Why is delivery software important for home chefs?
When you're running a home food delivery business, you have a lot on your plate. The most important lesson from experienced home chefs is: make receiving orders as easy as possible. Taking orders via phone, WhatsApp, or Instagram “works,” but ask any home chef, you'll quickly lose track, customers perceive you as less professional, or the payment process becomes more cumbersome. So software is great because:
- Customers instantly see if they fall within your delivery range
- It's free support for busy entrepreneurs
- You can quickly accept orders via a personal ordering link
- You'll have one clear ordering channel, instead of text/phone/email
- Customers see you as a professional
- Payment is handled online (and instantly!)
Vev helps me to keep track of all my orders
How can I get more customers using a delivery system?
The easiest way to attract more customers to your home food delivery business is by increasing ordering convenience. Your delivery software provides a unique link that allows customers to place orders anytime, anywhere. You can easily promote this link online, incorporate it into local advertisements using QR codes, display it on posters, distribute it via door-to-door flyers, or even post it on your front door. This makes it easier for your existing customers to reorder from you, or for them to share your ordering page with friends and family. They can see your offerings, prices, and available ordering times at a glance. Customers also enter their address first to see if they are within your delivery area.
You can easily set order deadlines by using smart software, such as the free tool from Vev. This clearly communicates when customers can place orders and when they can pick them up. It's also possible to create a pickup page, allowing customers to pick up their orders at your home or another designated pickup location.
In summary:
- Increase ordering convenience with an easily accessible delivery link
- Use QR codes in advertisements and on menus
- Encourage customers to share your page with friends and family
- Set smart order deadlines to avoid missed orders
- Create a pickup page for customers to collect their orders
What are the main advantages of using software as a home chef?
As a home chef, you'd naturally prefer to be in the kitchen rather than behind a computer. Since there's already plenty to handle when running your solo business, delivery software can lend you a hand with the following tasks:
- More overview: Orders appear on a dashboard, allowing you to see precisely who your customers are, and what they've ordered daily (plus at what time). The map also displays the most convenient delivery order. Both you and your customers will receive a confirmation email.
- Increased customer orders: Research shows that order value can be up to 40% higher when customers can view the entire menu at their own speed. This also makes upselling easier with larger portions or value meals.
- Fewer interruptions: You won't need to respond to messages or emails during evenings or weekends, asking questions like "Can I add this to my order?" or "Actually, one less portion, please." Customers can order, modify, or cancel 24/7.
- Manage order deadlines: You can set ordering deadlines based on a specific time of the week, a certain number of hours or days in advance, or according to your opening hours. This also applies to cancellations and modifications—a popular feature among many home chefs who use Vev!
- Personalized page with your brand colors: Showcase your brand by customizing your page with your own company colors. You can choose your logo, images, and three colors on an ordering page. This ensures your page looks great and all emails are sent using your unique color scheme.
How can I further professionalize my business as a home chef?
Home chefs know better than anyone the importance of presenting themselves well, as they are their own business cards. Research by Vev, involving over 50 home chefs, has shown that adding a delivery service is a smart way to professionalize your business.
Customers can easily order from you (or choose pickup) and receive their meals at their chosen time. Vev's ordering software offers the option to manage your own delivery service. Many home chefs also cater for businesses, which often require customization. An ordering page helps significantly, enabling the company's contact person to easily provide the correct order details. Once you have a good logo, distributing an attractive menu with a QR code can encourage customers to place orders directly with you. Another tip is to add online payment options; customers can order online and pay immediately. To summarize:
- Add a delivery service to complement your pickup offerings.
- Offer a delivery and pickup page, making it easy and error-free for (business) customers to place their orders.
- Design an appealing menu, including a QR code, so customers can easily book with you.
- Support online payments, eliminating the need for handling manual PayPal requests or cash payments.
Run your meal delivery service on auto-pilot With your new toolset
Marketing
Payments
Auto pilot
Overview
Customers
Delivery
Get reviews from customers
Effortlessly collect reviews from your customers, which will soon appear directly on your page for everyone to see.
Share your link
Add your link to your website and socials. A link in bio could boost the orders of your home up to 40%.
Personalize emails Pro
Create personalized emails for orders to engage clients and strengthen your business.
Add Vev to your website Updated
Add Vev to your website with two options: a popup booking button or a fully embedded booking widget for seamless customer acquisitions.
Cover your meal delivery service
Add a cover to your header that matches your home. Impress your customers of your meal delivery service even more.
Order with a QR-code
Make it easy for your customers to order meals by placing your QR code on flyers, business cards, stickers, posters, or any other visible spots in their home. With just a quick scan on their phone, they can access your services effortlessly, no extra steps needed.
Policy
Set up a clear policy that outlines your terms for bookings, cancellations, refunds, and any additional fees. Defining these guidelines helps manage customer expectations and reduces the risk of disputes.
Page description
Write a catchy slogan or description that highlights what makes your meal delivery service special. This helps your customers share and recommend you to others.
Show your colors
Set the tone for your page by choosing colors that represent their home. These will create a cohesive look across your page, tools, and emails, aligning everything with your unique brand.
Social handles
Add the profiles of their home from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, and your website to connect with customers and expand your online reach.
Marketing
Get reviews from customers
Effortlessly collect reviews from your customers, which will soon appear directly on your page for everyone to see.
Share your link
Add your link to your website and socials. A link in bio could boost the orders of your home up to 40%.
Personalize emails
Create personalized emails for orders to engage clients and strengthen your business.
Add Vev to your website
Add Vev to your website with two options: a popup booking button or a fully embedded booking widget for seamless customer acquisitions.
Cover your meal delivery service
Add a cover to your header that matches your home. Impress your customers of your meal delivery service even more.
Order with a QR-code
Make it easy for your customers to order meals by placing your QR code on flyers, business cards, stickers, posters, or any other visible spots in their home. With just a quick scan on their phone, they can access your services effortlessly, no extra steps needed.
Policy
Set up a clear policy that outlines your terms for bookings, cancellations, refunds, and any additional fees. Defining these guidelines helps manage customer expectations and reduces the risk of disputes.
Page description
Write a catchy slogan or description that highlights what makes your meal delivery service special. This helps your customers share and recommend you to others.
Show your colors
Set the tone for your page by choosing colors that represent their home. These will create a cohesive look across your page, tools, and emails, aligning everything with your unique brand.
Social handles
Add the profiles of their home from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, and your website to connect with customers and expand your online reach.
Payments
Get paid ahead
Have your customers pay ahead for their order. Only if you want to, you're the home chef, and you are in control.
Deposits
Have your customers put down a deposit to get their order. This has proven to reduce no-shows.
Tap to Pay on iPhone
Accept contactless payments with only your iPhone. No extra terminals or hardware needed.
Scan to pay
Let your customers scan your QR for you to get paid. Vev will keep track of who has paid for their meal so your meal delivery service administration is always up to date.
Discounts
It's easy to give your customer a discount on their meal. Choose a percentage or fixed amount. Whatever works best for your meal delivery service.
Add amount
Add a percentage or fixed amount to the price of the order, in the simplest way possible for you as a home chef.
Save costs, no extra payment devices
No need to fill in the amount again. Or sync, connect and pay for that extra device in your home. Simply use your phone to have customers pay for their meals on the spot.
Refunds
Choose if customers who've paid ahead will automatically be refunded when their order is cancelled.
Payments work out of the box
Payments are set up very easy. So you can get paid out of the gate.
Policy
Set up a clear policy that outlines your terms for bookings, cancellations, refunds, and any additional fees. Defining these guidelines helps manage customer expectations and reduces the risk of disputes.
Auto pilot
Emails
Every order, cancellation, change and reminder is automatically sent to your customers. Emails are sent in your style so they feel familiar to your customers.
Order reminders
On the day of the order, your customer receives a reminder from you. It's send automatically and includes all the information of their meal.
Your month wrapped up
Every month we email you analytics of last months' orders, cancelations, most popular meals and revenue. This way you know exactly how your home is doing.
Share your link
Add your link to your website and socials. A link in bio could boost the orders of your home up to 40%.
Bookkeeping
Make your administration of their home run smooth.
Plus, a lot more
There's a lot more coming in Vev+ that will make doing business even easier. But we keep those under wraps for the moment.
Personalize emails
Create personalized emails for orders to engage clients and strengthen your business.
Item suggestions
Creating the right mix of meals is essential to attract and retain customers—but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Our suggestions are here to guide you every step of the way. With personalized recommendations based on industry trends and your meal delivery service, you can quickly set up a winning selection of offerings. Let us help you create the perfect lineup so you can focus on growing your meal delivery service.
Overview
Calendar view
See all your home chef meal delivery orders in a calendar view.
Your overview of meals
See exactly who will get what meal, and at what time the order is due.
Your day at a glance
See exactly how much your meal delivery service makes, what your customers order most and even learn how they made their order.
Today's customers
Your daily overview of customers. Showing you exactly who's you will see today, and an easy way to let you order again.
Delivery overview
See exactly where and at what time you need to deliver meals. Everything shown on an interactive map to make it crystal clear for you!
Notifications for you
When your customer makes an order, cancelation or change you will receive a notification.
Sync to your calendar
Automatically sync (one way) your orders to your personal calendar app.
Your month wrapped up
Every month we email you analytics of last months' orders, cancelations, most popular meals and revenue. This way you know exactly how your home is doing.
Customers
Fields
Add more specific customer information to run your meal delivery service even better. For instance add their date of birth, Customer ID, pet name and more.
Get reviews from customers
Effortlessly collect reviews from your customers, which will soon appear directly on your page for everyone to see.
Customer list
See or find your most valuable customers. This lets you build relationships and get more orders.
Edit customers
Edit customer details, merge and remove to keep your customer list up to date.
Customer details
For home chefs it's super handy to have all the details of customers at their fingertips. Allowing you to send a text, call or email whenever you need.
Add notes
Add notes about your customers. These notes show up around the order, so you can pick up the conversation with your customer where you left off last time.
Today's customers
Your daily overview of customers. Showing you exactly who's you will see today, and an easy way to let you order again.
Order again
In just a tap your customers become regulars. Get the best date and time for the next order. No upcoming order? You and your customers are reminded to order a meal again.
It's your data
It's your data. The customer information is yours. Vev doesn't sell, resell, target or advertise with the data from your meal delivery service. Of course not!
Customer history
See exactly what meal your customer ordered before.
Delivery
Delivery overview
See exactly where and at what time you need to deliver meals. Everything shown on an interactive map to make it crystal clear for you!
Set your delivery area
Vev shows your customers whether you deliver meals on their doorstep. You define the area in which your meal delivery service is active.
Travel time
The travel time needed between addresses will be taken into consideration. This way you will see your customer on time.
Set your work area.
Indicate your work area where you're available for orders. This lets customers quickly see if your meals are available on their doorstep.
Smart routes
Vev automatically calculates the smartest route. And that's not all, you can even define your favourite maps app to get directions. All done out of the box.
Choose your transport type
Pick your mode of transport to get the best route and travel time between orders.
Set delivery charges
You decide whether you want to charge for the delivery of meals, in a way that works best for your meal delivery service. From standard rates, charge based on distance, a minimum price for delivery, or free delivery beyond a certain amount. Vev also takes care of the tax for delivery charges.
Specific delivery area
Exactly define how far you want to go on a map to your customer.