May 2020

As the pandemic erupted, restaurants in Canada and across the world have had to turn off dine-in service and figure out how to get up and running, fast, with delivery.

Edmonton, Alberta’s Hoot Company, which operates Dorinku Tokyo, Dorinku Osaka, Japonais Bistro, DOSC Steakhouse, and Seoul Fried Chicken, had planned on adding delivery for a while, but it was on the backburner.

Now, they needed a software solution. With a plan to turn their waitstaff into drivers, a great idea and much-needed income for employees, Hoot Company just needed a delivery management software that could help the management team dispatch orders, route jobs, and track their drivers en route.

Looking For A Solution

What was their first, most important requirement? A delivery software that already “talked to” its ordering platform, Mobi2go, said Alex Kagel, Hoot Company’s IT Architect.

Luckily, Mobi2Go is one of the many ordering platforms that integrates with GetSwift.

GetSwift platform was lean and simple, he said. All the other platforms are just “more chunky.”

Second, of course the price mattered.

Hoot Company also liked how the pricing structure allowed them to start testing deliveries with the software for free.

“The pricing structure really makes sense: Per delivery, no monthly charge, first month free, get driving,” Kagel said.

Third, the business model had to work, which meant not giving profits away to third-party apps likes Uber Eats, GrubHub, or Doordash.

“We’ve adapted our servers to drivers. We didn’t want to be giving away all this money (to third-parties or delivery apps),” he said. Those apps can take commission of between 15 to 35 percent per order, depending on the app and agreement.

Fast To Start

Here was Hoot’s plan. First, it involved a test. The team tested out delivery from GetSwift’s platform. Two days later, orders started going out. “It was really easy to get up and get our fleets started,” Kagel said.”

Soon, the delivery drivers got the hang of the software, and as Hoot has scaled up, they have added even more drivers, who are able to make a living.

“It’s going really smoothly,” Kagel said.

At the same time, Hoot decided to “create” a fifth restaurant with a special menu that combined the favorite dishes of all other locations. From that menu, customers could pre-order larger family meals and schedule them for deliveries. Hoot is continuing to set their sights on even more deliveries as they look at expanding their delivery program in Edmonton.

In early April, Hoot Company was making 0 deliveries. Three weeks later they were up to more than 250 per week, and growing.

The Family Feast for Four includes two grilled sirloins, 12pc sushi, mac and cheese, fried chicken, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes, and pickles.

Scaling Up And Not Stopping

Hoot Company has even bigger plans as it eyes an expansion in delivery to meet the new reality. After all, consumers have been forced to change their habits during Covid-19 and many in the industry believe there will continue to be increased demand for contactless delivery.

“We really have a big target for this over the next couple of months, especially with demand increasing,” Kagel said.

Hoot plans to soon add an affiliate location to its delivery operation, a restaurant that already does more than 1,000 deliveries per month.

“We want to plug into other locations in the city that don’t have delivery service to be able to offer to them. And employ some of their servers who need jobs,” Kagel said.
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If you live in the Edmonton area, you can order from Hoot Company’s restaurants here.

If you’re a restaurant group, single restaurant or bar and you’d like to easily manage your deliveries, and get up quickly, check out this GetSwift 101 webinar and try our software for free.

In early April, Hoot Company was making 0 deliveries. Three weeks later they were up to more than 250 per week, and growing.