Let’s say you are at home, work remotely, and don’t have time to prepare food. What would you do? Most probably, you will opt for food delivery services and place an order to get food delivered right to your doorstep. But have you ever thought that you may make some common mistakes while placing a simple order?
Let’s talk about 5 common mistakes that users make when ordering food delivery.
1. Ordering Food That Spoils
If you don’t want to waste your money on food that becomes unappetizing and inedible quickly, you should think carefully before ordering certain dishes. Keep in mind that there are many types of foods that need special care on the way and not all delivery services have relevant containers or temperature controlling cars for keeping the food appetizing. When ordering food, you’d better choose the ones that can be eaten the same day and won’t lose their taste on the road. For instance, some common foods that may spoil quickly are:
- Fruits like berries, bananas, avocado, etc.
- Greens of salads
- Fried dishes
- Breaded foods
- Cooked grains
- Sauced noodles
- Frozen foods
- Mushrooms
- Fish
It’s best to eat most of these immediately upon arrival while they’re still relatively fresh. Also, keep in mind the environment where you eat and store them. Something like sushi has already spent some time on the road before it reached you, which is why it’s not the best idea to leave it out on the table for a few hours after it’s delivered.
2. Not Implementing Hygiene Practices
During the outbreak of the pandemic, people started to pay more attention to the way they behave to prevent virus spread. However, even nowadays many users don’t follow proper hygiene practices when ordering food. We’ve compiled a handful of steps you can take whenever you order food:
- If possible, choose the electronic payment method and pay for your food to avoid physical interaction and promote contactless delivery. Keep in mind that the driver may interact with many people during food delivery and there is a high chance of spreading the virus.
- If you have a doorbell push button you can also disinfect it using wipes, as it’s one of the most touched surfaces.
- Wash your hands after taking the delivery and before eating the food.
- Don’t put containers on your kitchen counters as viruses can stay on the surfaces as well. Instead, you can place them on paper towels. Then throw away the to-go bag and place the food on one of your own plates, making sure to wash down any surfaces that have been touched.
3. Choosing The Wrong Courier Services
Whenever you see that your favorite restaurant doesn’t have delivery options, you may look at third-party service providers to deliver the dish you want. With that in mind, you need to opt for courier and delivery services that can pick up and drop off your long-waited dishes. But choosing the right service provider isn’t easy work to do, so we’ve compiled some basic tips to help you understand what factors you should consider when selecting a delivery service:
- High-speed – Ensure that the courier service that you choose provides both same-day and express delivery services to bring your dishes as fast as possible. Imagine you organized a party and ordered a food delivery to bring your dishes before your party starts. How would you feel if the service delayed your delivery and brought the time your guests were already at your home? Frustrated and feeling not responsible, right? Think of the worst scenarios and choose a service that provides high-speed and responsibility.
- Quality and Reasonable Pricing – Many users always go after cheap delivery services thinking that it will benefit them. That’s not always the best choice. You should find a service that provides cost-effectiveness while also not sacrificing quality. If it does, you will fall under more cost than you’ve imagined. If the food that comes to you is spoiled, you will suffer from food poisoning. That’s why you need to choose the golden middle of the courier service which is neither too cheap (that provides bad quality) nor too expensive (that doesn’t make any sense). Keep in mind that pricing may differ among delivery services, considering your needs and delivery item’s details (e.g. weight, type, size, etc.)
- Refrigerated Services – Look for services that have special containers for food and provide refrigerated services to keep the temperature of your food to the right degree. Ensure that the delivery service is aware of the proper temperature ranges for hot (140 ℉ or higher) and cold foods (below 40 ℉). Ask them how they keep fried foods crispy and what kind of bags they use to ensure that their services are worth the price.
- New Trends – It’s now unimaginable to choose a service that doesn’t meet the industry demands, such as not having real-time tracking features. Choose the one that has the current trends as up-to-date notifications are essential to know where your item is.
- Reliability – And last but not least, always check the online rating of the service you choose. You can look at their social media, see how they interact with their customers, and maybe even talk to a customer who opted for a particular delivery service. Look for customer reviews to understand how credible the courier service is.
4. Forgetting About The Comfort of Drivers
How many times have you tried to order food and the delivery agent called you to know more details about your address, including passcodes, landmarks, floor numbers, etc.? Ensure to always provide these details to help the driver easily locate your address. Moreover, sometimes the agents may come and have difficulty finding your address because of dark entrances. You should lighten up your entrance to show that you welcome them and wait for the food.
5. Ordering Too Much Food
Over-ordering is something you should definitely avoid doing. It’s recommended to order food to share or keep some portions for later to reduce overeating and food waste. Also, another important point to avoid overeating is eating your food from a plate. For example, when there is some quantity of food in your container, you won’t be able to guess its portion to understand how much you need to eat. Automatically, you’ll start eating without checking out the portion as you may think that the food in the container is limitless. That’s why you need to use plates for eating your ordered dishes.
And what to do with the leftovers? Have you ever left the leftovers at room temperature for more than 2 hours? This is a mistake that is common among orderers. After everyone has finished eating, you need to put the delivery leftovers in the refrigerator. And whenever you need to reheat them in the microwave later during the day, mix the dish occasionally (taking it out from the microwave and putting back) to ensure that all sides of the dish are heated thoroughly.
Besides a customer, there are some mistakes that companies, offering food delivery services, make themselves; let’s see some common ones:
- Providing menu selection that includes food which spoils very quickly.
- Not practicing proper food delivery for high quality and safety, including wrong containers, improper temperature degrees, improper sealing of bags and containers.
- Forgetting to provide condiments, napkins, and eating utensils separate from the primary dishes.
- Not having a reliable security system to protect customer privacy.
- Not providing contactless delivery for the best hygiene practices.
Now you know all the common mistakes from the customers’ and food delivery agents’ side. You as a customer should consider the above-mentioned points to avoid food waste, overeating, and other issues. Whenever you want to order food, come back to read these factors again to implement the best ordering practices ever.