How to start a grocery delivery business

Updated on September 25, 2021
in How to start a business, make money

When it comes to grocery delivery, there are two options: you can hire someone to go to the supermarket with you and go aisle to aisle with a checklist of what you need, or you can hire a private company to go buy bulk groceries from wholesalers like Jetro or Restaurant Depot or other large retailers.
So, how do you select which clientele to target?

Resdiential Grocery Delivery Business:

Your target market consists of individuals who are either busy working people, elderly people, or those who need personal help. Handing out business cards to apartment complexes or going door to door is one method to reach out to consumers. But that’s old news; let’s speak about a better method to develop a genuine company, which is also a more straightforward approach to grow a more profitable business: go directly to the source.

Make contact with the store owners in the regions where you want to deliver goods and give them a service that would benefit them not just by boosting sales but also by improving customer happiness. Customers may place their orders by calling the supermarket or faxing them to the shop. The store now pays a fee for each delivery, so all you have to do is pick it up and bring the goods to the customer.

The disadvantages of working with residential clients

1st (Parking tickets)

Parking is a significant problem, particularly in the business sector; depending on the size of your car, you may be fortunate enough to get orders with a driveway or parking lot.

You’ll need help

You may need to enlist some assistance since we’re talking about ten to twenty bags of goods, if not more. They may need the use of a flight of steps or an elevator. In the end, hiring a professional may cost a few dollars, but it will save you time and money in the long run.

Delays

You may come across clients who want to double-check things before you leave the house. To check for damaged goods or whether anything was forgotten, another delay you may encounter is that due to the large number of bags entering and exiting stores, you are sure to forget a bag here or there, which is typical. We are all human, so we forget things. One helpful tip we discovered was to write down any mistakes or accidents as soon as they happen and attach them to one sheet. Keep that paper somewhere visible so it’s right there when you get in the car and you can quickly check it before heading over to the customer.

Commercial Grocery Delivery Business

Many businesses, such as grocery shops, small markets, and even big supermarkets, employ independent firms to assist them in obtaining goods from wholesalers.
These company owners do not want to bear the cost of purchasing and insuring a box truck only to utilize it once or twice a month to purchase goods. So that’s where you’re going to come in.
Store owners will pre-purchase goods from wholesalers or give you the order of the products required, and you will go pick it up, put it onto your truck, transport it to the site, assist with offloading, and charge a fee.
A flat fee or a percentage of the entire amount may be charged. Keep in mind that you may add 6% to 15% to the transaction receipt as a service charge, but novices should start small to get access to doors and then gradually increase.
A purchase order from wholesale may range from $1200 to $2,000 or more.
So, if the order you just picked up for the grocer was $2000, you may add 7% since this is your first customer and you want them to recommend you to others. So you earned $140 from one customer, and your typical time investment was about 3-4 hours. If you can handle three orders each day, you’ve got yourself a great little side business.

The disadvantages of working with commercial enterprises

1st (Big trucks)

Large customers and orders need the use of larger vehicles. When purchasing goods for commercial companies, they purchase in bulk, cases, and cases, so you’ll need to plan ahead before taking on any new customers. You don’t want to have to travel back and forth to wholesalers due to a shortage of room in your car. You will lose customers in the first place, and you will spend a whole day simply serving one client.

Inventive+ phrasing (Heavy lifting )

From five boxes of toilet paper to five cases of heavy sugar, orders may be anything. This will need lifting and loading into your box truck. Having a liftgate will certainly come in useful; to summarize, one case will be lifted from the shelf onto a dolly, then into the vehicle, and finally into the company. Multiply that by the number of cases a typical company will purchase.

Time Requirement

Consider a five- to the ten-times-larger supermarket; this is the kind of company wholesale where you will choose and purchase the goods that the business owner needs. The good news is that after you’ve established yourself and become a frequent customer of the same wholesale, you’ll get better and quicker since you’ll know exactly where each item is located. So, be patient at first until you get the feel of it. Just because the first 10 orders took a long time doesn’t imply it will continue to take a long time.

You’ll need to employ extra helper

At first, you may be able to get away with it without employing it; after all, one wholesaler typically provides parking where you can load your truck. So, when your delivery route expands, you will almost certainly need to employ, you will need to rest your back, and you will need to speed up orders and knock off two or three clients each day.

Must-haves for Your Grocery Delivery Business

You should never use your personal phone number for work; but, with virtual phone numbers, you may simply add a second line to your phone and maintain two phones in one.
To get your name out there, print some business cards to give out and conduct some walk-ins in the locations you want to target. At first, you’ll want to target companies near wholesalers you believe you’ll deal with; having clients near wholesalers is a huge advantage.
Become official: Forming an LLC or corporation is not only necessary when starting a business, but it also protects you in a variety of ways, including protecting your personal assets. Another reason is that most wholesalers will require you to be licensed and insured if you are purchasing inventory for customers under your company name.
When it comes to simple marketing or adding to your business cards, a website is a fantastic method to get more business. It may not seem essential at first, but it is a must-have. You may attach it to the side of your vehicle so that passers-by can see inside and see what services you provide.