identify where you will be delivering. This could be local, regional, or national. 
• Promotions: Put together a general strategy for how you will attract customers. Will you advertise in local papers, or go for a pure e-commerce model? How about social media or email marketing? Talk about how your delivery service website will use SEO, how you’ll build relationships with local businesses, or how you’ll search for jobs on courier listing sites. 

Your marketing strategy is very important for displaying how you will attract customers using your competitive edge. 

6. Operating strategy

This section of your delivery service business plan will outline both the day-to-day operations and the long-term goals of your business. In the executive summary, you touched on a few of your main goals. In this section, you will elaborate on those items. 

Common day-to-day operations might include listing the tasks of your team, like answering calls, scheduling, and dispatching routes to delivery drivers. How will you plan your deliveries? Will you hire your own drivers, or use contractors? What about a vehicle fleet? What software will you use to track deliveries, customer requests, and costs? 

Long-term goals might be increasing revenue by a certain percentage each year, or adding a specific number of trucks every few months. Maybe you want to grow revenue by 3% each year. What can you do to get your business there? Will you increase prices to match inflation, win new customers or hire additional staff? 

Both your short-term and long-term goals need to be reasonable. Don’t say you’ll grow revenue by 50% in your first year, or have 20 delivery team members right from the start. Reasonable goals are easier to work toward and can keep you and your team motivated. 

7. Management team

Your team is essential to the success of your delivery business. If you have a partner with years of industry experience or a manager with a stellar record, incorporate that expertise and experience into this section. 

You should have a clear management structure and chain of command. Keep in mind that job roles can overlap, especially if you only have a few team members. Identify who will handle hiring, day-to-day operations, high-level decisions, and customer service. 

Also, be sure that you include any mentors that are guiding you along the way. This could be an advisor in the industry, a family member, or a friend. 

8. Financial projections

A key component of your delivery business plan is projected financial statements. If you are just starting out, you might not have years of historical financial information. This is why you need to project your expected revenue, operating expenses, assets, and profit based on industry research and your specific business characteristics. 

Your financial plan should include at least five years of financial projections. This helps you determine your business’s chance of being successful and profitable. Prospective lenders and investors will also want to see this information. Here are the main financial statements you will develop: 

• Income statement : This outlines your revenue, expenses, and bottom-line number, known as net income. A positive net income indicates a profitable business, while a negative number suggests you are losing money. 
• Balance sheet : The balance sheet tracks your overall financial health by outlining assets (what you own), liabilities (what you owe), and equity (what you’ve earned, contributed, and taken out of the company). 
• Cash flow statement : This tracks the movement of money in your business. The three main categories found in this document are cash earned or spent from operations, financing activities, and investments. 

It can be hard to plan out all of these expenses, which is why many delivery service businesses use an accountant to help. 

Don’t just hire the first accountant you come across. Interview a few to confirm that you feel comfortable with them and can develop a good working relationship. Also check that they have experience helping startups, especially in the delivery service industry. This is because the business model that delivery service businesses follow isn’t the same as other industries. 

Accountants will usually list the clientele they work with directly on their websites. Otherwise, don’t be afraid to reach out and set up a consultation. 

9. Appendix

The appendix will contain additional schedules, financials, graphs, maps, and supporting information for your delivery service business plan. 

Top things to know before writing your delivery service business plan

Before you create your delivery service business plan, you will need to think about the big picture. This includes evaluating the following components: 

1. What delivery service model will you choose?

In your delivery business plan, you will need to decide exactly what kind of courier or delivery service you want to offer.

First, consider how you will run your daily delivery operations . Will you do it all in-house , including hiring and managing your own drivers? This is how Walden Local in New England does it, using their own branded vehicle fleet and drivers to deliver local meat and fish directly from farms to customers. This gives you total control over delivery operations, but you will need your own delivery vehicles. This can increase the costs, especially when you factor in vehicle maintenance.

Alternatively, you could outsource your actual deliveries via a gig economy app like DoorDash or Uber Eats. Many restaurants and ghost kitchens choose this operating model, preferring to focus their effort on the actual product they’re delivering. 

Second, what delivery time frames will you offer? The three main options here are:

• On-demand delivery: This literally means you will deliver (or pick up and deliver, in the case of a courier service) as soon as the customer places their order. Depending on the exact product, this could be the same day (groceries) or the same hour (restaurants). This is highly convenient for customers, but expensive to operate.
• Batched delivery: If you expect very high volumes, or if you choose to offer next-day delivery or later, you have the option of creating delivery batches so you can create more efficient delivery routes and schedules. This makes it easier to deliver profitably, but isn’t suitable for a business like a restaurant.
• Scheduled delivery : This is a favorite delivery model for subscription services like meal prep companies, and it can make delivery operations much easier. It means pre-planning deliveries to specific areas on specific days — for example, I subscribe to a flower delivery service that means I get fresh blooms on my doorstep every second Wednesday. You will need to be very clear upfront with your customers about how their deliveries will work, but if you manage expectations clearly this can be an excellent option.

You can read more insider tips for starting your own delivery business here . 

2. How will you set up and staff your business? 

During the  business planning process, you should form a legal business structure. This entails registering your business name with your state and applying for an Employer Identification Number. You will need to pick out a business structure, such as a single-member LLC, a partnership, or a corporation. Talking with an accountant can help you find the most favorable structure. 

Keep in mind that staffing can take some time, especially with talent shortages. Before you can accept your first delivery order, you need to go through the hiring and training process with staff members. Knowing how to hire and retain delivery drivers , in particular, can help you save a lot of time and money. 

Do your research on a competitive wage, determine how you will process payroll, pinpoint the benefits you will offer, and create job listings. The right team members working alongside you can help your business thrive. 

3. What delivery management software will you use?

If you want an efficient, profitable delivery service business , sooner or later you’ll need proper delivery management software . Plenty of delivery businesses have started out using nothing but Excel spreadsheets, but that can quickly become a brake on your growth. Considering your delivery software while you’re making your business plan can give you an edge. Look for software that will make it easy to:

• Upload orders
• Use route optimization to plan efficient delivery routes
• Dispatch to a mobile driver app
• Track delivery progress in real time
• Send customer notifications
• Manage driver timesheets and payroll

The right delivery management software can help you achieve profitability, offer a great customer experience, and ensure on-time deliveries.

How to use the template

Now that you know what to include in your delivery service business plan, it’s time to get started. You can open a copy of the template right now and start writing. Here are some tips we’ve learned along the way: 

• Don’t jump around: Work on your delivery business plan section by section, starting at the top. Jumping around results in missed information and confusion. 
• Re-read Sections – It’s helpful to read through each section a few times before you create your own. 
• Be Thorough – The more thorough you are, the more beneficial your plan will be. After all, the goal of a delivery business plan is to provide you with guidance for starting your business. 
• Be Honest – Oftentimes, delivery service business owners adjust their plans to make their business look more attractive. You want to be honest throughout the plan to give you an accurate roadmap of what you need to do to become successful. 

If you are still struggling to piece together your business plan after reading this guide, don’t hesitate to reach out to an expert for help. 

Final Thoughts and Access to Your Free Template

A delivery service business plan is a resource that can bolster the success of your new delivery business. Take the time to conduct research and put thought into your plan. You don’t want to start your business and scramble to figure out who your target market is or how to display your competitive advantage. Here is our free template . 

If you’re in the market for delivery management software, Routific has you covered. We infuse accuracy and efficiency into our platform, giving you the tools to increase profit, meet customer demands, and ensure your team maximizes productivity. Reach out to schedule your free consultation.

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Route Optimization and Planning

How to start a food delivery business: from business plan to expansion.

When you picture your future food delivery business, you probably envision yourself engulfed in sweet aromas as you stir your signature dish over a hot stove. But if you want to light up the taste buds of swooning patrons, you’ll need to have more than a love for culinary innovation. You need a solid understanding of business procedures, like budgeting and delivery driver routing, too.

This guide is designed to help you conquer all of the non-food related parts of your business. Whether you’re just starting out, ready to launch, or looking to expand an existing food delivery business, these tips and strategies will help you grow your business successfully. Plus, learn how OptimoRoute streamlines routing, scheduling, and planning, so you can focus on the fun part — the food. 

Jump to your step:

Step 1: Formulate a Food Delivery Business Plan

Step 2: purchase equipment and hire your team, step 3: take a test run, step 4: open your food delivery business with a bang, step 5: scale and expand your business.

Before you design a menu or perfect your signature dish, you need to form a food delivery business plan (or business recipe ). You can always spice it up or modify it when you feel inspired, but these are the essential steps for creating a successful business model.

Find your differentiator

Choose a unique approach to make your business stand out. Local Roots NYC ’s differentiating factor, for example, is that their farm delivery business only sells food from “hyper-local” farms — ones that are within a two-hour radius of NYC. Domino’s Pizza sets themselves apart in a highly competitive market by offering unparalleled convenience and unique delivery options.

How do you find your differentiating factor? You’ll have to conduct market research. Explore your competition — order takeout from local restaurants and food delivery services . Look for gaps in their offerings so that you can offer something they don’t, whether it’s a particular dish, shorter delivery time, or a different type of food.

Recommended Reading: How to Do Market Research: A 6-Step Guide  ; How to Differentiate Your Restaurant and Stand Out From the Crowd  ; How Can I Find Customers in a Competitive Market?

Plan your logistics

Logistics management is a large part of running a food delivery business. We’ll dive into software you can use to simplify route planning and order management in step 2. For now, here’s what you need to do:

• Find a kitchen. Unless your local laws allow you to cook in your home kitchen, you’ll need to rent a commissary or commercial kitchen. If you’re adding restaurant delivery to an existing dining establishment, make sure you set aside dedicated kitchen space for delivery orders. You’ll need a space for drivers to gather delivery orders without interrupting your dine-in workflow.
• Map out your territory. Start small. You can always expand once you have a firm understanding of how long deliveries take and how many orders your drivers can handle at one time. Software such as OptimoRoute can help with this. If you’re starting a weekly subscription service, such as a meal prep or grocery delivery business , consider dividing your territory into manageable zones. For example, Tomato Mountain Farm offers delivery to each of their zones on a specific day of the week. This makes deliveries more efficient and cuts down on their carbon footprint.
• Choose your fleet. If you buy your own delivery vehicle(s), you’ll have the freedom to wrap or brand the exterior. Owning your own vehicle also simplifies maintenance and gas expenses. But it’s a large investment. If you aren’t able to purchase or lease a delivery vehicle right away, you can have your drivers use their own vehicles. You’ll just need to outfit them with extra supplies, such as ice packs or insulated bags, to ensure the food is safely transported.
• Know if you need reverse logistics. Reverse logistics is the process of picking up items from customers and bringing them back to your establishment or to another location. Meal delivery businesses such as Oco Meals use reverse logistics to pick up reusable food containers. Oberweis Dairy uses reverse logistics to pick up empty milk bottles. Reverse logistics solutions can help you differentiate your business by providing a unique customer experience.

Check out the competitors you identified in your market research and see how they handle logistics. You may be able to learn from their systems, or you may find gaps in their systems that you can capitalize on to get an advantage. It can also be very helpful to find a mentor — a restaurant owner or someone who has set up their own food delivery business and can give you guidance. Finally, if your food delivery business requires warehousing, check out our guide to food warehousing for tips on how to optimize storage.

Recommended Reading: How Delivery Planning Can Grow Your Business in 2020 ; Renting a Commercial Kitchen or Commissary: What You Need to Know ; The 6 Best Cargo Vans For Your Business

Budget 

Once you’re armed with an understanding of both your market and your logistics requirements, it’s time for budgeting, revenue forecasting, and demand forecasting . You must calculate:

• Projected earnings – Estimate what you think your revenue will be. You need this projection to determine your risks, when your business will break even, and how much upfront cost you can sustain.
• Expenses – Add up the cost of supplies, vehicles, etc., you will need to buy upfront, as well as those you will need to buy in the first three years you are in business. Don’t forget to include payroll expenses, business licensing fees, vehicle maintenance, gas, and tolls.

You also need to create a balance sheet and pay close attention to billing cycles. If you have more money going out in one 30-day period than coming in, you’re going to have a cash flow problem. If you offer weekly meal deliveries, you may want to consider billing clients at the beginning of each three-month season, rather than billing each week. This can help mitigate cash flow concerns.

Recommended Reading: Calculate Your Startup Costs ; How to Finance a Small Business ; Sales Tax by State: To-Go Restaurant Orders

Now that you have a plan, it’s time to arm yourself with essential tools and hire your team. Make thoughtful decisions about both, and you’ll set yourself up for long-term success.

Get an edge with the right tech stack

You have to take advantage of the most advanced technology. If you don’t, one of your competitors will — and they will deliver a superior customer experience because of it.

Route optimization software is an absolute must-have for delivery businesses because customers have high expectations. Thanks to companies like Amazon, fast and free delivery is considered a standard offering, not a luxury, and manual planning is obsolete.

At OptimoRoute, we help businesses maintain a competitive edge, drive revenue, and scale quickly and efficiently. Our software automates delivery route planning , driver scheduling, customer notifications, and more, which has empowered food delivery businesses like Hardie’s Fresh Foods to increase their on-time delivery rate from 89% to 94%. Using OptimoRoute, Tomato Mountain Farm quadrupled their subscriber volume and added two new delivery vehicles to their fleet while remaining profitable. 

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Reduce your operational costs by 30% Increase delivery capacity by 43% Plan 7x faster

In addition to route optimization software, you will need a website. We recommend using a POS (Point of Sale) system to accept and track payments as well as creating your own mobile application. According to Omnivore , “70% of restaurant’s digital orders come through its mobile app or website.” This does not include third-party food delivery platforms like Grubhub, Postmates, or Uber Eats, so it’s important to have your own online and app presence.

Recommended Reading: The Ultimate Guide to Route Optimization ; The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a POS System ; Restaurant App — Complete Guide

Assemble your dream team

As a startup, it’s vital for you to hire the right team. You’ll be working closely with your employees, and smart hiring decisions drive revenue , so make sure you hire like-minded individuals who share your vision. Happy employees who enjoy their work are more productive , which is especially important when your food delivery company is striving to break even.

Choose delivery drivers with customer service skills. You can easily provide your drivers with turn-by-turn navigation using route optimization software, so mapping skills aren’t as important as communication and people skills. Delivery drivers will be the only representative many of your customers meet in person. Choose drivers who are most likely to make a positive impression.

Pro Tip: OptimoRoute can reduce your payroll expenses by cutting down the work hours needed to plan and route deliveries. Businesses like Telgian have reduced planning manpower by as much as 66%.

Recommended Reading: How to Hire ; Hire Delivery Drivers — 10 Sites for Hiring Drivers Fast ; 5 Delivery Driver Interview Questions and Answers

Choose packaging that is in-line with your brand

Delivery packaging and presentation can go a long way toward earning you repeat sales, but only if it’s in-line with your brand. Say your market research showed a gap in sustainable food delivery in your area. You decide to open an organic and eco-friendly meal kit delivery business. It would be smart to choose biodegradable or reusable cartons because they are in-line with your brand image and marketing strategy.

Even if you’re not building an eco-centric brand, most consumers prefer to order from delivery businesses that use biodegradable or recyclable containers. Regardless, every piece of your business should form a cohesive brand — including the packaging you transport your food in.

Recommended reading: Food Packaging Design Tips  ; The 4 Packaging Supplies That Meal Prep Delivery Services Need  ; Why Compostable Containers Make Sense Even If You Can’t Compost Them

Open your business to a limited client base, so your whole team can practice and work out kinks in your physical workflow. 

Track how long it takes drivers to deliver to different areas and how much time they require at each stop. Use the insights you glean from taking a test run to finesse your routing and scheduling . The more concrete information you have, the better your capacity plan will be, and the easier you will be able to scale operations when demand picks up. You can also use your test run to get feedback from potential customers regarding pricing and which features, food options, and services they most enjoy.

Pro Tip : OptimoRoute automatically tracks information, including actual routes taken by drivers vs. planned routes, the time each delivery was made, and on-time delivery rates. You can access these delivery statistics at any time in your advanced analytics dashboard and use these insights to adjust delivery zones, see how each of your drivers is performing, and know exactly what it will take to scale your business when you want to expand.

You don’t have to spend a ton of money on marketing right away, but you will need to get the word out about your business.  More than half of the respondents surveyed for Nielsen’s Global New Product Innovation Report said that they learn about new products from friends and family. Referral marketing is a powerful tool, so make it easy for happy customers to tell their friends about your business. Add a “refer a friend” button to your emails, website, and app. You can even incentivize your target audience to tell their friends about your business by offering a referral discount or rewards program.

Use social media to create a buzz and interact with your target market in a meaningful way. You can boost engagement without spending money by creating a post with a simple question — one that won’t take long for a consumer to answer, but they’re likely to have an opinion about it. 

For example, let’s say you serve Mexican food. You could post a photo of your tacos next to a photo of tortas and say something like, “Taco Tuesday or Torta Tuesday? What do you prefer?” These types of posts can garner a lot of comments that will organically boost that post’s visibility and open your business up to a wider audience. You could also get the word out about your business by partnering with influencers in your area. 

Pro Tip : Use OptimoRoute’s customizable customer notifications to encourage your patrons to share their experiences with friends.

The key to successfully growing a business is to optimize it — to make sure every process is running at peak efficiency . Optimization is how successful businesses maximize revenue, reinvest, and scale. Tomato Mountain Farm was able to expand their client base from 300 to 1,200 subscribers in 30 days by optimizing deliveries with OptimoRoute. Local Roots NYC optimized their delivery procedure to overcome COVID-19 restrictions and scale from 50 to 1,000 weekly deliveries in just one month.

When you’re operating at peak efficiency and you know exactly how much money, time, and manpower every process takes, scaling and expanding are easy.

Learn how to optimize your food delivery business by type:

• Meal Prep Business
• Catering Business
• Grocery Delivery Business
• Farm Delivery Business
• Alcohol Delivery Business

Grow Fast and Efficiently With OptimoRoute

Whether you’re thinking of starting a catering business , a meal-prep business, or anything else with food delivery, OptimoRoute can help.

At OptimoRoute, we’ve helped hundreds of food delivery businesses at all stages, from launch to scaling and adding new territories. We understand the struggles facing delivery teams, and we want to help you reach your goals. We offer a 30-day free trial (no credit card info required), so you can truly experience all our software has to offer. Our support team is available to help you get started, walk you through our features, and answer questions.

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How To Start A Food Delivery Business + Checklist

Rachelle regua.

• January 27, 2023

In today’s world, it seems like everyone is busy. And for time-crunched people, cooking a meal from scratch can be overwhelming. That’s where food delivery comes in. 

A food delivery business can be a great option for anyone looking to start their own business. But before you start, there are a few things you need to know. This blog post will give you a rundown on how to start a food delivery business and what you need to do to get started. 

Plus, we’ve included a handy checklist to ensure you have everything covered. So read on and learn all you need to know about starting your own food delivery business!

Is A Food Delivery Business Profitable?

The short answer is yes, but there are some caveats. Let’s take a closer look at the potential profitability of a food delivery business. A food delivery business has two main revenue streams: delivery fees and commissions on orders. 

Delivery fees are typically a flat rate charged per order, while commissions are a percentage of the total order value. The revenue generated from each of these streams will vary depending on the type of food delivery business you’re running. 

For example, businesses that focus on delivering restaurant meals will generate most of their revenue from commissions. In contrast, those that deliver groceries or prepared meals will make more from delivery fees.

Which Food Delivery Service Is Best For You?

Before discussing how to start a food delivery business, let’s check which type of food delivery service suits you.

Delivery For Restaurants

Delivery for restaurants is a great option for entrepreneurs who want to enter the lucrative market of food delivery services. By partnering with local restaurants, you can provide a wider range of food options to customers without the high overhead costs of opening a restaurant. 

The key to success in this market is to establish a strong network of restaurant partners and offer competitive pricing and exceptional customer service. With the increasing popularity of food delivery apps, it’s easier than ever to start a delivery service without needing to build your own platform. 

However, the competition in the food delivery market is fierce, so it’s important to conduct thorough market research and offer unique value propositions to stand out.

Pet Food Delivery

Entrepreneurs who are passionate about pets can find a unique and profitable market in pet food delivery services. With the demand for pet food and supplies on the rise, there is a great opportunity to provide a convenient and hassle-free way for pet owners to purchase their furry friends’ necessities. 

Partnering with local pet food and supply companies can allow you to provide delivery services directly to their customers. 

As pet owners are often devoted to their furry friends, offering personalized services and a genuine passion for animals can help to establish a loyal customer base and ensure long-term success.

Grocery Delivery

As consumers lead increasingly busy lives, the popularity of grocery delivery services has soared. 

By partnering with local grocery stores, entrepreneurs can provide a convenient and efficient way for customers to purchase their groceries without leaving their homes. This service is particularly attractive to elderly or disabled individuals who may have difficulty leaving their homes.

Offering a diverse range of products and flexible delivery options, such as same-day or next-day delivery, can help to attract a larger customer base. Additionally, providing a subscription service for regular customers can help to build loyalty and ensure repeat business.

Fruit Delivery 

There are many reasons to start a fruit delivery service. For one, it is a great way to get fresh fruit into the hands of people who may not have easy access. 

This can be especially important for those living in rural areas or with limited transportation options. Another reason to start a fruit delivery service is that it can be profitable. 

If you can source your fruit at a low cost and then sell it at a markup, you can make a good profit. There are many ways to market and sell your fruit, so you should be able to find a way that works well for you. 

Meal Kit Courier

Meal kit courier services provide a convenient and healthy solution for busy consumers who wish to prepare home-cooked meals without the hassle of grocery shopping. 

To succeed in this competitive market, it’s crucial to offer high-quality products, competitive pricing, and exceptional customer service. 

Building strong relationships with meal kit companies and prioritizing efficient delivery logistics are also essential to ensure the timely delivery of fresh ingredients. 

Offering a user-friendly online platform with a variety of meal options and flexible delivery options, such as different delivery windows, can help to attract a larger customer base.

Choosing The Right Business Model 

When starting a food delivery business, choosing the right business model is crucial to ensure success. There are several business models to consider, including on-demand, full-service, and partial service.

On-Demand 

On-demand delivery services allow customers to place orders and have them delivered quickly, usually within an hour or less. This model is ideal for customers who require urgent or last-minute deliveries. 

On-demand delivery services typically use mobile apps or websites to facilitate ordering and offer real-time tracking of deliveries. 

While this model provides fast and convenient service to customers, it can be challenging for businesses to manage the high volume of orders and meet the demand for quick delivery.

Full-Service 

Full-service delivery services offer end-to-end delivery, including picking up orders from restaurants or suppliers, managing inventory, and delivering to customers. 

This model requires a significant investment in logistics, as businesses need to manage their own fleets of drivers and ensure timely deliveries. 

However, full-service delivery services can provide a more personalized and reliable service to customers.

Partial Service 

Partial service delivery services are a hybrid of on-demand and full-service models. They allow customers to order from a limited selection of restaurants or suppliers and offer a more personalized service than on-demand models. 

Partial service delivery services may work with a select group of drivers or outsource deliveries to third-party logistics providers. 

This model can be a cost-effective option for businesses that want to offer delivery services without managing their own logistics.

Starting A Food Delivery Business Checklist 

Here’s a checklist food delivery businesses should tick off:

Decide On Your Niche 

Starting a food delivery business can be a great way to earn extra income or even turn it into a full-time business. But before you get started, it’s important to decide on your niche. 

This will help you determine what type of food delivery business you want to start and what kind of customers you want to target.

Develop A Business Plan 

Food delivery businesses in a few different ways. You can work with restaurants to deliver their food, start your restaurant that delivers food, or create a meal delivery service that delivers prepared meals. 

Once you’ve decided on your business model, it’s time to start developing a business plan. This will help you figure out the details of your business, including your marketing strategy, financial plan, and operations plan.

Choose Names And Branding Strategy 

This may seem like a small detail, but it’s very important. Your business name will be the first thing potential customers see, so it should be catchy and memorable. It should also be relevant to your business – for example, if you’re specializing in healthy food delivery, you might want to include the word “healthy” in your name. 

Once you’ve chosen a name, it’s time to start thinking about branding. Branding is all about creating an identity for your business – what makes you different from your competitors? What kind of image do you want to project? 

Your branding strategy should be carefully considered and well-executed to make a lasting impression on customers.

Calculate The Cost Of The Initial Investment

The first step in estimating the cost of starting a delivery business is to assess your business model and delivery area. Are you planning on delivering meals to customers’ homes or businesses? What type of foods do you plan on delivering? The next step is to determine your start-up costs. 

This includes the cost of renting or leasing a delivery vehicle, purchasing supplies and equipment, and obtaining insurance. Another important factor in the cost of starting a food delivery business is marketing expenses.

You’ll need to budget for advertising and promotion and any fees associated with online ordering platforms or third-party delivery services. Finally, don’t forget to factor in the ongoing costs of running a food delivery business, such as fuel, vehicle maintenance, and employee salaries.

Get The Right Licenses And Permits

The first step in starting your food delivery business is to obtain the necessary licenses and permits. You may need a state or local government license depending on your location. Additionally, you will need to obtain a permit to operate your business from the health department. 

Next, you will need to purchase insurance for your business. This will protect you if something goes wrong with your food delivery business. You will also need to obtain a business license from your city or county. 

Once you have all of the necessary licenses and permits , you will need to find a location for your business. You will want to choose a location that is convenient for your customers. Additionally, you will want to make sure that your location is in a safe area.

Setup The Needed Equipment And Team 

The first thing you need to do is gather the necessary equipment. This includes a commercial kitchen, refrigeration, and food storage facilities. You will also need a delivery vehicle large enough to accommodate your orders. 

Next, you need to assemble a team of employees who can handle the daily operations of your business. This team should include a chef, server, delivery driver, and customer service representative.

Once you have all the necessary equipment and team in place, you need to develop a marketing strategy. This will help you attract customers and grow your business. Finally, you need to set up an online ordering system. This will allow customers to place orders online and track their delivery status. 

Once these elements are in place, you are ready to start your food delivery business! Keep track of your progress and make adjustments as needed to ensure success.

Set Up Suitable Channels For Receiving Orders

You can use a few key channels to receive orders when starting your food delivery business. The most obvious is the phone, but you can also use online ordering systems, email, or even text messaging. 

The important thing is to make sure that you have a system in place that is reliable and easy for your customers to use. 

You don’t want to miss out on orders because your system is too complicated or unreliable. One of the best ways to ensure that you’re able to receive orders is to use an online ordering system. A few options are available, but the most popular is probably GrubHub.

Set Up the Delivery System 

When starting a food delivery business, one of the most important things you’ll need to do is set up a delivery system. 

This can be as simple as choosing a dispatch software , hiring a few drivers and having them use their vehicles, or it can be a more complex operation with multiple vehicles and delivery routes. 

No matter what size delivery system you have, you need to make sure your drivers are insured. This is important not only for their safety but also for protecting your business in case of an accident. 

You also need to develop a good system for tracking orders and keeping track of where your drivers are at all times. This will help you ensure that orders are delivered on time and that your drivers are safe. 

Optimize Delivery Routes 

Assuming your food business is up and running, optimizing your delivery routes is next. This will help you get your food to your customers promptly and efficiently. 

The first thing you need to do is map out all of your potential delivery routes. This will give you a good idea of where your customers are and how best to reach them. 

Once you have your routes mapped out, you need to determine the best time of day to deliver to each route. This will ensure that your food is delivered fresh and on time. 

Once your routes and delivery times are determined, you must ensure you have the right vehicle for each route. 

Market Your Business 

Starting a food delivery business is important to market your business well. You must tell people about your business and what you can offer them. There are many ways to market your business, and you should choose the ones that best fit your business. Make a website for your business. 

This is a great way to inform people about your business and your offer. You can include photos of your food, a menu, and contact information. 

Create social media accounts for your business. This will allow you to interact with potential customers and tell them about your business. Make sure to post regularly and respond to comments and messages.

Starting a food delivery business FAQ

What kind of food should i offer for my food delivery business.

The type of food you offer will depend on your target market and your area. Consider the demographics of your area and the demand for certain types of cuisine. You may also want to consider offering a variety of options to appeal to a wide range of customers. Additionally, consider partnering with local restaurants or suppliers to offer a diverse range of options.

How do I know if there is a demand for my food delivery business in my area?

You can conduct market research to determine if there is a demand for your food delivery business in your area. This can include analyzing demographics, conducting surveys, and researching competitors. Additionally, you can test the demand by offering a limited service or conducting a soft launch to gauge interest.

What legal requirements do I need to fulfill to start a food delivery business?

Legal requirements will vary depending on your location and the type of business structure you choose. You may need to obtain a business license, register your business with local authorities, obtain insurance, and comply with health and safety regulations. 

It’s important to research the legal requirements in your area and consult with a lawyer or accountant to ensure you comply with all necessary regulations.

How can I create a unique brand for my food delivery business?

Creating a unique brand can help differentiate your business from competitors and attract customers. Consider developing a strong brand identity that reflects your business’s values and personality. 

This can include creating a memorable logo, developing a unique tone of voice for your marketing materials, and using social media to build an engaged community of followers. Additionally, consider offering unique services or menu items that set your business apart from competitors.

What technology do I need to manage my food delivery business?

Technology plays a crucial role in managing a food delivery business. You will need a reliable and user-friendly online ordering platform, a dispatching system for managing deliveries, and a payment processing system. 

Additionally, you may want to invest in a customer relationship management (CRM) system to track customer interactions and data analytics tools to measure your business’s performance.

How can I ensure that my food stays fresh during delivery?

Ensuring the freshness of your food during delivery is critical to maintaining customer satisfaction. You can invest in insulated bags or containers to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Additionally, consider using high-quality packaging materials that are leak-proof and sturdy to prevent spillage and maintain the integrity of the food.

How can I handle customer complaints and issues?

Handling customer complaints and issues promptly and professionally is important for maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. It’s essential to have a clear and effective customer service policy in place, including a process for handling complaints and a system for tracking and resolving issues. 

Additionally, it’s important to be responsive to customer feedback and to take action to address any concerns or issues.

What kind of employees do I need to hire for my food delivery business?

The type of employees you need will depend on the size and scope of your business. You will likely need drivers or delivery personnel, as well as kitchen staff, customer service representatives, and administrative staff. It’s important to hire employees who are reliable, customer-focused, and have relevant skills and experience.

How much money do I need to start a food delivery business?

The amount of money needed to start a food delivery business will depend on various factors, such as the type of business model, the size of the operation, and the location. 

Startup costs can include expenses such as equipment, supplies, marketing, legal fees, and employee salaries. It’s important to create a detailed business plan and budget to determine the costs and funding needed to start your business.

How can I scale my food delivery business and expand into new markets?

Scaling your food delivery business and expanding into new markets can be achieved through various strategies, such as partnering with other businesses, offering new services or menu items, expanding delivery areas, and investing in marketing and advertising. 

It’s important to carefully plan and execute your expansion strategy to ensure that you can maintain quality and customer satisfaction while growing your business. Additionally, consider leveraging technology and data analytics to optimize operations and improve efficiencies.

Start a food delivery business with Detrack

In conclusion, starting a food delivery business can be a great opportunity for entrepreneurs who are passionate about food and customer service. 

With the right business model, a unique brand, and efficient technology, you can create a successful and profitable venture. However, it’s important to carefully consider the legal requirements, food safety regulations, and staffing needs of your business.

One way to streamline the operations of your food delivery business is to use Detrack , a software solution designed to simplify and optimize delivery logistics. 

Detrack offers features such as real-time tracking, automated notifications, and customizable delivery workflows to help you manage your deliveries efficiently and effectively. 

If you’re ready to start your food delivery business or want to improve your existing operations, try Detrack today and see the difference it can make for your business!

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY:

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How to Start a Profitable Home Food Delivery Business [11 Steps]

By Nick Cotter Updated Feb 02, 2024

Business Steps:

1. perform market analysis., 2. draft a home food delivery business plan., 3. develop a home food delivery brand., 4. formalize your business registration., 5. acquire necessary licenses and permits for home food delivery., 6. open a business bank account and secure funding as needed., 7. set pricing for home food delivery services., 8. acquire home food delivery equipment and supplies., 9. obtain business insurance for home food delivery, if required., 10. begin marketing your home food delivery services., 11. expand your home food delivery business..

Starting a home food delivery business requires a keen understanding of the market landscape. A comprehensive market analysis will provide insights into consumer preferences, competition, and potential areas for growth. Follow these steps to ensure your market analysis lays a strong foundation for your business:

• Identify your target audience by considering factors such as demographics, income levels, dietary preferences, and lifestyle choices.
• Analyze competitors by evaluating their offerings, pricing, delivery areas, and customer reviews to understand your competitive edge.
• Research current market trends, including popular cuisines, emerging dietary restrictions, and technological advancements in food delivery.
• Assess the legal and regulatory environment to understand food safety requirements, delivery permissions, and other relevant regulations.
• Survey potential customers to gather direct feedback on their needs, preferences, and willingness to pay for your services.
• Examine supply chain logistics, including sourcing ingredients, partnering with local vendors, and determining delivery methods and costs.

Are Home Food Delivery businesses profitable?

Yes, home food delivery businesses can be profitable. Many factors determine the profitability of a business, such as the type of food and services offered, the local market, and the pricing structure. Many businesses have found success in offering a variety of food items, incorporating delivery fees, and providing discounts to frequent customers.

Starting a home food delivery business requires careful planning to ensure success. Drafting a comprehensive business plan is an essential step that outlines your business strategy, identifies your target market, and details the operational and financial aspects. Here's a guide to help you draft an effective home food delivery business plan:

• Define your business concept, including the type of food you'll deliver, and the unique selling proposition that sets you apart from competitors.
• Conduct market research to understand your target audience's needs, preferences, and spending habits.
• Outline your business structure, including ownership details, staff requirements, and the roles of each team member.
• Develop your marketing and sales strategies, focusing on digital marketing tactics, partnerships, and customer loyalty programs.
• Plan your menu, taking into account sourcing ingredients, menu variety, pricing strategy, and packaging for delivery.
• Address logistics and operations, such as delivery methods, order management systems, and quality control measures.
• Prepare financial projections, including startup costs, revenue forecasts, profit margins, and break-even analysis.
• Include risk assessment and contingency plans to manage potential challenges in the business.

How does a Home Food Delivery business make money?

A Home Food Delivery business typically makes money by charging customers a delivery fee and mark-up on the food items. Additionally, the business may make money from commissions or fees paid by restaurants for delivery services.

Creating a strong home food delivery brand is crucial for establishing a unique identity and standing out in a competitive market. Your brand should resonate with your target audience and reflect the quality and essence of the service you provide. Here are some tips to help you develop a compelling brand for your home food delivery business:

• Define your brand personality: Choose a tone and personality for your brand that appeals to your target demographic, whether it's friendly, sophisticated, fun, or health-conscious.
• Design a memorable logo: Your logo is the face of your brand. Make it simple, recognizable, and appropriate for your food delivery service.
• Create a catchy slogan: A slogan helps communicate your brand's promise and values in a few memorable words.
• Choose a color scheme: Colors have psychological impacts and can influence perceptions. Select a color palette that aligns with your brand's personality and the emotions you wish to evoke.
• Invest in quality packaging: Your packaging design should not only be practical and maintain food quality but also consistently reflect your brand's image.
• Build an online presence: Develop a professional website and engage on social media platforms to connect with customers and reinforce your brand identity.
• Train your staff: Ensure that every team member understands and represents your brand values, providing a consistent experience to customers.

How to come up with a name for your Home Food Delivery business?

To come up with a name for your Home Food Delivery business, start by brainstorming words or phrases that describe your business. Think about what you want your brand to communicate to customers. Consider incorporating your location or target market in the name. Finally, use a word or phrase that is easy to remember so that customers can easily find and refer your business.

Starting a home food delivery business requires not just culinary skills but also compliance with legal requirements. Formalizing your business registration is a crucial step in legitimizing your operations and ensuring that you are protected under the law. Here's a guide to help you through the process:

• Research and decide on a business structure (e.g., sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation) that suits your needs and objectives. Each structure has different legal and tax implications.
• Register your business name with the appropriate state authorities to ensure it's unique and not already in use.
• Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS for tax purposes, even if you don't plan to hire employees immediately.
• Apply for any required local and state business licenses and permits, which may include a general business license, a food service license, and a health department permit.
• Understand and comply with local zoning laws to ensure that operating a business from your home is permissible in your area.
• Consider registering for state and local sales tax permits if your state requires it for the sale of goods.
• Finally, review your home insurance policy to see if you need additional coverage for your home-based business.

Resources to help get you started:

Explore vital resources designed for home food delivery entrepreneurs providing market trends, operational best practices, and strategies for business expansion:

• The Food Delivery Business Handbook: A comprehensive guide covering the essentials of starting and managing a home food delivery service.
• Restaurant Dive - Delivery: Offers industry news and in-depth analysis related to the food delivery sector. Visit here .
• DoorDash Merchant Blog: Insights and tips from one of the leading food delivery platforms for improving service and expanding reach. Visit here .
• Grubhub Resource Center: A compilation of articles, tips, and strategies aimed at helping restaurant owners thrive in the online delivery space. Visit here .
• Home Delivery World Conference: An event dedicated to the latest logistics and delivery methods, featuring speakers from top delivery companies and startups. Visit here .

Starting a home food delivery business requires adherence to various legal requirements to ensure safety and compliance. Acquiring the necessary licenses and permits is a crucial step in legitimizing your business and avoiding potential legal issues. Below are key points to guide you through this process:

• Research local regulations: Check with your city and county government to understand the specific licenses and permits required for a home food delivery service in your area.
• Food service license: Apply for a food service license from your local health department, which may require passing a food safety certification exam.
• Business license: Obtain a business license or permit to operate legally within your jurisdiction. This is typically issued by your city or county clerk's office.
• Home occupation permit: If you're operating from your residence, a home occupation permit may be necessary to ensure your business is in compliance with local zoning laws.
• Vehicle permits: If you're using a vehicle for delivery, you may need specific permits related to commercial use, which can be acquired from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
• Insurance: Secure the appropriate insurance to protect your business and your customers, which may include general liability, property, and auto insurance.

What licenses and permits are needed to run a home food delivery business?

This answer will vary depending on the specific location where the home food delivery business is being run. Generally, licenses and permits that may be necessary include a business license, food service license, food handling certification, and any other permits that may apply such as a sales tax permit. In addition, you may need to register with local and/or state health departments.

Setting up a business bank account and securing the necessary funding are crucial steps when starting a home food delivery business. These steps will help you manage your finances effectively and ensure you have the capital to cover startup costs and ongoing expenses. Follow these guidelines to get started:

• Choose a bank: Research banks that offer business banking services and compare their fees, services, and customer support. Consider a bank familiar with the food industry and small businesses.
• Open a business bank account: Gather required documents such as your business license, EIN, and incorporation papers. Choose the type of account that suits your business needs, such as a checking account for daily transactions or a savings account for reserves.
• Understand your funding needs: Calculate your initial startup costs and ongoing operating expenses to determine how much funding you'll need.
• Explore funding options: Look into various funding sources such as personal savings, loans, investors, or crowdfunding. Consider government grants or loans designed for small businesses or food industry startups.
• Prepare financial documents: Have your business plan, financial projections, and cash flow statements ready when approaching potential lenders or investors.
• Build a good credit history: Maintain a good credit score by managing your finances responsibly, as this will help you secure loans with better terms.

Establishing the right pricing strategy is crucial for the success of your home food delivery business. It ensures your services are competitive, covers costs, and appeals to your target market. Consider the following points when setting your prices:

• Cost Analysis: Calculate the total cost of preparing, packaging, and delivering the food. Include ingredients, labor, packaging, and transportation to ensure your pricing covers all expenses.
• Market Research: Investigate competitor pricing to gauge what customers are willing to pay. Aim to offer value that aligns with or exceeds the competition without underpricing your service.
• Value-Based Pricing: Consider the unique selling points of your service. If you offer organic, locally-sourced ingredients, or special dietary menus, you may justify higher prices.
• Delivery Fees: Decide whether to incorporate delivery fees into the meal prices or charge separately. Consider offering free delivery above a certain order amount to increase average order value.
• Dynamic Pricing: Adjust prices for peak times, special promotions, or for larger orders. Use discounts and loyalty programs to retain customers and encourage repeat business.
• Profit Margin: Set a profit margin that provides a sustainable income while remaining attractive to customers. Monitor and adjust as necessary based on feedback and operational costs.

What does it cost to start a Home Food Delivery business?

Initiating a home food delivery business can involve substantial financial commitment, the scale of which is significantly influenced by factors such as geographical location, market dynamics, and operational expenses, among others. Nonetheless, our extensive research and hands-on experience have revealed an estimated starting cost of approximately $20500 for launching such an business. Please note, not all of these costs may be necessary to start up your home food delivery business.

Starting a home food delivery business requires careful selection of equipment and supplies to ensure that food reaches customers in the best condition. The right tools not only keep food safe and fresh but also enhance the delivery experience for your customers. Here's a checklist of essential items you'll need:

• Insulated Food Delivery Bags: To maintain food temperature during transit, invest in high-quality thermal bags for hot and cold items.
• Commercial Food Containers: Secure, leak-proof containers in various sizes for different menu items are essential to prevent spills and maintain food quality.
• GPS Navigation System: Reliable GPS devices or smartphone apps to ensure efficient routing and timely deliveries.
• Vehicle: A dependable car, scooter, or bike equipped with a carrier rack or cargo space suited for food transport.
• Uniforms or Branded Apparel: Professional attire with your business logo helps promote your brand and gain customer trust.
• Payment Processing Tools: Mobile card readers or online payment systems to facilitate easy and secure transactions.
• Sanitization Supplies: Hand sanitizers, disinfectant wipes, and cleaning supplies to maintain hygiene standards.

List of Software, Tools and Supplies Needed to Start a Home Food Delivery Business:

• Food delivery software
• Food ordering platform
• Delivery tracking app
• Marketing tools (e.g. email, social media)
• Food preparation equipment
• Coolers/insulated bags for delivery
• Delivery vehicles (e.g. bike, car, truck)
• Delivery packaging
• Payment processing software
• Website hosting
• Food safety/insurance coverage

Securing the right insurance is an essential step in setting up a home food delivery business. It protects your venture from unforeseen events and liabilities, ensuring your business's longevity and peace of mind. Below are key points to consider when obtaining business insurance:

• Assess your risks: Determine what kinds of risks your home food delivery business might face, such as accidents, liability claims, or property damage.
• Research insurance options: Explore different types of insurance, such as general liability, product liability, commercial auto, and home-based business insurance, to find the one that fits your needs.
• Consult with professionals: Speak with an insurance agent or broker who specializes in business policies to get advice tailored to your specific operation.
• Compare quotes: Obtain quotes from multiple insurance providers to ensure you're getting comprehensive coverage at a competitive rate.
• Consider additional coverage: Depending on your location and the scale of your business, you may need to consider additional policies like workers' compensation or business interruption insurance.
• Review and update regularly: Your insurance needs may change as your business grows, so it's important to review and update your coverage periodically.

Launching your home food delivery service is an exciting venture, and marketing is a critical step to ensure that your delicious offerings reach the right audience. An effective marketing strategy will help you stand out in a crowded market and attract loyal customers. Here are some actionable tips to help you kickstart your marketing efforts:

• Develop a strong brand identity: Create a memorable logo, choose a color scheme, and develop a unique selling proposition that sets you apart.
• Build a user-friendly website: Ensure that your website is easy to navigate, showcases your menu, and includes an efficient online ordering system.
• Leverage social media: Utilize platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to share mouth-watering photos of your dishes, special offers, and customer reviews.
• Engage with local communities: Participate in community events, sponsor local sports teams, or partner with neighborhood businesses to increase visibility.
• Offer promotions and discounts: Attract first-time customers with introductory offers and keep them coming back with loyalty programs.
• Invest in targeted advertising: Use local online ads and food delivery apps to reach potential customers in your area.
• Collect and act on customer feedback: Use customer reviews and feedback to improve your service and encourage word-of-mouth referrals.

Once you've established a solid foundation for your home food delivery business and have a steady stream of customers, it's time to think about expansion. Scaling your operations can help you reach new markets, diversify your offerings, and increase your profits. Here are some strategies to consider when planning to expand your home food delivery business:

• Explore New Markets: Research and target new geographic areas where demand for home delivery services is high but underserved.
• Diversify Menu Options: Add new cuisines or special diet options to cater to a broader customer base and stand out in a competitive market.
• Invest in Technology: Upgrade your ordering system to improve customer experience and streamline operations.
• Enhance Marketing Efforts: Increase your online presence through social media and search engine marketing to attract new customers.
• Partner with Local Businesses: Collaborate with local restaurants or food producers to offer a wider selection and promote community ties.
• Improve Logistics: Consider investing in more efficient delivery vehicles or route optimization software to ensure timely deliveries.
• Hire Additional Staff: As you expand, you'll need more team members for kitchen operations, customer service, and delivery.

• How-To-Guides
• Small Business
• Tips & Tricks

Online Food Delivery Business Plan for Startups: Step-by-Step Guide

Table of Contents Hide

Step 1: draft a business strategy for food delivery, step 2: decide what makes you special, step 3: plan the logistics, step 4: budget , step 5: assemble the team of your dreams, step 6: a package choice should reflect your brand, step 7: conduct a practice run, step 8: get your food delivery business off to a good start, step 9: expand and build your business, step 10: applications for restaurants, customers, and delivery personnel.

The customer base has evolved. Their eating patterns, food distribution systems, and food demand have all changed. These stats show how to Increase client retention rates and offer timely delivery; most meals are delivered to homes. There were many orders on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. To overcome these difficulties, you must develop a comprehensive Online Food Delivery Business Plan for Startups . The strategy is much more than just a blueprint or executive summary.

The following are some ways that a well-written, effective online food delivery business strategy may help you:

• Reveals information about your industry, primary competitors, target market, food delivery platforms, and trends.
• The food sector should analyze SWOT to learn more about its opportunities, threats, and strong points.
• It is a benchmark for managing a business and choosing the appropriate product price.
• You could learn about the need for additional team members, resources, and equipment to help you achieve any key aims or corporate goals.
• Supports the food industry’s financial accounts, cash flow statements, revenue models, competitive tactics, and investment strategy.

Pay close attention to these critical figures before joining the food delivery sector.

The market for Internet food delivery has quadrupled in size since 2017. 57% of millennials favor having a restaurant deliver their food. Customers are willing to pay more for services with faster delivery in 33% of cases. According to 60% of restaurant owners & operators, offering delivery increases income. Restaurant sales volume grew from 10% to 20% due to working with outside delivery companies. Due to the easy and pleasant experience, 70% of consumers prefer to buy deliveries online. The office food delivery market’s “ghost kitchens” or “cloud kitchens” segment will be worth $1 trillion by 2030.

Steps for Online Food Delivery Business Plan

Craft a food delivery startup business plan before menu creation. A solid blueprint ensures success and guides your special dish development. These are the essential components for creating a successful food delivery business plan ; flavor or changes may always be added when you have an idea.

Choose a unique approach to help your business stand out. Local Roots For instance, the farm delivery service in New York City only provides food from “hyper-local” farms, which are two hours from the city. Researching the market is necessary. Use meal delivery services to get takeout from local restaurants and to investigate your rivals. Find out where they fall short so you may make up for it by offering a particular dish, quicker service, or a different cuisine.

A significant aspect of running a food delivery business is logistical management. This step will tell you how to start a food delivery business . Take the following steps right away:

• Find a kitchen : Your local laws must allow you to make meals in your home to hire a commissary or commercial kitchen. If you’re adding restaurant delivery to an already-existing eating establishment, reserve a particular kitchen area for delivery orders. You’ll require a spot where delivery personnel may take orders without interfering with dine-in activities.
• Make a map of your neighborhood : Start subtly. You can always increase once you know how long deliveries take and how many orders your drivers can handle simultaneously. If you’re starting a weekly subscription service, like a meal prep or grocery delivery business, consider dividing your territory into manageable zones. For instance, Tomato Mountain Farm distributes to each zone on a specific day of the week. Consequently, deliveries are more efficient and have a lower carbon footprint.

See Also: Why is White Label Food Delivery App Ideal for your Business?

• Select a fleet: You can brand or wrap the outside if you have your delivery truck or vehicles. Owning a car also makes paying for repairs and gas easier. But the expense is significant. You can use your driver’s car if you cannot acquire or rent a delivery vehicle immediately. To ensure that the food is transported securely, the only thing left to do is outfit them with accessories like insulated bags or ice packs.
• Know when reverse logistics are necessary : Reverse logistics collects customer items and transports them to your location or elsewhere. Meal delivery services like Oco Meals employ reverse logistics to gather recycled food containers.

Investigate competitors in the industry for logistical insights, take note of their processes, take advantage of their flaws, look for mentorship from seasoned food entrepreneurs, and consult our food warehousing guide for storage ideas.

Once you understand your market and logistical requirements, budgeting, income, and demand forecasting are necessary. Using your expected earnings as a guide, calculate your revenue. Projection aids risk assessment, break-even analysis, and upfront expense tolerance. Sum expenses: supplies, vehicles, upfront and 3-year costs, petrol, tolls, maintenance, licenses, payroll. Comprehensive financial planning is crucial.

Maintain financial records and monitor billing cycles. If 30-day expenditures exceed 30-day revenue, cash flow becomes an issue. To relieve concerns about cash flow, think about paying for meals weekly in advance for three months.

The key to starting a successful food delivery company is assembling a committed staff that shares your goals. Put happy employees first since they produce more effectively and will help you maintain profitability during the break-even phase. Choose delivery workers with strong customer service backgrounds crucial for effective client interactions. Communication abilities are more valuable than map-reading skills when using route optimization technologies. Drivers frequently represent your company in person, so choosing ones who can make an excellent first impression is crucial.

If the packaging and style of your deliveries match your brand, it could help you get more return customers. Suppose your market analysis showed an absence of sustainably produced food that could be supplied locally. You start a delivery service for meal packages made with organic and sustainable ingredients. Choose recyclable or biodegradable cartons because they align with your business’s positioning and marketing strategies.

Even if you’re not building an eco-focused business, most clients prefer to place orders from delivery services that utilize recyclable or biodegradable packaging. Even the containers you use to transport food should contribute to building a recognizable brand for your business.

Start your business with a modest clientele so your crew may practice and work out any issues in your physical operation.

Observe how long it takes the drivers to deliver to different places and how much time they require at each stop. Utilize the knowledge you gain from conducting a test run to enhance your routing and scheduling. The more detailed information you have, the better your capacity plan will be, and the easier it will be to scale operations when demand rises. Ask potential customers for feedback on the costs, features, menu options, and services they value throughout your trial run.

Want to know how to start a food delivery business? The best way is to initially spend less money on marketing but get the word out. According to Nielsen’s Global New Product Innovation Report, 50%+ % of consumers discover new goods via friends and family. Make it easier for happy customers to tell their friends about your company since word-of-mouth promotion is a powerful tool. Include a “refer a friend” button on your website, app, and emails.  You may inspire your target market to tell their friends about your business by offering a referral discount or rewards program.

Leverage social media for engagement. Pose quick, thought-provoking questions to spark conversations and excitement among your audience. Consider the case when you provide Mexican food. “Taco Tuesday or Torta Tuesday? ” or something like that. I can only display text; I cannot display photos. Which one do you prefer? Increased visibility due to possibilities for comments. Attract a larger audience. Cooperate with regional influencers to effectively promote your business.

An app will be your most valuable weapon in this conflict. Therefore, developing the best mobile app for online or home food delivery business plans should be one of your top priorities. However, the mobile app paradigm for online food delivery differs substantially from others. Your food delivery app business plan must outline three distinct versions of your organization.

As well as a dashboard for management for the principal business owners. Another proposal for a food delivery solution is being developed through Cloud Kitchen. It enables individuals with modest business ideas to prepare meals at home and assist neighborhood residents.

Creating mobile apps with cloud integration helps giant corporations access the largest audience, as it helps small businesses. Thanks to the development of cloud kitchen applications , you can efficiently oversee the operations of your restaurant.

Newcomers to the food industry face time-consuming planning key components explored for drafting a robust business strategy. Understand industry stats before applying business principles; grasp online resources’ importance for running a profitable food delivery venture despite using templates. Newcomers to the food industry face time-consuming planning. Key components explored for drafting a robust business strategy. Understand industry stats before applying business principles; grasp online resources’ importance for running a profitable food delivery venture despite using templates. If you are looking for a SaaS-based Food Delivery App Solution ? At DeOnDe, we offer the best readymade food delivery app solution to provide you with an amazing app built for your food business.

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• Fast Food Service Business Plan
• Small Restaurant Business Plan

Specialty Food & Beverage Shop Business Plans

• Butcher Shop Business Plan
• Dinner Theater Business Plan
• Ethnic Food Import Business Plan
• Frozen Custard Shop Business Plan
• Convenience Store Soda Fountain Business Plan
• Gourmet Food Store Business Plan
• Organic Food Store Business Plan
• Pizza Delivery Business Plan
• Shaved Ice Beverage Business Plan
• Ice Cream Shop Business Plan

Wholesale Food & Beverage Business Plans

• Agriculture Fruit Farm Business Plan
• Hydroponics Farm Business Plan
• Nonprofit Food Bank Business Plan
• Pasta Manufacturer Business Plan
• Produce Farm Business Plan
• Salsa Manufacturer Business Plan
• Wholesale Food Business Plan
• Wholesale Food Manufacturer Business Plan
• Wholesale Juice Business Plan

Food and beverage industry overview

The food and beverage industry includes all businesses involved in the production, distribution, and sale of food and drinks.

The global food and drink market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 11.9%, reaching a market volume of $3.8 billion by 2027. This increase sharply contrasts the declining industry performance over the last three years.

Contributing factors to this performance are:

• Expected ease of inflation over the next year.
• Continued innovation in beverage and grab-and-go options.
• Increased interest in health-conscious options.
• Lifestyle changes as consumers increase travel and return to the office.

Additionally, the increased adoption of app-based and eCommerce purchasing options will continue to fuel discretionary spending in this category. Portable eating, tech-based purchasing, and alternative health and wellness products or services all show great promise for new entrants.

How to start a food and beverage business

To start a food and beverage business, you need to focus on the following:

1. Identify an idea that meets current demand

Identify your target market and potential competitors. Then, develop a unique product or service that serves a specific need—such as a particular cuisine, dietary need, or a unique dining experience.

2. Write a business plan

Create a business plan that thoroughly explains your business model, operations, pricing strategy, and financial projections.

3. Handle health, safety, hygiene and legal compliance

Food and beverage is a highly regulated industry with additional legal, health, and safety requirements. You must develop strict health and safety standards, prepare a staff training plan, and apply for permits or licenses relevant to your food or beverage offering.

4. Operations and relationships with suppliers

Establish relationships with reliable suppliers to acquire consistent quality ingredients. Focus on implementing an effective inventory management system that helps minimize waste and unnecessary expenses.

5. Location, layout, and staffing

Purchasing behavior and workflows are rooted in your business location and how your business is presented. Carefully choose a location and layout that fits your customers’ expectations and provides a healthy working environment for your employees.

Then, focus on training to ensure quality service, adherence to safety protocols, and the representation of your brand values.

6. Startup costs and financial management

Hefty upfront investments can be needed to start a food and beverage business. Kitchen equipment, menus, signage, POS systems, and mobile ordering technology scratches the surface.

You’ll likely be operating on thin margins, making effective financial planning necessary early on. Take direct inventory of what it will cost to start and run your business for the first year. Consider if you need funding and put a system in place to forecast and review your performance regularly.

7. Marketing and branding

You will have plenty of competition as a food and beverage business. Every restaurant, big brand, delivery service, grocery store, and mini-mart is a potential alternative.

So, don’t sleep on your branding and marketing efforts. Remember your target market, choose the proper channels, and develop a memorable visual identity that fits your mission.

For more on starting a business, check out our full selection of startup resources.

How to write a business plan for a food and beverage business

Here are some specific sections and information to focus on when writing a business plan for a food, beverage, or restaurant business.

Market analysis

The food and beverage industry is a highly competitive market with established competition and a steady influx of new entrants. Thoroughly document who you will be competing with, how you are different, and your ideal customers. This information will influence everything else about your business.

Business model

You’ll notice a trend through the rest of these, but you need a detailed description of how you will make money. As mentioned before, food and beverage businesses often operate on incredibly thin margins.

You need to be sure that your revenue streams make sense for the market, can consistently bring in cash, and will be sustainable long-term.

Menu and product offerings

Specific to this industry, you must cover what you offer and provide a sample menu or product list. It should directly relate to the interest of your clientele and showcase what you offer.

Describe your location, including a layout of your store or restaurant and details for how your business will operate—how you will work with suppliers, specific workflows, equipment needs, and staffing.

Focus on demonstrating quality and efficiency when outlining your operations, and don’t forget to revisit it as you run your business.

Financial projections

Provide detailed financial projections to map out your revenue and expenses. At a minimum, cover startup costs, break-even analysis, profit and loss forecasts, and cash flow statements.

Include any assumptions behind your projections and map out funding needs if you intend to pursue a loan or other investment.

You can use any of our food, beverage, or restaurant sample plans to ensure you cover the right information in your plan. For a detailed overview, check out our complete business plan outline.

What is an example of a food and beverage business?

Food, beverage, and restaurant businesses include:

• Agriculture and food production
• Food processing and packaging
• Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage production
• Restaurants
• Food transportation services

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Professional Food Delivery Business Plan from OGScapital

Our food delivery service business plans have helped 90 clients attract more than $73m in financing

OGScapital knows the secret in preparing a business plan for food delivery startup that will raise the money you need.

Results-driven solutions

Your food delivery service business plan will comply with all investor requirements. Our dedicated team will emphasize your business idea’s unique advantages and attractiveness, highlighting the market potential, investment returns, and competitiveness of your value proposition.

Strategic advice

We do more than structure your inputs in a professional way. We also take our internal knowledge and market research into account. We will challenge your business idea, adding best practices and providing guidance that will make your ideas more attractive to investors.

Experienced team

All of our experts are MBA fellows from TOP10 schools. Together, we can boast wide-ranging experience working in senior positions in top investment banks, consulting companies like PWC, Deloitte, UBS, and Morgan Stanley and serving Fortune 1000 clients.

High-quality market research

Your food delivery business plan will include market analysis and research from globally recognized research firms including IBISworld, Datamonitor, MarketLine, Statista, etc. In addition we are using our network of industry experts and opinion leaders.

Full customization

Each document is prepared from scratch, with rich and eye-catching design that utilizes graphics, tables, pie charts and illustrations. No templates and no ready-made solutions. Three MBA consultants will work on your delivery food business plan.

Fundraising

OGScapital connects you with our extensive and global network of investors. Our network includes different profile of investors, such as venture capitalists, private equity funds, angel investors, banks/private lenders and international financial institutions.

Key types of food delivery business plans

OGScapital has huge experience in delivering add value to various food delivery businesses

Organized Food Delivery

Local food delivery, diet food delivery, health food delivery, our solution.

OGS with help you meet your goals by creating a food delivery service business plan that will comply fully with all investor and government body (licensing) requirements.

Specifications:

Users:   Family & Friends Seed Funders, Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists, Government Bodies and Private Equity Funds

Document size:  40-50 pages

Timeframe:   12 days

Graphic design:  included

Unlimited revisions:  included

Assigned team:   3 senior experts with a project lead

Rush Delivery Service:   Available

Document contents:

• Executive Summary
• Competitive Analysis
• Business Model
• Mission/Goals
• Overview of food delivery company
• SWOT Analysis
• Marketing Mix
• Market Analysis
• Exit Strategy
• Business/Operating Strategy
• 5 Forces Analysis
• Marketing Strategy

Illustrative food delivery business plan samples

Our investor-ready food delivery business plans are designed by our team of graphic designers.

How much does an OGScapital food delivery business plan cost?

Our fees are highly competitive and entirely reasonable, scaling up or down according to task complexity

What sections will be included in the food delivery service business plan?

Content varies depending on the client’s needs. We know that making a food delivery business plan for investorsis not a one-size-fits-all process. All documents, though, include the following key sections: market analysis, business model description, operational strategy, goals, financial model, etc

Can you guarantee that my food delivery business plan will lead to successful fundraising?

We can guarantee that the delivery food business plan we prepare for you will comply fully with investor/lender requirements. However, we cannot take responsibility for the success of your fundraising efforts-there are simply too many factors that we cannot control (e.g., your credit score, relevant experience, etc.)

OGScapital will work closely with you and provide guidance throughout the process.

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We will begin writing a food delivery business plan for investors and issue a draft within 10-15 days.

We consider your comments, revise as necessary, and issue the final food delivery​ business plan.

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Food delivery services are highly popular these days. More and more entrepreneurs are stepping foot into this venture because of its high profitability. In most cases,  food delivery service business plan  have been incredibly successful, proving that this venture is lucrative.

What’s most impressive about these businesses is that you don’t need a big investment to get things running. The food delivery business model is here to stay, and it would be best for aspiring entrepreneurs to dip their feet in it while it is still lucrative.

Types of Food Delivery Businesses

You can choose from a vast range of food delivery businesses these days. Most, if not all of them, yield great profits. Let us look at the different types of online  delivery food business plan  and discuss what makes them stand out.

The organized food delivery model is incredibly safe for those who don’t want to take risks. The procedure is quite structured and consistent, ensuring that entrepreneurs have bonded support when it comes to supply and most elements of their  delivery food business plan  are under their control.

As the name implies, the local  food delivery service business plan  model allows owners to stick to supplying orders within their vicinity or home area. Having an online  food delivery service business plan  for your locality can yield some excellent results as long as you plan it thoroughly. One of the best advantages of this food delivery business type is that you have more autonomy and less competition. Furthermore, you can maintain a consistent mode of communication with your customers, which could help you amend your services if needed.

An incredible amount of people are opting for diet food instead of fast food or junk foods. Therefore, it only makes sense to provide diet conscious people with sufficient options to help them get their daily meals with ease. More and more individuals are making fitness a priority, and they are serious about it. Some individuals even track their salt, sugar, and overall calorie intake.

With such a high demand for diet food, it only makes sense to start a diet  food delivery service business plan  as its profitability would be great. What’s most impressive about this type of  food delivery service business plan  is that you don’t have to go above and beyond to start it. Diet, food delivery models are quite similar to fast food ones, ensuring that you can start your entrepreneurial journey within months or even weeks with the right planning.

Health food delivery service plans are quite similar to diet food delivery services. However, there are some minor differences. In this specific  delivery food business  model, the entrepreneur should focus on common food demands that most customers are making. It requires extensive research of the market, followed by acquiring the items the customers want. It may prove to be a tall task, but it will be worth it if you execute your plan the right way.

Offering audiences products that are not readily available in the market could help you establish your business’ name and increase return on investments by tenfold.

Marketing Plan for Food Delivery Businesses

There have been drastic changes in the food industry over the past decade. Marketing, technology, social norms, and several other things transformed food delivery business marketing in multiple ways. As more restaurants come to the forefront, marketing your food delivery service is more important than ever. Let us discuss some tried and tested tips that could help you advertise your  delivery food business plan  successfully.

Keep Improving Your Service Quality

Providing high-quality service is one of the best ways to market your  delivery food business plan . After all, what better way to impress your customers and spread word of mouth than by improving your service quality?  Encourage the riders to reach the destination before time and ask your chefs to pay special attention to each meal they prepare. It would also help if you considered using the highest quality ingredients to leave a lasting impression on your customers.

Prioritize Digital Marketing

Almost every food delivery business plan includes digital marketing. You cannot reach a wide audience without marketing yourself online, especially considering most, if not your entire audience is there. If you look at all of the successful  food delivery service business plans , you will notice they have a well-functioning website to receive orders. These websites are incredibly convenient for users and the  delivery food business plan  and minimize the time and hassle to select and order foods.

It would help if you also considered adding social media marketing in your advertising efforts as you can promote your food delivery brand in several creative ways.

Develop a Mobile Application

Every food delivery service has a mobile application to offer added convenience to customers. Not only will the app simplify the ordering and delivery process, but it will also act as an effective marketing tool. Providing people the option to order their favorite food with a simple swipe will encourage more individuals to download your app, increasing your business’s profitability.

Besides utilizing the tips mentioned above, you can also implement the following marketing techniques:

• Collaborate with influencers and food bloggers
• Offer discounts and deals
• Reward loyal customers
• Participate in food-related events

Business Financial Plan for Food Kit Delivery

Food delivery business plans can vary depending on the nature of your operations. However, most plans share some similarities. The first thing every aspiring entrepreneur should do is select a niche. Whether it is an e- delivery food business plan  or a home  food delivery service business plan , here are the basic elements that you or a professional  delivery food business plan  writer will need to incorporate.

• Overview of the industry
• Summarizing the business
• Services and products
• Vision and mission statements
• Responsibilities and roles
• SWOT analysis
• Establishing the target market
• Analysis of the market
• Startup expenditure
• Marketing and sales strategy
• Sales forecast
• Budget (startup expenditure)
• Strategy for expansion and sustainability

Starting a  food delivery service business plan  may seem straightforward, but creating a  delivery food business plan  may be complicated. It would be best to let a professional service create your  food delivery service business plan  pdf as they know all the intricacies to add in them. At OGS Capital, we can develop a professional, well-thought-out  delivery food business plan  for you, ensuring that you can get your entrepreneurial journey up and running in no time.

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Developing a Pizzeria Business Plan: A Roadmap to Success 

Is a Pizzeria a Profitable Business?

Designing your pizzeria business plan, create a robust pizzeria business model and let orders.co help you succeed.

Pizza Hut recently planned a special release of its version of a burger , but it didn’t look like the usual burgers from McDonald’s or Burger King. 

Instead, it mixed the best of pizza and burgers into something unique. This creative idea shows the importance of thinking outside the box and planning well in the food business.

Starting a successful pizzeria as an independent restaurant owner requires the same creativity and careful planning. Whether you’re new to the restaurant industry or have extensive experience, making a good restaurant business plan for your pizzeria is key. 

So, let’s explore the steps to creating a winning pizzeria business plan that will help you succeed in a competitive market!

If you’re still on the fence about opening your own pizzeria , then jump right up!

Consider this impressive statistic: consumers in the United States spent around 41.3 billion U.S. dollars on pizza within the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry in 2023. 

In fact, QSR sales in the pizza category are the second largest, only behind hamburgers. This significant spending highlights the strong demand for pizza and the lucrative opportunities it offers.

Here are also several reasons why a pizzeria can be a profitable business:

• High Demand : Pizza is a beloved food choice across all age groups and demographics. Its universal appeal makes sure there’s a steady stream of customers, from families looking for a quick meal to college students ordering late-night snacks.
• Variety and Customization : Pizzerias can offer a wide range of options, from classic Margherita and pepperoni pizzas to gourmet and customized toppings. This variety attracts different customer segments, increasing the potential customer base.
• Delivery and Takeout : The convenience of the pizza delivery business and takeout services makes it a popular choice, especially in today’s fast-paced world. With the increase in online ordering and food delivery apps, it’s easier than ever to reach customers who prefer dining at home.
• Loyal Customer Base : Many pizzerias benefit from a loyal customer base that frequently returns for their favorite pizzas. Offering loyalty programs and special deals can further enhance customer retention.
• Cost Management : Pizza ingredients, such as dough, cheese, and toppings, can be bought in bulk at lower costs. Effective inventory management and portion control help maintain good profit margins.
• Scalability : A successful pizzeria can expand by opening additional locations or franchising the brand. This scalability allows for significant growth and increased profits over time.

A well-planned pizzeria can become a thriving business by getting advantages, leading to fruitful success in the competitive food industry.

Creating a detailed business plan is crucial for the success of your pizzeria . It serves as a roadmap, guiding you through the process of establishing and growing your business. Here are the essential steps and considerations to include in your pizzeria business plan:

Choose a Business Structure

Decide on the legal structure of your pizzeria. Options include:

• Sole Proprietorship : Simple and easy to set up, but offers no personal liability protection.
• Partnership : Shared responsibility and profits, suitable if starting with a partner.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC) : Provides liability protection and has flexible tax options.
• Corporation : More complex, with greater liability protection and potential tax benefits.

Register your business with local, state, and federal authorities, and obtain any necessary licenses and permits.

Define Your Target Market

Conduct a market analysis and identify the specific demographic you aim to serve. Consider factors like:

• Location : Urban vs. suburban areas, proximity to schools, offices, and residential zones.
• Customer Demographics : Age, income level, dietary preferences, and dining habits.
• Competitor Analysis : Research existing pizzerias in the area and identify gaps you can fill.

Calculate All Costs of Opening Your Pizzeria

Thoroughly estimate all expenses involved in starting and running your pizzeria:

• Lease/Rent : Cost of leasing or purchasing a location.
• Renovations : Expenses for remodeling the space to fit your brand and operational needs.
• Licenses and Permits : Health permits, business licenses, and other legal requirements.
• Equipment : Pizza ovens, refrigerators, kitchen tools, and furniture.
• Salaries and Wages : Determine the approximate number of employees needed (cooks, servers, managers) and their salaries.
• Inventory : Initial stock of ingredients, packaging, and supplies.
• Utilities : Electricity, gas, water, and waste management.
• Marketing : Costs for advertising, promotions, and social media campaigns.
• Technology : POS systems, website development, and online ordering platforms .

Funding Your Business

Explore different funding options to cover your initial and operational costs:

• Personal Savings : Using your own money to finance the business.
• Loans : Small business loans from banks or credit unions.
• Investors : Securing funds from private investors or venture capitalists.
• Grants : Look for grants available for small businesses in the food industry.

Decide on Delivery Options

Consider how you will handle deliveries:

• In-house Delivery Drivers : Hiring your own drivers provides more control but adds to payroll and insurance costs.
• Partnering with Delivery Apps : Collaborating with services like Uber Eats, DoorDash, or Grubhub can extend your reach but involves service fees.

Financial Projections

Create detailed financial projections to plan for profitability:

• Projected Profit and Loss Statement : Estimate your revenues, cost of goods sold (COGS), gross profit, operating expenses, and net profit.
• Break-Even Analysis : Determine the point at which your revenues will cover your costs, indicating when you’ll start making a profit.

Marketing Strategy

Develop a comprehensive marketing plan to attract and retain customers:

• Brand Identity : Create a unique and appealing brand , including a logo, color scheme, and slogan.
• Online Presence : Build a professional restaurant website and maintain active social media profiles.
• Promotions and Discounts : Offer special deals, l oyalty programs , and discounts to attract customers.
• Community Engagement : Participate in local events, sponsor community activities, and network with local businesses.

By carefully planning each step and considering all the factors involved, you can create a solid pizza business plan that will guide you toward building a successful and profitable pizzeria.

Developing a pizza shop business plan is a comprehensive process that requires careful planning, strategic decision-making, and a clear understanding of the market. 

Every step is crucial for your success, from choosing the right business structure and identifying your target market to calculating costs and creating a robust financial plan. 

Marketing, efficient delivery options, and a strong online presence are also key components that will help your pizzeria stand out and thrive.

To make this journey easier, consider using the powerful tools and services offered by Orders.co . 

Our platform can significantly simplify your operations and boost your efficiency in several ways:

• Orders Consolidation : Manage multiple orders from different delivery apps on one device, ensuring consistency and efficiency.
• Custom Ordering Website : Create a commission-free, customizable website for direct sales, integrating loyalty programs and AI marketing tools.
• Menu Management : Easily update your menu across all platforms, ensuring accuracy and eliminating out-of-stock issues.
• Marketing Solutions : Drive customer engagement and repeat visits with AI-powered emails, text messages, and loyalty programs.

By utilizing Orders.co , you can confidently navigate pizza restaurant management and focus on what you do best—creating delicious pizzas that keep your customers returning for more. 

Schedule a FREE demo with Orders.co today to see how these tools can help your pizza business start swiftly and operate smoothly.

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Next on the menu for food delivery

In this episode of the McKinsey on Start-ups podcast, McKinsey executive editor Daniel Eisenberg speaks with McKinsey partners Vishwa Chandra and Victoria Lord about the recent rapid growth of the food delivery sector and what lies ahead for this complex ecosystem. An edited transcript of their conversation follows.

To hear more episodes of McKinsey on Start-ups , subscribe on Apple , Audible , Google Podcasts , Spotify , or Stitcher .

Daniel Eisenberg: Hello and welcome to McKinsey on Start-ups , I’m Daniel Eisenberg.

Many companies and industries have been upended by the pandemic over the past two years, but few consumer sectors have been more radically reshaped by the changes in our daily lives than food delivery. At the outset of COVID-19, amid lockdowns and physical-distancing requirements, delivery became a lifeline for the ailing restaurant industry. Two years later, food delivery has gone from a steadily growing but still small piece of the restaurant (and grocery) business to a veritable dynamo. The industry has doubled in the US, and is worth more than $150 billion globally.

Whereas restaurants largely used to handle the limited delivery options that existed, these days a complex ecosystem of players is involved, with an economic structure that is still evolving. The fact that the sector has mostly remained unprofitable hasn’t dimmed the appetites of investors who continue to plough funds into it; at the same time, global quick-delivery or q-commerce players are raising the stakes, promising the arrival of groceries, restaurant food or virtually anything else in only 10 or 15 minutes.

Today, we are excited to explore this dynamic sector with co-authors of a recent McKinsey article on its ongoing, rapid evolution, McKinsey partners Vishwa Chandra and Victoria Lord. 1 Kabir Ahuja, Vishwa Chandra, Victoria Lord, and Curtis Peens, “ Ordering in: The rapid evolution of food delivery ,” McKinsey, Sept 22, 2021. In addition to their experienced consultants’ view of the food delivery business, both Vishwa and Victoria bring an operational, even personal, perspective to their work with the industry. Vishwa, who is based in the firm’s San Francisco office, was previously a member of the executive team at Instacart, one of the earliest grocery delivery platforms. Victoria, who is based in Miami, has served in commercial leadership roles for fast-growth startups in the food industry; she has a natural interest in the sector, as her family has owned a franchise restaurant for more than 50 years.

Vishwa, Victoria, it’s great to have you with us on the podcast today. Thanks so much for joining us.

Vishwa, what did the evolution of the food delivery ecosystem look like in the two to three years before the COVID-19 pandemic?

Vishwa Chandra: It’s a fascinating time to be in food. We are genuinely living through a once-in-a-lifetime evolution in how people eat and how people engage with food. And this has been playing out for a number of years.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the food sector was experiencing a good amount of growth in delivery. However, it seemed to be incremental progress. There had been some consolidation in delivery platforms, with new offerings being introduced, but it was steady growth in both restaurant delivery and grocery delivery.

There had also been some stabilization in the competition. The big four in the US—DoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates, and Uber Eats—were the primary delivery platforms. There was clear delineation between channels: restaurant delivery was restaurant delivery, grocery delivery was grocery delivery. We had seen some convenience delivery pop up. And while growth was continuing, in absolute terms, delivery wasn’t necessarily a major sales area.

Right before the pandemic, restaurant delivery probably accounted for $40 billion of a $600 billion industry. A large majority of that $40 billion was pizza delivery, which had been there for ages.

Victoria Lord: We were also starting to see experimentation with new business models around food and food delivery. For instance, dark kitchens were starting to emerge in the ecosystem, but they hadn’t fully landed. While there was some investor backing, restaurants were still hesitant to experiment in those ways. Those sorts of changes in business models, and that desire for experimentation, has been much more in the news in the past two years.

Daniel Eisenberg: So, you had a foundation, but you didn’t really have a fundamental shift until the pandemic forced lockdowns and restaurant closures. How have players in this delivery ecosystem responded to the pandemic? And how has it impacted the growth trajectory of the sector?

Vishwa Chandra: First and foremost, I think everyone in the sector was very conscious of ensuring safety for their employees, colleagues, and customers—and recognizing what everyone was going through.

After that, from a delivery perspective, there was almost five years of growth within five weeks. There was some volatility early on when people were a little apprehensive about ordering delivery. Once that quickly stabilized, there was a significant uptick. Suddenly the only means of reaching customers was through delivery. Restaurants had to adapt very quickly and evolve their offering, and make changes in how they thought about staffing, production, and the packaging their product—and their own economics. It required a fundamental rethink of their business and how they engage with their customers.

Daniel Eisenberg: As your article noted, the US market roughly doubled in size in the last 18 to 24 months.

Vishwa Chandra: We didn’t expect that to happen for at least another five years. The two things that were fascinating were the absolute amount of growth, and the speed at which that happened.

We talked a little bit about restaurants having to adapt their operations. But delivery platforms had to grow their delivery base as well. They had to recruit, onboard, and train a number of delivery drivers to meet demand. They had to make changes from a product perspective. Contactless delivery was never anticipated before. Suddenly, it was incredibly important.

To be honest, consumers had to adapt too. That meant changing their understanding of this new kind of customer experience, and almost redeveloping their relationship with their favorite brands.

There was also experimentation, and exposure to new brands and new cuisines, along with a sense of nostalgia. We saw a growth in demand for traditional cuisines that had always been part of delivery, but also for things that had resonance from people’s childhoods, from people’s experiences through life.

Daniel Eisenberg: In your recent article, you talk about three factors that will play a key role in the success of the various players— geographic competition, commission rates for restaurants, and driver delivery fees. Of those three, which do you expect to play the biggest role for the industry in the next two to three years?

Vishwa Chandra: It’s an interesting question. It depends who you ask.

From a delivery platform perspective, geographic competition is one of the primary drivers of their business. Just because three or four platforms are serving a market, it doesn’t mean that consumers are necessarily going to eat more food. They are sharing the same demand within an area. As consumers have started cross shopping, and shopping between platforms, the competition for their share of stomach and their share of wallet continues to grow.

The degree of competition and loyalty from customers in a particular market became incredibly important—and delivery platforms made deliberate efforts to attract that kind of following. You saw the growth of loyalty programs, and subscription-based models trying to lock consumers in, to ensure that a larger portion of their spend was on their platform.

For restaurants, it was all about commission rates. At the end of the day, those rates are what drive their economics. Whether someone eats in a restaurant or orders delivery, the food, labor, and packaging costs show only slight variations. But in a world where commission rates are the highest single expense item for a restaurant, that is the largest determinant for how sustainable this can be for them. Once you factor in everything from a delivery cost perspective, a tip perspective, and a surcharge perspective, that has an implication for the amount restaurants have to spend, and how much are they getting for what they are spending.

Daniel Eisenberg: I know sometimes I’ll order with one of the apps, but I’ll do pickup instead of delivery.

Vishwa Chandra: It’s interesting that you mention that. We talked about the necessity of evolving the product. There was a first wave of product evolution during the start of the pandemic and that was for things like contactless pickup.

As volume stabilized, and demand grew, the next wave of evolution involved product features. Pickup is one area where people are investing heavily because it is pushed from the consumers, and pushed from restaurants. As costs and fees are different, the experiences are different. Restaurants can maintain that connectivity with their customers—they can get people in and have a personal touch.

Daniel Eisenberg: There is also this growing trend of convergence in the types of products that delivery players are delivering, or want to deliver, whether it’s ready-to-eat or groceries. What is driving this trend? And what will it mean for the competitive landscape overall among these platforms?

Vishwa Chandra: We are definitely seeing a convergence. Traditional restaurant delivery customers and platforms are going into grocery, and grocery delivery platforms are getting into ready-to-eat and meal delivery, both directly and with their partners.

In the end it’s a battle for share of stomach. Prior to the last two years, consumers had thought about these channels very distinctly. Going out to eat, getting something delivered, and having ingredients to cook your own meal were very distinct occasions. As folks have spent more time at home in the last years, they have redefined their relationship with food as an experience. For many, it was the only experience that breaks up the day.

Some of this convergence is also driven by the question, is this a winner-takes-all market or not? We believe there will still be multi-marketplaces and multi-platforms. But there will be continued consolidation as fewer platforms gain consumer loyalty and are able to control a greater share of stomach.

Victoria Lord: Vishwa mentioned share of stomach, but as the delivery platforms start to expand into different categories, it’s no longer just share of stomach. It starts to become more share of wallet for a given consumer because now a consumer can log into their app and buy anything.

For instance, I can place an order for dinner tonight, for alcohol, groceries, and for sunscreen and pet food all through the same ecosystem. So, convergence means that these apps are making it easier for us to have more of our occasions and more of our shopping needs met through one ecosystem.

Think about what Amazon did in the retail space. It started with books and expanded into basically everything. Or what some of the super apps are starting to do in Latin America and in Asia. Those are some very interesting examples for how broad some of these app ecosystems can become over time.

Daniel Eisenberg: I know Getir is moving into California with 10-minute delivery and DoorDash is doing 15 minutes or less for grocery delivery in New York City. Is this going to be a major focus going forward? And is there a race to the bottom in terms of time that they’re going to promise?

Vishwa Chandra: The question becomes: In terms of absolute market size, how big is that? And that comes down to occasions. There is a convenience occasion. There is an emergency fill-in occasion where speed becomes important. But as you think about consumption patterns, and demand patterns, it is a smaller portion of the market. That’s why you see some platforms approaching it differently by asking, how do we actually serve up the right offering that meets the customers’ needs at that moment?

Whether you’re ordering restaurant delivery and want to add on a pint of ice cream or a six-pack of beer, or you’re suddenly out of baby products and diapers in the middle of the night, your ability to get that product at that moment of need with the right offering is what is going to be important.

Victoria Lord: The other thing I would add is consumer’s willingness to pay. You hit a limit at some point. I’m willing to pay a premium if I realize halfway through making a meal that I need something to finish it off. I’m less willing to pay a premium if I’m doing a bulk grocery order that I don’t necessarily need tonight, or even tomorrow, or the next day.

I think we’ll start hitting the boundaries on consumer’s willingness to pay across different categories and occasions, like Vishwa mentioned. That will be part of the limit as to how much is possible through these app ecosystems over time.

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Daniel Eisenberg: Victoria, let’s shift our focus to the economic forces on some of the stakeholders. And in particular, let’s start with restaurants. How should restaurants think about balancing growth in delivery versus their core in-restaurant dining?

Victoria Lord: This is a tough question, and there isn’t one single answer. Restaurants really need to be deliberate. We’ve heard before, in other contexts, that not all revenue is good revenue—and that’s true in food delivery too.

If I were a restaurant owner, I’d be taking a close look at my economics for my restaurant, or my chain of restaurants. I’d ask, how much do I actually make on an average delivery order after all of my costs and the third-party fees? And that includes refunds, by the way. How does that compare to my in-store profit margin? And can I handle that delivery volume within my existing overhead structure and staffing level? Or am I starting to adversely affect my in-store business or incur additional operational cost to meet that delivery need? I think, especially now, many restaurants feel that they must participate in delivery. But the decision to do so is much more nuanced.

I can think of several restaurants in my local market that have chosen to use their own delivery fleet rather than participate with a third-party platform. They might require customers to order through their own website, even if they have a third party running last-mile logistics, or they offer pickup only. Those are all ways that restaurants can regain some control of the margin.

For the larger chains, I would be testing new business models. I would consider if, operationally, it makes sense to use a dark kitchen, or a commissary, that pulls the delivery out of the existing restaurants. Do smaller-format restaurants that are more streamlined for delivery and pickup make more sense? And I’d be working really hard on getting to good partnership terms with the third-party platforms, which have a real incentive to be able to feature great restaurants.

Daniel Eisenberg: You had an exhibit in the article that showed how the economics of a restaurant generating more and more of its revenues through delivery could be a double-edged sword. So, what is the impact you expect to see on restaurants’ profitability if more revenue is generated that way?

Victoria Lord: Restaurants traditionally make margins of seven to 22 percent. So, on a $35 order, you’re looking at $2.50 to $7.70 in margin. Delivery platform commissions are roughly 15 to 30 percent. I don’t even need to do the calculations for us to know that the math just simply doesn’t work.

While the revenue from delivery grows, profitability for the average restaurant declines. Of course, the more of the restaurant’s business that goes to delivery, the worse and more unsustainable that business model becomes. I have family members who are in the restaurant business, and they’ve decided against offering delivery from their restaurants for exactly this reason.

Daniel Eisenberg: Do you expect, at a certain point, that consumers will bear more of the cost of commissions? That they will pay more for delivery items? Or that restaurants will have different menu prices for delivery versus in-store dining?

Victoria Lord: There are two parts to that question. Restaurants can, and will, increase their prices online. Your average consumer is probably not pulling up the menu in the delivery app and comparing it with the one on the restaurant website—but I do because I’m curious. And I see anywhere from a few cents to a dollar difference in menu pricing depending on the menu item and the underlying menu cost. So, there is flexibility for restaurants to pass on some cost to consumers.

I think we’ve seen that in other spaces where you’re paying a premium for delivery, for convenience. It’s hard to say that consumers will bear all the cost. They’re going to bear some of it, but restaurants will continue to have to bear some of those costs because they cannot possibly pass on a 15 to 30 percent delivery platform commission on top of the 10 to 15 percent service charge, the delivery fee, and the tip that consumers are already paying.

We talk about the economics in the article, and we broke it down by each of the players, and the ecosystem. Consumers are already paying quite a bit. The restaurants are too, but I don’t think you’ll see a complete shift to the restaurants’ portion of those costs being passed on to the consumer.

Daniel Eisenberg: What are two or three key areas in which the platforms can drive down costs to achieve profitability going forward?

Victoria Lord: I hate to even talk about batching because, as a consumer, I don’t like thinking about my order getting picked up, with three stops on the way, and my food getting cold. But the math works for the platforms. The more orders that can be picked up at the same time and delivered in the same delivery run, the lower cost of delivery per order.

The economics there make sense. That is something that the platforms will continue to experiment with. And as their technology and the routing software get more sophisticated, they will be able to do this better and better over time.

And getting very tight on operational timing matters a ton for the platforms. All of them have quantified exactly how much money every minute costs. The easier they can make it for drivers to pick up orders without waiting, to drive tightly optimized routes, and to drop off orders, the better it is.

Vishwa mentioned the contactless delivery feature. It’s great for reducing the time it takes a driver to drop the order at the door. So, the delivery platforms benefit from that feature too.

Some of this is achievable through process enhancements, for instance through system and underlying technology enhancements on the delivery platform side, like the routing software I mentioned. And then some relies on restaurants doing operational and process improvements, like having dedicated pickup areas, or better signage.

Earlier we mentioned the cost of getting a customer, and the importance of loyalty and subscription programs. I think we will continue to see the platforms push on that, because when you lock me into your ecosystem as a consumer, and I prefer your app over others, it means I’m more likely to spend across those categories we talked about. It also means you don’t have to offer me additional promotions to get me into the app.

Daniel Eisenberg: How big a part of the market could subscription programs become? They not only drive loyalty, but also recurring revenue, which investors prize. Will that remain niche?

Vishwa Chandra: If you look at many delivery platforms, whether it’s on the restaurant delivery side or the grocery delivery side, subscriptions are already a large part of their offering. Not necessarily meal-kit subscriptions, but subscriptions where customers get preferences such as a reduced service charge, free delivery, or better access to promotions—these benefits have a lot of appeal for customers.

It’s a playbook that has been followed by many in the past, from a payment provider’s perspective, and from hospitality and airlines that have long-lasting loyalty programs. But I think it also becomes very interesting as consumers start saying: Who’s going to start paying for that?

At the end of the day, yes, the platform is rewarded with customer loyalty, but it does come at a cost. If your service fees are five percent versus 15 percent, that’s very meaningful. What we’re seeing is that it becomes a point of discussion between retailers, platforms and restaurants regarding the cost of that loyalty—where the benefit flows, and where the cost flows.

Daniel Eisenberg: Speaking of the consumer’s perspective, what shifts in price and experience can consumers expect from delivery services in the next few years?

Vishwa Chandra: I think you’ll see a couple of things. One is the continued channel blurring. Currently a restaurant platform looks like a restaurant platform, and a grocery platform looks like a grocery platform, with some add-ons. I think you’ll see that line blurring between each of them, with convergence into adjacent categories like alcohol, pharmacy, or office products, where you’re trying to capture a greater and greater share of a consumer’s daily consumption needs, whatever that consumption may be.

You’re also going to see a much more personalized, emotional connection that these platforms are going to try to make as they work to move away from just being a transactional platform. Whether that’s increased use of social, increased use of video, or a greater degree of engagement with each of the consumers. You already see that in other geographies where they’re ahead of what we see here in the US.

The last thing is a generational shift. Young families with kids drive the food industry, whether you’re a grocer or a restaurant chain. As more millennials and Gen Z’s start to have kids, and continue to progress in their professional lives, it’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. We’ve already seen certain platforms making a bet on being more relevant to the next generation of customers.

Daniel Eisenberg: In the article you talk about untapped revenue pools. And you mention quite a few: Dark kitchens, virtual brands, and brand spin-offs. Can you talk briefly about which of these have shown the most promise to date?

Vishwa Chandra: Many of these are now at scale, whereas 12 or 18 months ago they were experiments. We are seeing quite a bit of growth in dark kitchens. This is a very operationally intensive business. Dark kitchens allow you to get some of the batching benefits, a greater chance of grouping orders together, than if you were a single kitchen or a single brand.

In addition to that, we’re also seeing more virtual brands. Retailers and restaurants are suddenly realizing that their brands have a resonance, and they can use them to expand. You have grocers launching ready-to-eat restaurant brands or full-service kitchens. Or, you’ve got existing restaurant brands realizing they can launch a third, fourth or fifth brand, leveraging much of the same equipment, ingredients and expertise that they have.

Daniel Eisenberg: Victoria, one of the other potentially promising opportunities you talk about is “menu engineering.” Can you expand on what that might look like, and what it will take to get there?

Victoria Lord: Menu engineering is fascinating. It’s very similar to what we see on a traditional restaurant’s menu board, where every single item has a role to play in terms of the level of its popularity, its profitability, whether it’s bringing folks into the restaurant, and whether its driving volume or driving margin.

But it’s much more dynamic because you’re able to use data to make well-informed decisions on a much more frequent basis. You can collect and use data on ordering patterns to revise your online menu regularly and promote those higher margin items up at the top, or promote items that you need to move quickly because you have significant supply of burgers sitting in the cooler. You can change your bundling strategy to drive volume, and you can change prices easily. You can also use that data to find the right assortment, the balance of number of items, that people are expecting to see.

You’re seeing this in the brick-and-mortar world too. Burger King, for example, just announced they’re moving to a streamlined, simplified menu to speed up some of their drive-thru operations. And they’re not the only chain that’s done this recently.

What this level of menu engineering will take, though, is deliberate data collection, deliberate data analysis, as well as the ability to make and implement quick decisions.

Some restaurants simply won’t have the scale and the capability to be able to do this. But some can. And the platforms could make this a service offering for restaurants because they have the data and they can compare across multiple restaurant banners, multiple markets, and multiple menus, and are able to provide rich insights.

Daniel Eisenberg: And they have the data scientists who can do it, right? Whereas the restaurants may not, except for maybe the big chains.

Victoria Lord: Exactly. I think the other part of this is personalization. We see a little bit of user-specific personalization in digital menus already. If you open the menu for your favorite restaurant, odds are good that you will see a section at the top that says, “items for you.” Those are chosen based on your past preferences and what the app has learned about the menu items that you like.

You could imagine a scenario where you would see an altogether different menu for the same restaurant if you pull up your app compared to what I would see.

You could potentially also see different pricing there at some point. This is much harder to implement operationally. I think the possibility of consumer blowback is much higher for something like this. So, who knows if that level of personalization and menu engineering would happen?

Daniel Eisenberg: We’ve talked already about the profitability challenges in this sector. But despite all of that, money continues to pour into the sector from investors. What is the outcome that investors are betting on, given that they’re conscious of all these economic challenges?

Vishwa Chandra: I think it comes down to the fact that food is still one of the largest sectors in the world. If we take the US, for example, there is a $2 trillion annual spend in aggregate between consumables, groceries, and restaurants, and not just on the delivery side. It is a very, very significant market that is going through a lot of change. Ultimately the platform that is able to influence the consumer is the one that will be able to drive significant value.

Daniel Eisenberg: With dark kitchens, the operations are happening behind the scenes, not in front of the customer. Is it safe to assume that a lot of the innovation in this sector is going to be on the back end?

Victoria Lord: I’ve been hearing much more about restaurants starting to trial their own dark kitchens where they are doing small, delivery-only storefronts, in some cases offering out part of that capacity as a third-party service. I think it will be very interesting to see, as that type of business model evolves, how much of it will continue to be with the third-party players who have existed to date versus the larger restaurant chains making their own investments in this space. The business model evolution behind this will also continue to be quite interesting not only on the platform side, but on the restaurant side as well.

Over the past couple of years, we have seen a tremendous amount of innovation at a much more accelerated pace than we expected. As a consumer, as someone who is passionate about this space, and who has family in the restaurant business, I am very excited to see what comes next.

Daniel Eisenberg: When you think about it, we’re all both participants and observers in this space, and it’s going to be fascinating to continue to watch and experience the evolution. This discussion has been great, and it’s made me hungry, as well. Vishwa and Victoria, thank you for joining us on the podcast today.

Vishwa Chandra: Our pleasure.

Victoria Lord: Our pleasure. Thanks, Daniel.

Daniel Eisenberg: Well, that’s it for today’s episode. Thanks again to our guests, McKinsey partners Vishwa Chandra and Victoria Lord.

As always, I also want to thank our McKinsey on Start-ups production team: Molly Karlan, Polly Noah, Sid Ramtri, Myron Shurgan, and Katie Znameroski.

And of course, thank you for listening. We hope you’ll join us again for McKinsey on Start-ups .

Vishwa Chandra is a partner in McKinsey’s Bay Area office, and Victoria Lord is a partner in the Miami office. Daniel Eisenberg is an executive editor in the firm’s New York office.

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Amazon raises stake in Grubhub, embeds food delivery in app

Amazon.com Inc. is increasing its stake in Grubhub to as much as 18% and expanding its partnership with the food delivery service to allow US users to order takeout directly on Amazon’s website and shopping app.

Amazon already had a 4% stake in Grubhub, up from 2% when it announced its earlier deal with Grubhub in 2022. Under the new five-year agreement, Amazon will receive options for an additional 3% stake in Grubhub and another 1% a year from now, Grubhub’s Dutch parent Just Eat Takeaway.com NV said in a statement on Thursday. It will have the opportunity to increase the holding to 18%, depending on the performance of the partnership and the number of orders.

Just Eat Takeaway’s shares rose 2.4% to €12.2 at 12:26 p.m. in Amsterdam trading on Thursday after earlier gaining as much as 5%.

“This will enable us to engage with the tens of millions of Prime members and introduce them to Grubhub,” said Grubhub Chief Executive Officer Howard Migdal in an interview. “We expect this to be a large catalyst for new customer growth for Grubhub.”

As part of the deal, Amazon Prime shoppers will also receive a free Grubhub+ membership.

Amazon has made a habit of acquiring stakes in its major business partners, often through warrants, an effort to realize more of the financial windfall of the tie-up. The retail and cloud-computing giant has in recent years scooped up stakes in the airlines that fly Amazon cargo aircraft, an electric vehicle maker, a grocery distributor and software companies, among other firms.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says:

“Just Eat Takeaway’s five-year pact with Amazon incorporates Grubhub (GH) into Prime in what may be a longer-term solution to reverse US user losses. But the new agreement, more than the current tie-in, also replaces GH’s own-subscription revenue potential and makes a sale of the company to another party less likely. Just Eat, which saw US profit losses ease in 2023, is effectively providing a white-label food-delivery service for Prime members.”

- Diana Gomes, BI Senior Industry Analyst

For Just Eat, the partnership could help temper the double-digit declines it’s seen in orders and gross transaction value in the North American market. Meanwhile, the firm has been contending with weak demand for food deliveries in Europe, its home region.

Just Eat executives said in April that the company was still exploring the partial or full sale of US-based Grubhub, which it acquired for $7.3 billion in 2021. Just Eat announced plans to divest in April 2022 but attributed delays to high price demands from some investors and a weak market for deals.

Competition between food-delivery firms in the US has also been intense. Grubhub’s market share in the US has been on a steady decline since 2021, reaching around 8% in March, according to Bloomberg Second Measure data. It trails behind DoorDash Inc., which holds a 67% lead, and Uber Technologies Inc., which has 23%.

The embedding of Grubhub within the Amazon app will also help raise awareness of the ongoing Grubhub+ promotion. A Grubhub membership otherwise costs $120 a year in exchange for lower service charges and waived delivery fees on select orders.

“Customers we’ve gotten from Amazon, who’ve linked their Prime accounts, order more frequently than our average customers,” Migdal said. “They’re a really good cohort of customers,” he added, saying the partnership has also helped Amazon retain Prime subscribers.

Amazon started offering members of its Prime program free delivery from Grubhub in 2022, a benefit it portrayed as a temporary perk. The offer was extended a year later. Now, Amazon says it plans to offer members – who pay $139 a year in the US – free delivery through Grubhub on an ongoing basis. The company says it has more than 200 million Prime members globally.

Amazon in recent years has rolled back some Prime perks, including raising the free-delivery minimum for Amazon’s own grocery delivery services. Viewers of previously ad-free Prime Video now see streaming ads. At the same time, the company has added Grubhub memberships, along with programs for discounted drugs and medical care, to get shoppers to keep paying for a service that began as a speedy shipping program.

Instacart earlier this month announced a similar plan to embed Uber Eats’ ordering interface within the Instacart app. Unlike that partnership, however, Grubhub is not required to pay Amazon a referral fee or additional costs per order.

Grubhub’s announcement may also be a boon for its nearly 200,000 delivery drivers in the US as restaurants get more orders from Amazon users and possibly more visibility. “We do have waiting lists in many cities for more couriers so we’re hopeful this will turn into more earning opportunities for couriers, as well,” Migdal said.

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I.C.C. Prosecutor Requests Warrants for Israeli and Hamas Leaders

The move sets up a possible showdown between the international court and israel with its biggest ally, the united states..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Sabrina Tavernise, and this is “The Daily.”

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Earlier this week, the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and its defense minister. The move shocked Israelis and set up a possible showdown between the world’s top criminal court and Israel, together with its biggest ally, the United States. Today, my colleague, Jerusalem Bureau Chief Patrick Kingsley, explains.

It’s Thursday, May 23rd.

So, Patrick, earlier this week, there was a pretty surprising announcement by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. It had to do with Israel and Hamas. Tell us what happened.

Well, on Monday morning, we were all taken by surprise by an announcement from the chief prosecutor at the ICC, the International Criminal Court, the top criminal court in the world. It tries individuals accused of war crimes. And the chief prosecutor announced that he was requesting arrest warrants for five individuals involved in the war between Israel and Hamas for crimes against humanity. Three of them were from Hamas — Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas within Gaza, the Hamas military commander, and the political leader of Hamas, who’s based in Qatar.

But maybe the biggest news in this announcement was that the chief prosecutor was seeking the arrest of two of Israel’s top leaders — Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, and Yoav Gallant, the defense minister. And this was a massive bombshell. These two men are leaders from a major US ally. They’re in regular contact with the US government, and they were being implicitly equated with the three top leaders of an organization, Hamas, that many consider a terrorist organization. And this equation sent shockwaves through Israeli society and, indeed, around the world.

So this is absolutely remarkable, Patrick. I mean, I, for one, was quite surprised by seeing this. I want to dig into it with you. So who is this prosecutor behind these requests for these warrants? And how did he reach this decision to go for them in the first place?

So the prosecutor’s name is Karim Khan, and he is a British lawyer, a British barrister. He is 54. He’s led a very impressive career. He has spent years working on human rights cases, both defending people and also prosecuting in such cases.

He was involved in tribunals related to the wars surrounding the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda. He investigated Islamic State crimes in Iraq. And in 2021, he is appointed the top prosecutor at the ICC.

And what are his responsibilities as top prosecutor?

Well, it’s his job to travel the world and investigate allegations of human rights abuses, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and in the process, plays a key role in deciding who gets prosecuted at the International Criminal Court. The ICC and the ICC prosecutor investigates and tries people who would not be pursued by the judicial system within their countries of origin. It steps in when it seems like the domestic authorities in any given country are not doing their job.

And last year, he famously went after President Putin in Russia in connection with the war in Ukraine.

So at what point did this prosecutor, Karim Khan, turn his attention to Israel and Gaza?

Well, he actually inherits an investigation from his predecessor that’s looking at Israel’s conduct and also that of Hamas during a previous war in 2014 between the two sides. But then that gets superseded on October 7th by the horrors that we saw that day committed by Hamas and then by the scale and damage caused by Israel’s bombing campaign in its counterattack.

And we begin to see not only revulsion and horror at what Hamas had done in early October, but also growing criticism and condemnation of what Israel and its Air Force did in its response. You’ll remember that earlier this year, the International Court of Justice, a separate court also in The Hague, began to address claims that Israel was and is committing a genocide in Gaza, a claim that Israel strongly denies.

Right. That was the case that South Africa brought. We did an episode about that.

Yes, exactly. So as the world’s attention focuses on this new conflict, so does Karim Khan’s.

Also today, the International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, QC, has wrapped up a visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Khan has visited the region to investigate if war crimes were committed on October 7th.

We start to see him arrive in Israel visiting some of the sites that Hamas attacked last year, talking to survivors, talking to leaders, reviewing security camera footage, and so on.

I have just come from the border of the Rafah crossing, and we could see Gaza, at least we could see cranes that were on the territory of Gaza.

And he also visited the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, talks to Palestinians.

At the Ministry of Justice in Ramallah, the chief prosecutor of the world’s highest court.

He goes to the Israeli occupied West Bank, to Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is based, building up evidence that led to this announcement on Monday.

Today, I’m filing applications for warrants of arrest before Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court.

And he makes this very dramatic announcement in a video.

My office has diligently collected evidence and interviewed survivors and eyewitnesses at the scene of at least six major attack locations.

Flanked on each side by two of his deputies.

I have reasonable grounds to believe that three senior leaders of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed DEIF and Ismail Haniyeh, bear criminal responsibility for the following international crimes.

And the accusations that he makes against the three Hamas leaders focus on the violent actions that Hamas took on October 7th.

Extermination as a crime against humanity. Murder as a crime against humanity.

And he walked through a long list of charges stemming from the extraordinary violence during that attack.

The taking of hostages as a war crime. Rape and other acts of sexual violence during captivity.

And he says there are reasonable grounds to believe that hostages taken from Israel have been subject to sexual violence, including rape, while being held in captivity. And he cites assessment of medical records, video, and documentary evidence, as well as interviews with victims and survivors.

And I repeat and underline my call for the immediate release of all hostages taken from Israel and for their immediate safe return to their families.

So this prosecutor sees the atrocities on October 7th and then what followed with Hamas taking the hostages, abusing them, as crimes against humanity. That’s what it amounted to in his view?

And what about the charges against the Israelis?

These are slightly different.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the following international crimes.

Obviously, a lot of the outcry and horror at the war in Gaza has centered around Israel’s airstrikes that have killed tens of thousands of Gazans. But Karim Khan focuses not on the military actions of Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his defense minister, but on the accusation of —

Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.

— starvation. The idea that Israel has allegedly sought to restrict and block aid deliveries, food supplies to Gaza with the intent to starve the civilian population there.

These individuals, through a common plan, have systematically deprived the civilian population of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival.

And that’s primarily based on the fact that for the first two weeks of the war, until October 21st or so, Israel blocked all aid entry to Gaza after Yoav Gallant, the defense minister, one of these two Israelis whose arrests Mr. Khan seeks, said that he was imposing a total siege on Gaza — no food, no fuel, no electricity. And while that total siege was eased towards the end of October, Khan also notes that there have been continuing restrictions on essential supplies, like food and medicine, ever since.

That conduct took place alongside attacks that killed civilians, the obstruction of aid delivery by humanitarian organizations, and attacks on aid workers that forced many of those same humanitarian organizations to either cease operations or limit their life-saving efforts in Gaza.

The implication is that the famine that he says is present in some areas of Gaza and imminent in other areas is in part the responsibility of Netanyahu and Gallant.

That starvation has caused and continues to cause deaths, malnutrition, dehydration, and profound suffering among the population. My office charges Netanyahu and Gallant as co-perpetrators and as superiors in the commission of these alleged crimes.

Why is the focus of these charges starvation? I mean, given that the airstrikes, as you say, were in many ways really the focus of this war and certainly the focus of the world’s attention on this war, the civilian deaths from the military operation. Why starvation?

Karim Khan does not explain why he focuses on starvation rather than Israel’s military tactics, which he mentions only in passing. But legal experts have said that it’s easier to prove that starvation was used as a method of warfare than it is to prove that there have been any specific crimes involved in any specific airstrikes. And that’s because under the rules of war and international law, it’s not necessarily illegal in and of itself to kill civilians during wartime. If a military assesses, with the help of military lawyers, that the likely civilian death toll caused by that strike is proportional to the value of the military target, then that, in many cases, will be in accordance with the rules of war. If a military can prove that sense of proportionality, then it’s actually quite hard to prove that there was any crime committed in the process.

So in other words, military actions are often weighed quite carefully. In the case of, say, a modern military like Israel’s or the United States, there are lawyers that look at these things. It’s not necessarily so easy to prove that something was disproportionate and should be considered a crime.

Exactly. Whereas with the crime of starvation, legal experts say that it’s potentially easier to prove that there was some wrongdoing there because Yoav Gallant, the Israeli Defense Minister, went on record in a public statement, and he announced that there would be a total siege on the territory of Gaza. And that was followed by an action, the action of closing off Gaza’s borders for the next two weeks, and no aid was allowed in. During that time, there were restrictions on electricity, water, fuel, as well as food. And that’s why legal experts think that Karim Khan has gone after Israel with the crime of starvation rather than focusing on their military operations.

But I suppose just thinking about our coverage, Patrick, and the conversations you and I have had, famine and starvation and a civilian population in extreme distress trapped in a small piece of territory is also not a small thing, right? That is also something that makes sense that the court would be considering.

Absolutely, it’s a huge thing. People don’t have to be hit by an airstrike to be living through an absolutely catastrophic situation.

So these charges really seem to spell bad news for Israel and for these two Israeli leaders, Netanyahu and Gallant. And it’s remarkable because these are men who, as you say, are some of America’s closest allies. I mean, they’re, you know, at the Pentagon. They’re having meetings with President Biden. And now, the chief prosecutor of the ICC is saying that they are war criminals.

Yes, it is a very dramatic moment in the view of some people, a turning point, and certainly, we can say that it is one of the harshest rebukes of Israel’s wartime conduct since October 7th.

But within Israel, there’s been a very different reaction. And it’s not all bad news for Benjamin Netanyahu.

We’ll be right back.

So, Patrick, what do Israelis make of this announcement?

Within Israel, the reaction has been very different. Whether it’s Netanyahu’s allies or his critics, there has been almost uniform outrage that the prosecutor for the ICC would make these accusations. And it means that at a time of rising domestic criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu across the political spectrum, with only a very few exceptions, everyone has rallied behind Netanyahu and Gallant. Despite the fact that Netanyahu is increasingly unpopular and even within his own government, there have been growing criticism of his wartime strategy.

For example, just two days before the prosecutor’s announcement, one of the senior members of his own wartime cabinet, Benny Gantz, issued Netanyahu with an ultimatum, warning him that he would quit the government if he did not spell out a plan for a post-war Gaza. Then, suddenly, the announcement comes from Karim Khan that Netanyahu and Gallant are under investigation. And Gantz is one of the first to come out with a condemnation of Karim Khan and a defense of the Israeli government. That is the clearest example of how even critics of Netanyahu have fallen in line, circled the wagons, and presented a united front.

This is really interesting. So this action by the prosecutor has kind of had the effect of actually closing divisions that were starting to appear in Israeli society, effectively bringing Netanyahu’s critics kind of back into his camp, or at least making it harder to criticize him.

Exactly. And Israelis, in general, feel that Israel has always been targeted unfairly, held to a higher standard than many other countries, and that this is, once again, another example of that, another example of Israel being accused of things that other countries do but get away with. And there have been broadly three criticisms from the Israelis of the ICC prosecutor.

First, the Israeli claim is that the ICC prosecutor is making a horrible false equivalence between Hamas, a terrorist organization, and Israel, a democratic state. Hamas raided Israel and launched the bloodiest attack on Jews in a single day since the Holocaust. Israel, in the eyes of Israelis, is fighting a righteous response to protect their citizens and to win back the liberty of the hostages that were captured on October 7th.

This guy is out to demonize Israel. He’s doing a hit job.

And Netanyahu himself articulated some of the clearest versions of this argument when he went on American television.

He’s creating false symmetry, false facts, and he’s doing a grave injustice to the International Court.

And he called Khan’s decision absurd, an effort to demonize Israel and to hold it to far higher standards than any other country. He said it would have been as if after 9/11 —

That’s like saying after 9/11, well, I’m issuing arrest warrants for George Bush, but also for bin Laden.

— arrest warrants had been issued for both Osama bin Laden and George Bush.

Or after, in World War II, well, I’m issuing arrest warrants for FDR, but also for Hitler. It’s a hit job. It’s not serious. He’s out to defame Israel, and he’s also pouring gasoline —

The second criticism from Israelis has been about process. The ICC was created about two decades ago by a treaty. More than 120 countries have signed that treaty, but Israel has not. And Israel contends that the prosecutor doesn’t have the authority, therefore, to go after Israeli political leaders.

Israelis also say that Khan didn’t spend enough time assessing whether Israel was itself investigating these allegations within its own judicial system. Remember that the ICC is a court of last resort. It’s only supposed to intervene when a domestic judicial system is genuinely not making any effort to investigate the alleged crime.

And Israelis are saying that Khan didn’t spend enough time investigating Gallant and Netanyahu. The ICC prosecutors have spent 10 years investigating alleged crimes committed during a previous war between Israel and Hamas, but this decision has been issued within just a few months. And Israelis are saying that Khan jumped the gun in that sense.

So the Israelis are saying, look, we’re trying to get to it, but you just didn’t give us enough time.

Exactly. And they’ve even said that Khan’s team was supposed to be coming this very week to continue that conversation and assess whether Israel was genuinely looking into these allegations by itself. And that they misled Israel by pretending that they would be making that assessment when, in fact, all along they were planning to request arrest warrants.

Interesting. So for Israeli officials, they’re seeing it as a kind of activist thing, as opposed to a neutral judicial decision.

That’s their claim, at least. The prosecutor’s office says that they have tried to sincerely engage with Israel on this issue, but that it’s become clear to them that Israel does not seriously investigate this kind of crime.

So you said, there are three elements to this. What’s the last?

The third and last element is on the content of the claim itself. Israel flatly denies that it is responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It even denies that there is a famine or that the situation is on the point of a famine. It points out all the ways in which it has worked to get much more aid into Gaza since October, including opening more crossings, allowing the US to create a pier on the shoreline of Gaza. It’s allowed some countries to airdrop aid. And certainly, the amount of aid that has gone in recent months has dwarfed the amount that was going in October and November.

And while it accepts that its soldiers have obstructed and, at times, even killed aid workers, it says that that obscures the fact that it coordinates every day in detail with aid groups to facilitate thousands of aid missions every month.

Isn’t Israel’s argument that these shipments could also include things that could be very useful for Hamas, the group that just killed 1,200 of its citizens?

Exactly. No one’s disputing, least of all Israel, that Israeli officials are examining all the aid going into Gaza. The dispute is about whether that’s necessary. Israel says it is. It says that if it didn’t check, then some of these aid convoys might be smuggling in weapons or material that could be used to fight Israel, to kill Israeli civilians. And that, therefore, Israel has no choice but to examine some of these goods going in. Again, the counterargument is that Israel’s checks are far more stringent than they need to be and end up preventing the entry of everyday items that pose no military threat.

OK, so that’s the Israeli perspective. How does the United States see the prosecutor’s request here? I mean, the US, obviously, Israel’s biggest ally.

Well, the American president, President Biden, condemned it in no uncertain terms. He said the prosecutor’s decision was outrageous. And he condemned him for drawing an implicit equivalence between Hamas and the leaders of the state of Israel.

And why did Biden come out so strongly against the prosecutor? We know that humanitarian aid has been a major concern for this administration. So why would Biden be so opposed to something that really is calling out Israel for this aid?

First of all, because Israel is a major ally of the United States, and the United States wants to show support for its ally. Second of all, they fear that this kind of criticism, this kind of intervention, will actually make Israel less, rather than more, likely to bring the war to a halt, because the feeling is that it will make Israel more defensive and in turn batten down the hatches.

The third reason is that the United States, historically, has never been a particular fan of the International Criminal Court. We mentioned earlier that Israel did not sign the treaty that created the ICC. Well, the United States did not do that either. And that’s in part because American leaders fear that having an international global court undermines American sovereignty. They think it’s the role of the American judicial system to investigate American citizens.

And there is a fear that with the United States so active militarily in many parts of the world, that membership of the court, involvement in the court could pave the way for American soldiers being tried for acting on behalf of the United States. And that could somehow dent American foreign policy goals across the world.

OK, so the United States doesn’t really like this court, you know, has troops in a lot of places, doesn’t want a court swooping in and prosecuting them when something goes wrong. But I guess the question then, in my mind, Patrick, is does what this prosecutor is doing matter? I mean, America is not a signatory. Israel is not a signatory. So why is this important?

Well, for the time being, its meaning is more symbolic than anything else. First, Karim Khan has not issued an arrest warrant. He has requested an arrest warrant for these five people. And three judges will now spend weeks and possibly months deciding whether to uphold those requests. That process can be less than a month. In the case of Vladimir Putin, it was just shy of a month. President Bashir of Sudan was issued with a warrant. That process took roughly a year.

When and if they do do that, however, there will be practical effects. If an arrest warrant is issued, it means that any country that’s a member of the International Criminal Court, in theory, should arrest any of these individuals if they enter their territory. That includes more than 120 countries all over the world, much of Europe, Latin America, Africa, and so on. Yes, it’s true that the United States and Israel are not signatories, and neither are Turkey or Qatar, two of the countries where Hamas officials spend much of their time when they’re outside Gaza. So there will still be places for officials on either side of these accusations to travel to.

But there are lots of other countries, like France, Italy, both places where Benjamin Netanyahu traveled in the past year, where, in theory, they will not be able to set foot.

So the negotiations over the war can still continue, but if Netanyahu travels to France or to Italy, he could be arrested, which is pretty wild.

Yes, at least that’s the theory. The national authorities in any given country still have to make a choice about whether they want to follow through with it.

But would those countries perhaps not arrest him out of deference to the United States?

I think the expectation is that if we got into this scenario, then someone like Netanyahu simply just wouldn’t travel to such a country. But the truth is, we just don’t really know. We are entering unchartered waters.

So this is really isolating Netanyahu in the world. Should it go forward?

Yes, isolating Netanyahu and to some extent Israel itself. And it has not just practical implications for the physical movement of Netanyahu and his defense minister, Gallant, but it also compounds Israel’s relationship with foreign allies. It complicates Israel’s ability to arm itself. More countries may grow more unwilling to sell Israel arms, or at least they’ll face growing pressure because of this decision not to do so.

And it also could force the country to become ever more reliant on the United States as it becomes more of a pariah over its actions in Gaza.

Which, of course, puts the United States in an even trickier position with an ally who’s been pretty hard to be friends with of late.

Right. And in truth, while the practical consequences of this move are still unknown, they do, in general, compound the sense that Israel is facing more and more diplomatic consequences for its actions. More than a decade ago, a former Israeli prime minister warned that Israel would face what he called a diplomatic tsunami if its conflict with the Palestinians went unresolved.

And it’s possible that years later we’re starting to finally see what he meant. Israel does still have its supporters, many of them, but we’re also now seeing during this war a level of criticism that goes above and beyond the kind that we’ve grown used to seeing directed at Israel over the years.

In addition to the warrant requests we’ve seen this week, we’ve obviously had an extraordinary wave of protests on American campuses and elsewhere in the world. And earlier this year, we had a watershed moment when the International Court of Justice began hearing accusations of genocide against Israel. And this week, several European countries recognized Palestine as a state.

So if the tsunami hasn’t yet arrived, we can at least say that the waves are getting stronger.

Patrick, thank you.

Thank you. [MUSIC PLAYING]

On Wednesday, the leaders of Spain, Norway, and Ireland announced that they would recognize an independent Palestinian state. The move was largely symbolic, but raised the concern that if neighboring countries followed their lead, Europe could become a counterweight to the American position that statehood for Palestinians should come only from a negotiated settlement with Israel.

Here’s what else you should know today. Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador who dropped her Republican presidential bid in March, said on Wednesday that she would vote for Donald Trump but stopped short of officially endorsing him. Haley was Trump’s longest standing rival in the 2024 primary contest and had carved out an important lane for herself as the voice for voters looking for an alternative to the former president. Her decision on whether to endorse him could play a pivotal role in the race. Haley has built a formidable network of high-dollar donors and a solid base of college-educated voters that Trump needs to win.

And the city of Uvalde, Texas, has reached a settlement with most of the families of children who were shot by a gunman at Robb Elementary School in 2022. To avert a lawsuit, the city promised to overhaul the city’s police force, create a permanent memorial to the victims, and pay $2 million.

Today’s episode was produced by Will Reid and Diana Nguyen with help from Shannon Lin. It was edited by Liz O. Baylen with help from Michael Benoist, contains original music by Elisheba Ittoop, Marion Lozano, and Pat McCusker, and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. See you tomorrow.

• May 30, 2024   •   25:21 The Government Takes On Ticketmaster
• May 29, 2024   •   29:46 The Closing Arguments in the Trump Trial
• May 28, 2024   •   25:56 The Alitos and Their Flags
• May 24, 2024   •   25:18 Whales Have an Alphabet
• May 23, 2024   •   34:24 I.C.C. Prosecutor Requests Warrants for Israeli and Hamas Leaders
• May 22, 2024   •   23:20 Biden’s Open War on Hidden Fees
• May 21, 2024   •   24:14 The Crypto Comeback
• May 20, 2024   •   31:51 Was the 401(k) a Mistake?
• May 19, 2024   •   33:23 The Sunday Read: ‘Why Did This Guy Put a Song About Me on Spotify?’
• May 17, 2024   •   51:10 The Campus Protesters Explain Themselves
• May 16, 2024   •   30:47 The Make-or-Break Testimony of Michael Cohen
• May 15, 2024   •   27:03 The Possible Collapse of the U.S. Home Insurance System

Hosted by Sabrina Tavernise

Featuring Patrick Kingsley

Produced by Will Reid ,  Diana Nguyen and Shannon M. Lin

Edited by Liz O. Baylen and Michael Benoist

Original music by Elisheba Ittoop

Engineered by Chris Wood

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

This week, Karim Khan, the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, requested arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the country’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

Patrick Kingsley, the Times’s bureau chief in Jerusalem, explains why this may set up a possible showdown between the court and Israel with its biggest ally, the United States.

On today’s episode

Patrick Kingsley , the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading

Why did a prosecutor go public with the arrest warrant requests ?

The warrant request appeared to shore up domestic support for Mr. Netanyahu.

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

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The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Patrick Kingsley is The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, leading coverage of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. More about Patrick Kingsley

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