Sunday, October 13, 2019

Delivery apps drive business for pizzerias

LaNova Pizzeria Assistant Manager Rob Santiago juggles

By Gabrielle Kime and Conner Wilson         
            It’s Sunday and the Buffalo Bills game starts in a few hours, to beat the rush you go to the pizza shop at 10 a.m. when it opens.  When you walk in, you see the kitchen is lined with tickets, the phones are ringing off the hook, pizza dough tossed frantically in the air, pepperoni and marinara is flying.
            Bills gamedays have always been busy for local pizzerias, but with the evolution of third-party delivery services, they’ve become more hectic.
            There’s Grubhub, DoorDash, Postmates, Slice, UberEats, and surely more to come. With the creation of these apps, food delivery has drastically changed.
            In some areas, these apps aren’t yet up and running, but on the West Side, they are changing the food ordering and delivery culture.
            Over the past couple of years, local restaurants have seen an increase in sales with the creation of these food delivery apps. With all of these different delivery options, restaurants can reach customers they never could before, said Gina DiLaura, assistant manager of LaNova Pizzeria, 371 W. Ferry St. 
            “It’s increased it, in the area,” DiLaura said. “We’re such a busy restaurant here that our delivery zone is kind of limited. So Doordash, Postmates will deliver to places we usually don’t as far as like the Southtowns, Tonawanda, places like that.”
            Online delivery services don’t only provide the consumer with another ordering method but expand the delivery radius beyond the restaurant’s original borders. This helps small restaurants to reach beyond the West Side.
            “In the past year, we’ve probably seen a 30% increase in sales and you can credit it to Doordash,” Dilaura said.
            According to Upserve Restaurant Insider, 60% of U.S. consumers order delivery or takeout once a week.  About 31% say that they use third-party delivery services at least twice a week.            
            Allentown Pizza, 94 Elmwood Ave., utilizes third-party delivery services. Store Supervisor Nikki Moore said the business has expanded its customer thanks to modern delivery services.
            “Our restaurant only delivers within two miles in Allentown,” Moore said. “So anybody outside of that who wants can order so that’s great.”
            A greater delivery radius has also resulted in a greater income for establishments on the West Side.
             With these new sources of delivery available, businesses are facing new challenges that they hadn’t before. With the ability to reach more customers, the amount of work to fulfill these orders can be overwhelming.
            Orders used to all come from one place: over the phone onto a pen and paper. Now, restaurants have to juggle several accounts and screens relaying orders from multiple apps.

LaNova Assistant Manager Gina Dilaura on receiving online orders:
https://soundcloud.com/conner-wilson-669440304/gina-dilaura-on-receiving-online-orders

            “It does get a little stressful within the kitchen since you have all these tablets you have to filter through lots of different orders so it does get stressful in the kitchen to have so much stuff going on,” Moore said.
Another pizza goes out the door at LaNova
            A concern businesses have with third-party delivery apps is handling and keeping the quality of food. When an online delivery sends a driver, the restaurant has to trust that the driver will handle the food with care and deliver in a timely fashion.
            “When the drivers show up, we have to make sure they don’t turn the pizza sideways,” Moore said. “They don’t understand, they don’t have the training so they’ll just ruin the pizzas. We have to keep an eye on them all the time.”
            La Nova Pizzeria is in the heart of the West Side. DiLaura said the West Side location sees a lot more business than the Williamsville location. They credit third-party delivery services to what makes the region unique and profitable.
            “In the West Side, you know, you’re in the middle of it,” DiLaura said. “I think we receive more orders here, but I think it’s because there are so many more people on the West Side, more population in this area.”

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