Emerging Trends in Restaurant Delivery: The Rise of First-Party Gig Drivers

Food delivery today is riddled with challenges and inefficiencies, and its clear innovation is long overdue. 

A rising trend that's catching the eye of many in the industry is the adoption of first-party gig drivers. This model is increasingly seen as a viable solution to enhance delivery services and boost guest satisfaction.

Let’s look at why first-party gig drivers may be a promising opportunity for restaurant delivery, and why they may be a great fit for your restaurant.

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The Problem with Third-Party and Traditional In-House Drivers

Third-Party Drivers:

Drivers from third-party marketplaces like DoorDash, UberEats, GrubHub, or Postmates offer a quick, convenient solution for restaurants to meet delivery demands. However, this convenience comes with significant drawbacks. Since these drivers prioritize maximizing their earnings, they often compromise on delivery timeliness and food quality, directly impacting service consistency and brand experience. Inconsistent quality mixed with the high fees charged by these platforms often deters consumers from ordering again, and potentially damages your restaurant’s reputation.

In-House Drivers:

Employing in-house drivers provides your restaurant with greater control over deliveries, but it also comes with high fixed costs and additional complexities. Full-time drivers require you to handle wages, benefits, and scheduling, adding a significant management burden on top of other restaurant operations. This can make maintaining an in-house delivery system particularly challenging and costly during slower periods.

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Why Gig Drivers are the Better Choice for Restaurant Delivery

First-party gig drivers offer several compelling advantages for restaurants:

Flexibility and scalability

Working with gig drivers offers the flexibility to scale your delivery workforce according to real-time demand. This ensures you maintain an optimal number of drivers based on your average delivery volume, and can dynamically adjust to avoid overstaffing during slower periods. This optimizes operational efficiency by ensuring drivers have balanced workloads and consistent earnings, without unnecessary costs from idle time.

Better brand control

Unlike third-party drivers, first-party gig drivers can be trained to meet your restaurant’s specific service standards. This ensures that deliveries represent your brand accurately, preserving food quality and guest satisfaction. And if a driver doesn’t meet your expectations, you can remove them from your driver pool.

Reduced overhead

Since gig drivers are not full-time employees, you save on labor costs for things like health benefits and time off. Plus, you only pay drivers for fulfilled deliveries. This means you don’t have the financial drain of paying for idle time during slower periods, making your delivery operation more cost-effective and profitable.

Happier Drivers

Gig drivers appreciate the flexibility along with the reliable pay that comes with always knowing where their next delivery is coming from and working within a specific delivery radius. This not only makes their job more predictable, but also allows them to make more deliveries per hour. This reliability, combined with the flexibility that gig work naturally offers, makes the job more appealing to drivers. 

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Finding and Managing First-Party Gig Drivers for Your Restaurant Delivery

Finding gig drivers might seem complex, but it’s actually pretty straightforward. We have an entire guide that outlines the process. In our experience, we’ve found the appeal of flexibility, reliability, and potential earnings, many restaurants find it relatively quick and simple to attract and retain qualified drivers. 

Similarly, management of gig drivers can be streamlined through the Empower Delivery platform. Our software facilitates scheduling, payments, and performance monitoring, so you can avoid the heavy lifting typically associated with managing a workforce.

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Gig Drivers and First-Party Delivery are the Future

Embracing a first-party gig driver model places restaurants at the forefront of the evolving delivery market. This approach not only gives you more control over delivery operations but also significantly improves the guest experience, aligning with modern consumer expectations of convenience and quality. 

Empower Delivery offers a robust platform to help you manage your own delivery fleet without the headaches, setting the stage for improved profitability and long-term brand loyalty.