Settng Up & Hiring For Pizza , Food Delivery Services

Having a pizza delivered to your door is almost an American tradition, not unlike the drive in Movie Theater of the 1960’s. However in our ever rushed world, having a pizza delivered to our doors is like a time saving ritual of luxury.

However offering such a delivery service – be it for pizza, other foods and meals, and for such services as flower delivery for florists poses all kinds of challenges and pitfalls for the company and service industries involved. Its all about service levels, reliability and convenience for the customer or customers.

First of all operators of delivery services must ask themselves do they want an in house service or in essence contract it out to private contractors and individuals with their own vehicles.

In the case of a company fleet of vehicles it is most essential that the firm involved, or the specific department, know what their vehicles are worth and their market value. If they are not worried about the physical vehicle should their be the eventuality of an accident or motor vehicle accidents on the road, vehicle theft or breakage – it may be an option to forgo collision or comprehensive insurance to keep overall vehicle and vehicle maintenance and running costs down to a minimum . As a matter of course – the basic rule of thumb is that if the number of vehicles is more than five, then it is considered a fleet for automobile insurance purposes, and therefore an entirely different pricing structure may come into play.

In terms of liability coverage for customer service delivery vehicles it is most important that when it comes to obtaining auto insurance for delivery vehicles through the regular market ( that is the same insurance sources that a business obtains its standard business insurance), to ensure that adequate and reasonable amounts of liability coverage is purchased and provided for. Speak to a competent insurance agent concerning what is best recommended in your specific situation or situations.

It can be considered more than essential to exercise great care in the hiring process for what might be considered “ordinary delivery people”. On top of personality and driving record, consider that younger drivers (generally those under 25 years of age), will cost a fair amount more to insure for your driving fleet insurance. In the hiring process it is best to obtain actual documentation of the applicant’s driving license and as well their driving record – merits, demerits, traffic offenses. All in all you should not have any upcoming surprises if you are thorough in this matter. Failure to spot the one bad apple when it comes to a driving record – can result in much higher auto insurance premiums than need be, or even refusal of insurance by auto insurance carriers. Once hired it is always wise practice to submit for the auto insurance provider’s records themselves a list of current drivers as well as their history and driving history documentation. This makes everyone’s job and pricing decisions easier overall.

However if you feel that your best choice is to let drivers utilize their own vehicles there are considerations , concerns and procedures as well. Just because you are able to offload the delivery process as well as its risks and vehicle running costs elsewhere and off your own books this is not a totally risk or cost free option as well.

If you choose to let the employees or private contracted out employees use their own vehicles for your delivery purposes – be it for food delivery such as pizza , or for such products as floral deliveries to homes or weddings, you will need a tight procedure for this as well.

Once you establish what you will pay them for gas, as well as what is fair for general vehicle costs, as well as for the running, wear and tear on their vehicles you of course will need to do some standard homework.

First, confirm in actual writing, from the candidate delivery person’s insurance company that the vehicle is expressly insured for delivery purposes itself. Next confirm that the vehicle is expressly insured for the specific geographic areas where the deliveries will occur. You then as a matter of standard insurance procedure, you will need to have obtained “non-owned” auto liability insurance.

Lastly if the eventuality of a vehicular accident involving a “non company owned vehicle “occurs – it is then more than possible, if not probable that the owner and operator, not only of the vehicle but also of the firm and contractor that contracted the driver and delivery person in the first place – that is the restaurant, florist or whatever – will definitely get dragged into the legal process and promised obligations and costs as such in an express law suit. On top of that if it turns out that the employee has not told the insurance company that the vehicle is being used for the purposes of delivery in a service industry, then the onus, and legal responsibility for legal actions may fall on the owner of the firm, considered to be the parent employer not so much as on the employee themselves. Basically and on top of that even the driver’s own insurance will not cover the operation. Employers do your best to ask repeated questions during the interview process. Keep careful records and documentation. Do your best to cover and protect yourself.

All this in the end just for the simple procedure of delivering a hot pizza to a hungry customer .