The business of catering is an ever-growing one that now includes a variety of ways by which individuals and organizations cater for the feeding needs of millions. A few years ago, we began to see individuals cooking from the comfort of their homes and delivering to others. More recently, the business has evolved to the level where people do not have to leave their comfort zones to get food from their favorite restaurants.

The food delivery business has solved the problem of leaving your home or office simply to get food to eat. It is also saving people from having to starve themselves because they cannot find any convenient time to go and eat, especially while at work.

A food delivery business has to do with a logistics or delivery organization partnering with one or several restaurants/eateries to deliver food to customers. It is an e-commerce activity where people shop for already prepared food from leading restaurants and have it brought to them usually by dispatch riders.

How to start a food delivery business

Before we talk about what you need, let's briefly look at how the business works.

As an entrepreneur who wants to go into this line of business, you ought to get a couple of vehicles; motorbikes preferably as they can not be held down by traffic and they can also access places that are not motorable and would suffer minimal damage on such roads.

You would need to hire drivers for the vehicles you got. These drivers would be on standby at the restaurants you are in partnership with. This is so that they can deliver customers' orders on time. Depending on how many customers and requests the restaurant deals with, you may need to have several riders and motorbikes on standby.

You can start up this business with about 800,000 which would care for the purchase of at least 2 motorcycles, creating a website and an app and also the registration of your business. If you have more than the said amount, then better for you.

How to go about a food delivery business

• Research the market: understand the food delivery market in your target area. Know your competition and the demand. You should take into cognizance your environment. This business only thrives in urban cities.

• Develop a business plan: having researched and understood the workings of the business, it is time to make use of that knowledge to draw up a plan that can be implemented. Here's a sample of what your business plan should look like. https://smartsmssolutions.com/blog/83-updates/1788-sample-business-plan-template-for-a-food-delivery-business

• Choose your business model: do you want to partner with one restaurant, a few or several?

• Create an online presence: Build a website and an app that allows customers to place their orders with ease.

• Obtain all necessary licenses and permits. This also includes registering your business and making it a legal entity. Before you can register your business, you need to have a business name. Here are tools you can use to generate a business name. https://smartsmssolutions.com/blog/118-sms-marketing/small-business/1736-tips-and-tools-for-great-business-names

• Determine your delivery model: would you use bikes or vans for delivery? What is your target area? How do you reach those places? Are there alternative routes in case of eventualities?

Marketing strategy

The most effective way to market your business and get ahead of your competitors is to advertise your business online. It only makes sense, after all, that is where the majority of your clients would come from. Post reviews and feedback from your clients on your pages and this would help others to build a level of trust in your business. Here are great suggestions on how you can promote your business online. https://smartsmssolutions.com/blog/83-updates/1780-how-to-promote-your-business-online

SmartSMSSolutions-how we come in.

SmartSMSSolutions has the confidence to run SMS campaigns for your business that will boost your business sales. Create an account with us today to grow your business. We also use voice OTPs and emails to ensure you maintain communication with your client.

If you also need to pay your bills such as purchase airtime data or electricity you can do those easily and quickly on our website. We offer very affordable rates which are some of the best you'll find in the market. Give it a try.