Miami Subs Pizza & Grill announced that its “One Number, All Locations” order processing system for home and office delivery has been a success. The company said that a five-month, 25-store test on delivery has shown an average increase of sales of up to 20 percent per delivery store, with about 15 percent attributed directly to the delivery program.
The program was launched in January 2009 with the introduction of the chain’s line of Signature Pizzas. Delivery offers customers the convenience of ordering virtually every menu item the eatery has to offer, including chicken wings, fresh salads, burgers, subs, gyros, seafood, pitas, deserts, and Philly cheese steaks.
“What sets this system apart from a typical delivery system is utilizing a domestic-based call center to take delivery orders so our in-store crew can be attentive to customers without the distraction of having to answer a phone,” Austin says. “Customers calling for home or office delivery will speak to trained, courteous telephone order takers whose only focus is to assist and satisfy that particular customer and all of their needs at that moment.”
According to Austin the system was designed to measure distances from a customer’s home or office to the store’s closest location. Through “geo mapping” and real-time traffic data the company has set maximum drive times of 13 minutes during rush hour. Orders received either by phone or online are automatically processed and sent to the appropriate stores’ point-of-sale (POS) system, the kitchen monitor, and printer. Customers also receive an immediate email confirmation of their order.
“With our policy of ‘15 minutes out the door’ for food preparation and the estimated 13 minute drive time, we can safely process an order and have it at the customer’s door within 35 minutes from the time of order, which is a satisfactory delivery time,” Austin says. “By successfully implementing this new delivery daypart, Miami Subs Pizza & Grill has inaugurated a new dimension in customer service and ‘brand availability,’ which accounts for a dramatic increase in customer awareness. From the inception of delivery we have not seen any cannibalization of existing store sales and we are seeing delivery check averages that are triple our in-store check averages.”
Austin says those who prefer to do their ordering online can just go to www.miamisubs.com and click on the online ordering link and they will receive the same service. He added that based on the success of the program they will expand it to the balance of the chain’s stores, where it is anticipated to be up and running systemwide by the fall.
