Route planner apps vs Tiffinware for tiffin and meal delivery
General route planner apps are very good at putting a list of addresses in order. A meal delivery kitchen's real problem comes before that: which addresses are on today's list at all.
| General route planner | Tiffinware | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting today's stops | Import or paste addresses each day | Built from today's boxes after pauses and skips |
| Stop order | Optimised | Shortest driving order |
| Proof of delivery | Usually a photo or signature | Photo at every door |
| Knows the customer's plan and notes | No | Yes: buzzer code, drop note, allergies on the label |
| Also does orders, cook sheet, payments | No | Yes |
The daily copy-paste
Kitchens that use a general route planner usually do the same thing every morning: open the spreadsheet, remove today's skips and pauses, copy the addresses into the app, and send the route to the driver. It works, until a skip is missed and the driver turns up at an empty house.
In Tiffinware the route is built from the day's boxes after the cut-off, so a skip is never on it. The driver app shows each stop's buzzer code and drop note, and the label on the box carries the stop number.
When a route planner is enough
If you deliver for many different businesses, or your stops don't come from meal plans, a general route planner is the right tool. If your stops are your own subscription customers, building routes from the orders removes the most error-prone step of the morning.
The parts of Tiffinware you'd use
Questions
Can I use Google Maps to plan tiffin deliveries?
Google Maps directions take a limited number of stops and don't reorder them for you. It works for a handful of drops. Past that, use a route planner, or software that builds the route from your orders.
Is there a free delivery route planner?
Several route planners have free tiers with limits on stops or drivers. Tiffinware's routes and driver app are included in the $99 a month, for any number of drivers.