What is a Delivery Hub?
A “Delivery Hub” is a group of nearby vendors (restaurants, food trucks, cafes, breweries, etc.) that collaborate on delivery through centralized operations and a shared delivery driver pool. Delivery hubs can be any size (4, 6, 8, 10, etc.).
What is a Hub Master?
The “Hub Master” manages delivery operations | support for all Hub Members, hires employees or independent contractors (ie. delivery drivers), assign drivers to orders and assists in managing customer support. The “Hub Master” acts as a managed service provider for all participating Hub Members.
What is a Hub Member?
A Hub Member will manage the preparation of their mobile app orders (delivery and takeout) placed from customers. Hub Members can focus on their core competencies of food preparation and save money by not having to hire dedicated delivery drivers themselves.
What makes us unique?
- “Locals First Approach”Vendors (hub participants) actually get to have a relationship (and “get to know”) with their drivers. That means drivers have more familiarity with restaurant operations, your menu and your staff.
- “Group Pay Enabled”Isn’t it nice to know that there are options that distribute the cost to everyone. Forget about picking up the tab for everyone and dealing with IOU’s. Group pay enables costs to be split evenly or paid based on custom amounts.
- “Longer Delivery” How many times have you heard “Your address is outside of our delivery range. Sorry about that”. No Bueno, right? Most of our vendors are able to offer “longer delivery” options (up to 10 miles out). Drivers are incentivized with an automatic 20% tip. Everybody (yes “Everybody”) wins!
How does this self-managed model help my business?
- “No additional headcount”: Vendors only offering takeout can activate delivery with no additional headcount.
- “Improved peak hour profits”: Architected to scale rapidly, the InstaMarkt platform can accommodate busy times (lunch rush, dinner, etc.) through centralizing operations. Hub Masters can adjust delivery times for customers when things are “crazy, insane busy” and allow them to manage a delivery queue for each driver based on 3 factors:
- Location (Active orders shown on a map)
- Time (Active order time, order status)
- Priority (Redelivery is needed, food was overcooked, etc.)
- Better Customer Support”: Our customer support is simply more responsive. Customers don’t have to talk to someone on the phone that knows “nothing whatsoever” about their order. Instead, participating vendors are provided additional support by a local Hub Master for the entire delivery hub.
- Support Chat: In-App Telegram integration provides a direct communication channel to help your customers in completing their orders, answer questions, etc.
- No Middle Man: That’s right……we actually want customers to call you directly. Delivery Hubs are run by a Hub Master (restaurant, brewery, etc.) and their employees are the delivery drivers. By only working with independent contractors, there is no relationship.
- Quicker Resolution to Customer Problems: Need to refund a customer or void an order? Our self-managed model allows hub members to be more responsive to customers when problems do arise (pizza was burnt, noodles were overcooked, etc.)
How do we compare to the competition?
| Delivery App | Drivers | Tax Deductible Delivery | Delivery Commission | Takeout Commission | Tier 1 Support |
| InstaMarkt | Employees or Independent Contractors | Yes | 10% | 5% | Hub Master (Self-Managed) |
| Competition | Independent Contractors | No | 20%-25% | 15% | 1-800 Number
(Indirect) |
Bullets
Shift in Business Operations
Servers, hosts and other front-of-house employees at Sugarfish, a chain of 13 sushi restaurants in New York City and Los Angeles, have no tables to seat or water glasses to fill. All Sugarfish employees who are not involved in food preparation have been reassigned as contactless delivery workers (NY Times).
Coop Model
Besides having lower “non-business-crippling” commissions, InstaMarkt helps lower expenses (labor, rent, etc.) with one centralized pool of delivery drivers under one roof (i.e. Hub Master’s employees). Both Ghost Kitchens and Delivery Hubs are supported! Click here for more details.
On-Demand Mobility
Set your availability (“Open”) from any location
Unanswered Phone Calls?
Tired of only being able to take orders over the phone. Train your customers to use an automated ordering bot and let us handle the order complexity.
Quicker Resolution in Customer Support
Need to refund a customer or void an order? Our self-managed model allows delivery hubs to be more responsive to customers when problems do arise (pizza was burnt, noodles were overcooked, etc.)
How can InstaMarkt help grow my business?
- “Expand to a new location” Some vendors may want to expand to new a location, but minimize risk by partnering with other vendors. Vendor collaboration results in lower costs for everyone by centralizing delivery operations and one pool of delivery drivers.
- “Create a Ghost Kitchen” This works for brick n mortar vendors that are happy at their current location and want to shake things up a bit. Some locations are making the dine-in areas smaller while increasing the size of the kitchen and opening up creative partnering options to other vendors. Ghost kitchens can take on many shapes and sizes (storefront + shared kitchen, shared kitchen only, 24/7 operations, etc.). Expenses are lowered for everyone involved through things like renting out unused kitchen space, shared labor (cross-training line cooks), etc.
- “Share Costs”:
- Delivery: Share labor costs based on number of deliveries for each hub participant. Save on hiring dedicated delivery drivers by partnering with a nearby delivery hub.
- Rent: Sharing on “rent” and “utility costs” based on square footage used. An equitable way to distribute costs is based on square footage used. Multiple vendors will share rent and utility costs in one location and lower the risk for everyone involved.
- Food Prep: Some vendors may also wish to share costs on food preparation. Line cooks would be cross trained in preparing meals for all participating vendors.
“Switch Delivery Partners or Activate Delivery”: Want better profit margins on Delivery or are you only offering Takeout? Minimize risk and unpredictability by centralizing delivery operations. Maximize peak hour efficiency!
What is unique about our delivery drivers?
- Support for both Employees and Independent Contractors: In addition to supporting independent contractors, delivery drivers can also be employees of the Hub Master. This employee “availability” gives any Hub Master more of a “bench” that can immediately respond to delivery orders.
- Weekly Reconciliation | Driver Payouts: Hub masters will collect cash at the end of each delivery driver shift for all cash on delivery orders.
- Weekly payout (via Bank Transfer) to Drivers
- Cash advance | payout (up to 25% of weekly earnings)
Note: The InstaMarkt app will track all payouts, delivery charges and tips.
- Scheduling: Hub Masters are responsible for the delivery driver schedule to accommodate demand for all members of the delivery hub. This includes hourly shifts for days the drivers are working.
- Cash Advances & Weekly Payouts: At the Hub Master’s discretion, drivers can be cashed out (cash advances) for up to 25% of their weekly delivery total (delivery charges + trip fees).
- Increased # of Delivery Orders: Because InstaMarkt is able to group nearby vendors together (delivery hub), this creates a steady stream of deliveries. Similar to table-turn for a waitress or waiter, by offering a more efficient, faster conveyor belt (so to speak), drivers simply get more deliveries and that translates into more cash at the end of a shift. Each driver is cashed out daily at the end of their shift.
What pricing models are available?
| Format | Ghost Kitchen | Delivery Hub | Stand Alone |
| # of Vendors | Multiple | Multiple | Single |
| 100% of Tips To Drivers | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Staff (Front of House, Line Cooks) Profit Share | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Locations | One Location | Multiple Locations | 1 or More |
| InstaMarkt Commission (Delivery | Takeout) | 10% | 5% | 10% | 5% | 10% | 5% |
| Service Charge | Future | Future | Future |
| Daily Order Processing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Weekly Driver Payouts | Yes | Yes | No |
What are the financial drivers behind being a Hub Master?
Because we have a pay per use model, participating vendors (or Hub Members) only pay for their delivery orders in relation to the entire hub. All hub members share labor costs, so this model makes it very “equitable” for everyone involved. As more vendors are added, the delivery hub is more efficient and the ROI improves for all hub members. Since the drivers are also employees, there is no “downtime”. Operations can scale up or down based entirely on order demand for the entire hub. If you’d like to hear more, please reach out and we can set up a call.
