Working alongside global consumer research specialists; Catalyx, McCain discovered that customers experience a heightened state of emotion while waiting for a food delivery. Tracking technology, whilst brilliant, has also boosted this emotionally fuelled period of anticipation. The result can mean heightened feelings of joy or disappointment once their meal arrives.
Therefore, it is essential that customers are pleased with the contents of their meal and delivery service, otherwise their amplified levels of disappointment in conjunction with being ‘hangry’ can cause a knee-jerk reaction of a negative review or complaint.
Though this may seem like a challenge for delivery operators, it actually brings a great opportunity; operators have the chance to capitalise on consumers high emotion rates by serving high quality, delivery friendly, delicious food that may in-turn result in positive reviews and feedback.

To help get operators get it right, McCain have outlined
through their research, six Delivery Truths:

If as an operator, you’ve recently added a delivery arm to your operations, and haven’t had time to think about packaging, now would be the time to do so. Make delivery service more convenient and more enjoyable for customers, while conveying brand personality and logos.
Packaging can also be used as a branding and differentiating tool, helping to prevent the loss of the brand with the use of third-party delivery services. Packaging is therefore an important opportunity for operators to emotionally reconnect with their customer after the delivery has been completed, providing an experience that is closer to what the consumers might receive inside the outlet itself.

Operators should consider the ‘at-home delivery’ experience they provide to be every bit as important as what they might provide in the restaurant – especially as they are now often reaching new customers who might not otherwise know the brand. This means a great opportunity to create future brand loyalists, and packaging is a very important tool in creating that experience.
It’s all about ‘the experience’ here – one of the vital trends in hospitality. The challenge is to deliver a great experience for your customer, e.g. fun and interesting labels (messaging), added special touches and simple garnishes/sauces etc.

Furthermore, making a great first impression to consumers once a meal has been delivered and packaging opened is key, fries and sides are often the first go-to taste of the meal for consumers, therefore it’s crucial that they impress! That’s why McCain have developed their delivery range, consisting of;