How to plan tiffin delivery routes and pay your drivers

1. Draw delivery areas by postal code

The first three characters of a Canadian postal code (the forward sortation area, like L6P or T3J) are a good building block. Group neighbouring ones into areas, and only accept customers inside them. A customer 25 minutes away at the end of a route can cost more to deliver than they pay.

2. Give each area delivery days

For weekly meal prep, deliver each area on one or two fixed days. For daily tiffins, every area is daily, but you can still set a time window per area so the route flows in one direction.

3. Build the route from today's stops

The stops change every day because of skips and pauses. Build the route after your cut-off, from that day's orders, then put stops in driving order. Doing it by hand from a spreadsheet each morning is where skipped customers end up on the route. See route planner apps vs Tiffinware.

4. Pack in route order

Print the stop number on each label and load the car so stop 1 comes out first. It saves more time than any route optimiser.

5. Proof of delivery

A photo of the box at the door ends "it never came" arguments, and helps a new driver see where boxes go. Save the buzzer code and drop note on each customer so every driver has them.

6. Paying drivers

Whatever you choose, keep a record of each driver's stops per day. Tiffinware's delivery history and driver reports keep it for you, and the free driver app gives drivers their stops in order.

What delivery really costs per meal

Add up a day's driver pay and fuel, and divide by the meals delivered that day. For example: a driver paid $22 an hour for 3 hours plus $15 of fuel is $81 a day. At 60 meals that's $1.35 a meal; at 30 meals it's $2.70. Density matters more than distance, which is why accepting customers only inside your areas protects your margin.

Keeping food safe on the road

• Use insulated bags or boxes, and keep the run short: under 90 minutes from packing to the last door is a good target.
• Hot food stays hot and cold food cold. Don't mix them in one bag.
• Agree what happens when nobody answers: leave at the door, with the concierge, or bring it back.
• If a box can't be delivered, the driver records why, so you can sort it out with the customer the same day.

Drivers: employees or contractors?

Many small kitchens pay drivers as independent contractors, but whether someone is really a contractor depends on how the work is done, not on what you call it. If you set their hours, give them the car or control how they work, they may be an employee for tax purposes. The CRA has guidance on employee vs self-employed status; ask an accountant if you're unsure.

Picking up instead of delivering

Pickup costs nothing to run and suits meal prep customers who collect a week of food at once. Set one or two pickup windows a week, keep the boxes in labelled order, and mark pickup customers clearly on the packing list so their boxes don't end up in the car.