From a well-thought-out labeling system to the placement of the food pickup area inside your restaurant, there are many ways to design for efficient and accurate pickup and delivery service. Here are a few snippets of the advice Starr Design Chief and President Steve Starr shared recently with the editors at Foodservice Equipment & Supplies.
Low-tech upgrades: “A thoughtful labeling system plays a critical role in any successful pickup station … These don’t have to be complicated or expensive, they just have to be well thought-out to make it easy for the staff to quickly identify each item in an order, who the order is for and how many packages (bags and boxes) are in the order.” In addition to helping to ensure more accuracy, the label conveys to the guest at home that the food was checked and “sealed” at the restaurant, providing a sense of safety.
Counter intelligence: Another way to design restaurant takeout areas for greater accuracy is to consider a tiered shelf system with the to-go expediter station 30 inches off the floor—slightly lower than the 36 inches we recommend for the dine-in expediter station, Starr told FE&S. The shorter height “allows employees to look down into bags and verify their contents” before sending food out the door.
One cookline or two? While there are efficiency benefits to both approaches, Starr told FE&S he sees many restaurants maintain one cookline for prepping the food, and then split off to a second expediter station at the end of the line with space and supplies for packaging pickup and delivery orders.
Pickup placement: When designing the pickup station in a restaurant, Starr likes to place it close to the kitchen, where staff can easily transfer food from the expeditor station to the pickup area. “When they’re close, the two stations can easily talk to each other.”
Well-organized all the way: The best pickup stations are well-organized, above all. “It should house containers, condiments and silverware,”—everything a staffer needs to assemble an order, Starr said. “The organization needs to be very thoughtful and ergonomic so staff can use both hands and work on packing multiple orders at once.”
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