You can turn third-party delivery on in just one click. Your customer pays the delivery fee, there's no cost to you. We'll send a driver from a third-party delivery network to pickup their order on the day of drop-off.

Currently, delivery is enabled for chefs in select states.

If you don't see it on your account (Settings > Delivery) but want access, email us at [email protected] or text 888-243-3468.

What's new

We built this version of delivery to give you the most freedom and flexibility with your time. There's no set up required and no extra cost to you. How it works:

At checkout, once your customer inputs their address, they'll see the delivery fee calculated by the driver network.
Day of delivery, drivers are dispatched automatically through networks like Uber and Grubhub and arrive during your pickup windows.
A delivery drop works exactly the same as a pickup drop, except that delivery drivers will pickup orders on behalf of your customers who have chosen delivery.

How to turn on delivery

Open a draft or scheduled drop and go to the Schedule tab
Click Additional options
Select Delivery

That's it - your customers can now select delivery at checkout. A driver will automatically be assigned to it on the day of delivery.

Fulfillment types cannot be edited when your drop is live. To enable or disable delivery on a live drop,

Go the Info tab
Move the Orders open time into the future -- this will turn your drop from Live to Scheduled
Go to Schedule > Additional Options > Fulfillment type > select or deselect Delivery
Save
Go back to Info and move Orders open to the current time.

⚠️ If you're using Hotplate's self-delivery feature ⚠️

If we previously set up delivery for you manually (with ZIP codes and fees) and want to switch to third-party, do not duplicate a past delivery drop with the yellow self-delivery tag. Create a new drop and enable delivery from the Schedule tab.

You can continue using self-delivery by duplicating a past drop with the yellow self-delivery tag.

How does delivery checkout work for customers?

When a customer selects delivery at checkout, they will

Enter their address and choose their preferred handoff: Hand me the order or Leave the order at my door. They can free write instructions as well.
Choose a delivery time. The earliest time they can choose is 30 minutes after the start of your pickup window, allowing the driver time to pick up the order from you and drop it off to your customer.
(optional) Leave a tip for the delivery driver.
Confirm details and Pay. Their delivery fee is calculated by the driver network and varies based on distance and driver availability, similar to how pricing works on delivery apps. It is displayed in the breakdown below the Pay button.

Customer enters their delivery address and selects their preferred delivery handoff.

Customer selects a delivery time.

The delivery times shown to your customer are automatically offset from your pickup windows by at least 30 minutes, allowing the driver time to collect the order and drop it off.

Tips on delivery orders are passed onto the delivery driver.

The delivery fee (calculated by the driver network) is displayed beneath the order subtotal.

Delivery status displayed on customer's order confirmation

What notifications does my customer get after they place a delivery order?

After ordering, your customer receives:

Their Hotplate order confirmation text
A text when the driver has picked up their order, with an expected ETA
A text when their order has been delivered

How can I tell if a customer chose delivery?

In your portal, delivery orders are orange tickets with the delivery status displayed at the top. You can click into the ticket to see more details.

Leading up to delivery day, you will see a "Driver not assigned" alongside the customer's dropoff window.

FAQs

Who pays for delivery? How much does it cost?

You, as the business selling on Hotplate, don't pay anything to enable or use delivery.

Your customer pays the delivery fee. It is calculated by the driver network and is based on the delivery distance and predicted driver availability.

You can see the delivery fee charged to your customer by opening their order ticket and clicking the (i) next to Revenue.

What if something goes wrong with delivery?

If there's an issue with delivery, your customer can and should report it directly through their order confirmation page by clicking Report an issue, which opens a form for them to submit to the provider for review. They can add details about what happened and include a photo.

Your customer can file a report for the following reasons:

Delivered to wrong address
Never delivered
Missing or incorrect items
Poor delivery experience

To prevent your customers from taking a bad delivery experience out on you, we also surface this form if a customer tries to leave a 1, 2, or 3 star review for a delivery order.

Response times from providers will vary, but typically will be provided within 14 days. We will keep your customer updated by showing the status on their confirmation page along with text messages. You will also see the status of the report when looking at an order in the portal.

If the request is approved, your customer will receive a refund.

How to set yourself up for smooth deliveries

We recommend sealing your delivery orders tightly to prevent items from tumbling out during transport. Stickering, stapling, or tying are different methods that can work well, depending on your bags and packaging materials. It's up to you to ensure your bags are securely fastened.

When a driver arrives, ask for the customer's name or order number. If you have multiple orders with the same name, be sure to ask for the order number as well. We strongly recommend handing the order directly to the driver to minimize any mixups.

If you plan to leave orders out to be picked up, we recommend separating your delivery orders into their own designated, clearly labeled table or area so that delivery drivers and your regular pickup customers stay organized.

How does third-party delivery work?