Five things to look for when hiring reliable restaurant delivery service drivers for your RDS.
The busy season for restaurant delivery starts in September, but things tend to really ramp up when temperatures drop. People want the luxury and experience of a restaurant meal without venturing into the cold themselves.
This is great news for your restaurant delivery service (RDS), since it means steady business. But this spike in demand can also be a little daunting, given the hiring challenges of recent years. Finding really excellent delivery drivers can be tough.
That’s why we wrote up this brief guide to hiring the best candidates. Here are five non-negotiables to look for when making hiring decisions:
A reliable car.
This may seem obvious. But it can be surprisingly easy to simply forget to ask a candidate about a car! And some people will apply for every single job opening they find, regardless of qualifications. So make sure you verify this right away, or you could end up hiring someone without their own set of wheels by accident.
A decent sense of direction.
You don’t need to be an orienteering expert to follow GPS directions. But you don’t want a driver who totally loses their cool in the event of an unplanned detour or traffic jam. Ideally, you’ll hire someone who knows the area well enough to keep a cool head and adapt if they get turned around. Otherwise, you may find yourself fielding a lot of panicky phone calls from a driver who can’t handle even a minor setback.
Basic common sense.
Any delivery driver worth their salt will know better than to put a smoothie next to piping-hot pho in the car. Unfortunately, not everyone will be that logical. Some folks will set a ten-piece coffee order on the floor of the car and take off without securing them first! Common sense and basic problem-solving skills aren’t always easy to screen for. But it’s worth doing what you can to make sure you’re hiring people with enough horse sense to make good decisions on the job.
Reliability.
Thankfully, this one’s pretty easy to screen for. Did they show up to their interviews on time and prepared for the conversation? Do they answer emails and texts in a timely manner? If yes, you’ve probably got a pretty reliable person on your hands, and you can count on them to show up for work.
A good attitude.
Remember, when someone orders delivery, the only human being they’re going to interact with is the delivery driver. The driver is representing both the restaurant and your RDS, so a good impression is critical. You don’t need to hire a whole team of Pollyannas or Leslie Knopes, of course! But a friendly, polite, and generally pleasant person makes for a great delivery driver.
Other tips for hiring restaurant delivery service drivers
A while back, we partnered with a successful RDS owner to write an article on his go-to hiring strategies for drivers. He talked about where to look for candidates, how to handle the interview process, and more. Read the article here >
As you head into the hustle and bustle of the busy season, a team of excellent drivers isn’t the only key to success. Great restaurant delivery software gives you access to streamlined tools to manage every step of the delivery process. DataDreamers makes it easy for:
- Your restaurant clients to edit their menus.
- Your drivers to receive messages and orders safely while on the road.
- Your customers to place large orders and track when their food will arrive.
- You to oversee the entire process without having to toggle between a dozen different screens.
DataDreamers was built by experienced food delivery pros who understand what it takes to run a successful RDS. To see the tool in action, schedule a demo >