If you think that we only rely on the price difference of 2-3 yuan to maintain business, you are wrong. Discounts on meals provided by merchants are the focus of our profit.
In 2006, I first came up with the idea of doing takeout while repairing a "home delivery" electric car for KFC.
Before founding "Tiantian Takeaway Network", I had been engaged in the business of electric bicycles. Once when I was doing after-sales service, I found that KFC's single store in Beijing had more than 200 takeout orders every day. Multiplied by their more than 200 restaurants in Beijing, the result made me excited.
It only lasted three minutes at first, but it was an ordinary overtime meal that really made me think about starting a takeout business. Some people want to eat pizza from Pizza Hut, and some people want to eat burgers from McDonald's. In the end, each order is different. Some people have finished eating, and some people's orders have not been delivered yet. If there can be a "takeaway agency" that can satisfy the dining wishes of many people at the same time, it might be a good business.
The takeaway market is still dominated by oligarchs. Large international chain restaurant organizations such as KFC, McDonald's, and Pizza Hut have a complete takeout delivery system, which includes delivery fees determined through accurate research, high-quality delivery teams, and a dense distribution network. If we were to go head-to-head with such wealthy takeout delivery “big names”, we weak “irregulars” would definitely have no chance. But if you help them "run errands", it might be an opportunity.
2 yuan difference
So, I rented an office of less than 30 square meters in Fangzhuang, Fengtai District, with a computer, 4 electric bicycles and 6 employees to support the "Tiantian Food Delivery Network".
Unlike other takeaways that rely on storefront operations, Tiantian Takeout.com is only responsible for "running errands" and earning hard-earned money.
In fact, "errand" companies like ours appeared a few years ago. Because the investment costs are low and the risks are low, it is easier to attract young entrepreneurs. In the beginning, it was basically "losing money and making money". On the one hand, they had to survive in the cracks of the strong regular army, and on the other hand, due to factors such as their own equipment and training not keeping up, over time, very few could persist in business.
I have always believed that the takeout market never lacks good food varieties, but what is lacking is how to use new marketing methods to meet the dining needs of all types of customers. For example, you can order food through multiple channels, save shipping costs, and choose multiple meals, etc.
The delivery fee of pizza Hut, KFC, McDonald's and other chains is 7 yuan, while our delivery fee for orders less than 100 yuan is 5 yuan, and for orders over 100 yuan, it is 4 yuan. The delivery price difference of 2-3 yuan and the convenience of being able to choose from more than ten merchants’ meals are Tiantian’s trump card for attracting customers.
If you think that we only rely on the price difference of 2-3 yuan to maintain business, you are wrong. Because the commission for each food delivery order is only 1.5 yuan for the delivery person, the remaining meager profit is obviously not the focus of our business. Based on the current number of deliveries of 70 orders per day, the daily turnover is about 350 yuan. Excluding operating costs such as wages and commissions, how can we make money.
In fact, the discounts on meals provided by merchants are the focus of our profit. When the website was launched, there were not many orders, and many fast food merchants did not care about our existence. But as our delivery volume increases, some merchants are willing to cooperate with us - providing some gold cards and coupons with lower discounts, and some Chinese fast food have also signed discount agreements with us.
Nowadays, customers who order food from "Tiantian Takeaway Network" spend an average of 40 yuan per person. Taking Pizza Hut as an example, with its discount card, we can enjoy a 20% discount on ordering. In this way, profits come out.
The first “big business”
In the process of exploration, we are constantly looking for a clear meal selection positioning for "Tiantian Takeaway Network". Since the website targets white-collar workers and office workers, we only choose to cooperate with some well-known Chinese and Western fast food restaurants to ensure the quality of the food delivered. Although this may cause us to lose some customers, in the long run, targeting a niche group with strong purchasing power will be more sustainable.
To tell you the truth, my first "big business" only cost a few thousand yuan, but it was definitely a good incentive for the just-started Tiantian Food Delivery Network. It also shows that we have set "office workers" as our main target service group. correctness.
The thing is, six months after the website was launched, I received a call from a company saying that it planned to enter into long-term cooperation with us. They chose to prepay by check and place a pre-deposit order on their Tiantian Takeout account. This non-cash payment ordering model has also opened up our operational ideas. After that, we opened the Taobao ordering online store and chose another new payment model of third-party payment.
This first "big business" not only brought me a new business philosophy, but also increased my confidence in the survival and development of "Tiantian Takeaway Network".
growing pains
Now, "Tiantian Takeaway Network" is one year old.
Our business is already profitable. There are also more and more customers, especially some "repeat customers", which ensures the order volume. However, some unexpected situations gradually emerged.
We previously set a food delivery radius of 5 kilometers, but it was very difficult to operate in practice. We promise to deliver food to your door within 40 minutes, but in some office buildings it takes an hour to find it, and chargebacks happen from time to time. This forced me to redefine the food delivery range to a radius of 2 kilometers.
Most of the food delivery employees we recruit are young migrant workers with little awareness of traffic laws. From time to time they run red lights and scratch pedestrians. Their service concept is also very indifferent. They always think that just delivering the food and do not take the initiative. Service consciousness. The lag in personnel training is also an important aspect that urgently needs improvement.
The capital I invested in "Tiantian Takeaway Network" in advance was less than 70,000 yuan, which was mainly used for the establishment of the website and 400 phone number. Of course, this was also our main advertising promotion channel at first. Later, we also tried methods such as newspaper inserts and cooperation with Baidu for promotion, but gradually found that their effects were not ideal. On the contrary, the advertising color pages distributed to various residential areas and office buildings have achieved results. Exploring the means of promotion will also be a long-term topic for us.
Our current main business network is in Fangzhuang, Fengtai District, with extremely limited coverage and delivery personnel. Because our promotion is targeted at Beijing, we often encounter the embarrassment of being unable to deliver orders when phone calls are made from many places.
new plan
Before June next year, we plan to replicate our outlets in Zhongguancun, Guomao, Shangdi and Wangjing. At present, the delivery volume of KFC alone can reach about 7,000 orders per day. Our market is still very large.
If you want to make your business bigger, you must do enough homework in terms of hardware investment. Different from other industries, the catering industry has concentrated consumption time, especially between 11:30 noon and 1:30 pm. It is obviously insufficient for just two online orderers and a telephone operator to take orders. Next, we will improve the website's supporting ordering system and backend management, and implement a points and discount system for regular customers who often order food. Opening a call center can effectively divert phone orders during peak hours and avoid losing orders due to busy calls. In view of the concentrated dining time, we will also recruit some hourly workers, which not only alleviates the worries of employment, but also reduces operating costs.
After "Tiantian Takeaway Network" reaches a certain scale, I also plan to contact some venture capital companies to make this small snowball bigger and bigger. One thing I am confident about is that although I am an "irregular soldier" in the food delivery market, I am also an entrepreneur who wants to be practical.