There’s no two ways about it; the past few years have brought skyrocketing success to many businesses with pickup and delivery services. But quick growth often comes with its own set challenges. For example, a recent survey from Hatco found that many operations have a strong focus on pickup and delivery, but they’re unsure of how to safely and effectively hold orders at temperature. Moreover, add in the extra dilemma of staging hot and cold items within one order, and it’s enough to make anyone dizzy. Fortunately, there are a few helpful solutions to this common problem. We’ll explore what those are, but first let’s talk about a few temperature basics.
How heat transfer works
Watch out, it’s about to get a little nerdy here. But don’t worry, we’ll spare you all the technical intricacies and stick to the high-level takeaways — which (bear with us) involve a little physics. Read between all the big scary sciency words, and the second law of thermodynamics basically explains that the heat from your hot french fries will always travel from an object of higher temperature (your hot fries) to an area of lower temperature (the surrounding air), creating lukewarm fries in the process. The same concept applies to your frosty parfait. The higher air temperature moves toward the cold parfait making it much less frosty. Moreover, this law also states that the movement of heat will continue to happen unless something acts to stop it. And that’s where temperature-regulated solutions come in.
Keeping hot food hot
One way to slow the cooling process of hot food is by using hot-holding equipment. Thankfully, there are plenty of options to meet the unique needs of every operation. But whatever type of unit you go with, be sure to look for a solution that maintains both the quality and temperature of a variety of foods. For example, Hatco’s Glo-Ray 2-Go™ Heated Shelves feature thermostatically-controlled shelves with a high temperature range of up to 200 °F (93 °C). These units keep packaged food at just the right temperature for up to 30 minutes.
In addition to heated shelves, heated lockers or insulated pods help keep temperature shifts at bay. Consider Hatco’s Flav-R 2-Go® Locker System. This triple-threat system offers safety, security and convenience. Heated lockers maintain safe temperatures of 150 °F (66 °C) to 180 °F (82 °C) within each cubby. In addition to temperature regulation, these units lock to eliminate unwanted food tampering and then conveniently open with the right code. But that’s just scratching the surface. There are also heated display units, temperature-regulated display cabinets, hot food merchandisers and more.
Cold food served right
Deliciousness is a nice crisp, cold cob salad. However, if customers receive wilted greens and room-temperature eggs, satisfaction turns to underwhelm in a hot second. So, what’s the best way to keep cold foods cold? One popular option is a reach-through refrigerated unit. However, an even more convenient pick is a cold shelf or frost top. These units are the ultimate in convenience, providing customers and delivery drivers with an open, accessible shelf from which they can quickly grab their orders and go. We’d just recommend having an attendant on duty to ensure that the right folks are grabbing the right orders.
What if there’s both hot and cold food in an order?
The truth is, customers rarely order only hot or only cold items. Often, there’s a mix of the two, creating a whole new food-holding dilemma. Nevertheless, if one of the cold units listed above is used in addition to one of the hot-holding solutions we talked about, you could have the perfect pickup duo.
With that said, another way to ensure hot wings and cold drinks stay fresh is by utilizing equipment that isn’t heated or cooled, but instead, has adequate insulation. To give you a better idea, Hatco’s Pickup Pod™ leverages insulated cubbies to help maintain food temperatures for a short period of time. Just be sure to always place hot items and cold foods in separate cubbies.
What about when delivery foods are en route?
Transporting food has its own set of challenges, but there are a few small things that can make a big difference. First, think about investing in thermal bags or containers. That way, both hot and cold items stay at the right temperatures for longer. But, just like with the holding units mentioned earlier, it’s important to keep hot and cold foods separate — have one bag for the hot stuff and a separate one for the cold. Another simple tip in cold weather is to heat the delivery vehicle before placing food in it and try skipping the air conditioning in hot weather. Instead, crack a window for some airflow. With just a few quick and easy changes to your delivery strategy, you can keep food tasting fresh and delicious.
Proven game changer.
Pickup and delivery bring their fair share of challenges, but the right equipment is a proven game changer in succeeding with these services. Need more great tips on how to rock your pickup and delivery business? Head over to our blog for a variety of helpful tips.
