Let’s face it: there are only a few dishes that are actually best served cold—like revenge, sushi, or ice cream—so when customers are expecting a fresh, hot meal, they won’t be pleased if it’s served lukewarm.
Cold food is one of the biggest issues small business owners and food delivery services face. In fact, in their 2022 Food Delivery Report, First Orion found that 36% of customers surveyed said that receiving cold food was the most frequent issue that negatively affects their customer satisfaction.
At Deliver Warm, we’re working to provide the delivery solution that will keep every delivery warm, every single time. From our findings, here is everything you need to know about the relationship between cold food and customer retention.
Depending on what establishment the customer orders from, having their meal or drink delivered to their home is usually far more expensive than picking up their order themselves. Not only are they paying for the food, they are paying an additional delivery fee and tip to the driver—even more charges apply when they order through a service like GrubHub or UberEats. Even more, customers may wait extended periods of time for their food to be delivered.
You’ve probably experienced it first-hand: waiting nearly an hour for an expensive meal to be delivered, ripping open the bag hungrily when it arrives, then feeling crestfallen when your food is no longer warm. It’s almost as if the extra time and money wasn’t worth it, making you feel cheated.
As a restaurant owner, it may not be your fault—perhaps the delivery driver took the scenic route to the customer’s address or blasted the air conditioning on the food—but it’s your business that will receive the consequences.
Customers that feel cheated request refunds. Unfortunately, since the food has been delivered, the customer can’t send it back to the kitchen to be remade, so there’s no way to rectify the situation other than to refund the customer’s money, resulting in a loss of profit.
As you know, the key to high levels of customer retention is ensuring your customers’ satisfaction, and cold food doesn’t satisfy customers. Not only is it unappealing, food that has fallen below the proper temperature can be legitimately unsafe to eat.
It’s unfortunate when you lose one customer due to cold food, but in today’s media-driven world, bad Google or Yelp reviews from that unhappy customer can result in huge business losses.