The last thing we need to tell restaurant owners, managers, or anyone who has worked in a restaurant is that consumers have very little patience when it comes to waiting for their food.
With more consumers placing orders for delivery and more third-party delivery services, we wanted additional insight into how long consumers felt was an acceptable time to receive their food when placing an order for delivery.
In our latest consumer research and insight report “Cracking The Code,” We asked 9,161 consumers the following question.
“How long of a wait time is acceptable until you receive your order, when ordering food for delivery from a local restaurant?”
We found that 82% of consumers reported anything beyond a one-hour wait is not acceptable.
Unfortunately, if your restaurant is already busy, it’s a weekend, or you are short-staffed, an hour or over an hour delivery time may be unavoidable. The key here is communication. In instances with potentially longer-than-normal wait times, ensuring your counter staff communicates clearly to the customer that their order may take longer than usual is critical.
At that point, if the wait is unacceptable to customers, they can decide to cancel their order. Otherwise, they will be waiting for their food longer than may be acceptable, leading to a lost customer and/or poor review.
Download Cracking The Code Pizza Industry To Learn More About Your Restaurant’s Customers,
Access Mail Shark’s Latest Consumer Research And Insights Report.
What Else You’ll Learn:
- How much does Covid still influence customers dining decisions?
- From where do consumers report their favorite pizza is from?
- How long do customers want to wait for their delivery orders?
- How often do your customers want to hear from you?
- What Google rating can hurt your business?
- How do customers prefer to place orders?
- Do consumers sign up for loyalty plans?
- Are customers still using coupons?
- & Much More!