A dish can earn its place on a restaurant’s dine-in menu and still fail the test that matters for takeout: What happens when the guest opens the container 20 or 30 minutes later?
Texture, temperature and presentation become part of a different calculation once to-go food leaves the kitchen. So do packaging costs, delivery commissions and the demands that another stream of orders places on a busy staff. For owners, operators and chefs, designing a profitable to-go menu program means deciding what belongs on the menu, how guests will order it and whether the operation can deliver on its promises.
“For me, the goal is not to have the biggest to-go menu,” said Arturo Madrid de la Vega, assistant director of food and beverage at Town and Country Resort in San Diego. “It is to offer the right menu – one that we can execute well and that represents the same quality and standards of our restaurant.”
That standard extends beyond the food. A confusing ordering page, an unexpected price difference or a missing sauce can undermine the experience before a guest takes the first bite.
The experts interviewed for this story see menu selection, digital organization, pricing and fulfillment as connected decisions, each shaping whether convenience leads to repeat business.
“Pickup and delivery are not just add-on channels for restaurants. They’re a big part of the overall restaurant experience,” said Aman Devgan, president and general manager of Menufy, an online ordering and digital growth platform designed for independent restaurants and small chains. “For many customers, the digital ordering experience is actually a major part of how they interact with a restaurant.”
Choose What Can Make The Trip
The first decision should possibly be how much of the dine-in menu should travel.
Izzy Kharasch, president of Chicago-based restaurant consulting firm Hospitality Works, advises his clients to be selective.
“I recommend to all of the restaurants that I work with that they don’t offer the entire menu,” Kharasch said. “The restaurant should only put items on the to-go menu that travel well. If the item cools too quickly, gets ‘mushy,’ or just gets a lot of complaints, those items should not be on it.”
Madrid de la Vega weighs food quality, travel time, packaging, presentation, kitchen execution and profitability. A smaller menu can provide a better experience when it concentrates on dishes the team can consistently prepare and that retain their quality after leaving the restaurant, he said.
Benji Bahena, an industry research analyst at Euromonitor International, a market research firm that tracks foodservice performance and trends, also recommends curating offerings for pickup and delivery. Some concepts, such as pizza restaurants, may have menus largely suited to those channels, but every item still deserves scrutiny, he said.
The question reaches beyond whether a dish fits inside a container. Bahena considers how it travels, how it must be packaged and how it appears to the customer, alongside the costs of sending it out. Convenience should not leave guests wondering whether they sacrificed the dining experience to get it.
Jane Hartgrove, whose title is la jefa — Spanish for “the boss” — at Mexican food businesses Tres Picosos and Naughty Chile Taqueria in Denver, includes reheating performance in that evaluation. She also cautions against creating an operational burden through ingredients used exclusively for takeout.
“It must fit into the regular menu,” Hartgrove said. “You don’t want ingredients that are only applicable to a to-go item.”
Her advice makes menu selection a purchasing and preparation decision as well as a culinary one: The items offered off-premises should work within the restaurant’s existing operation.
Test the Food and the Packaging Together
Deciding what menu items should travel is only the beginning. Testing shows whether the food and its container can withstand the time between preparation and consumption.
“Restaurants can easily test whether an item is good for travel,” Kharasch said. “They can cook the item, pack it and then check on how it holds up after 10 minutes, 15 minutes, etc.”
Kharasch recommends testing key dishes over a 20- to 30-minute period and trying different containers to find the best fit. Packaging, he said, plays a central role in keeping food intact until it arrives.
Hartgrove likewise urges operators to test through the delivery channels they intend to use. That puts the proposed menu through the experience customers will actually have, rather than judging dishes solely as they leave the kitchen.
“The biggest mistake that restaurants make is not testing the food using the delivery channels,” Hartgrove said.
The stakes extend to the brand, even when another company handles the final trip. Nik Allen, Euromonitor International’s global insight manager for the consumer foodservice sector, said customers seeking value leave operators little room for error. A disappointing delivery can reflect on the restaurant regardless of who bears responsibility for the food’s condition.
“Regardless of responsibility, the foodservice brand still ultimately feels the brunt of an underwhelming culinary experience,” Allen said.
Packaging also changes how guests judge value. Hartgrove cautions that portions can look different in a delivered container than on a plate, making the presentation worth examining alongside food quality and price.
Make the Digital Menu Easy To Use
Once operators identify the right dishes, they need to organize an ordering experience that helps customers understand the choices and complete a purchase.
Hartgrove emphasizes clear menu headings and strong photography. An online guest cannot draw on the same sensory experience available inside the restaurant.
“It is the only one of the five senses that customers can use when ordering online: sight,” Hartgrove said.
That makes accuracy as important as appeal. Bahena warns against rushing into another ordering channel and shortcutting quality control, including through generated imagery. Photographs and listings should set expectations the delivered food can meet.
“Yes, artificial intelligence and automation can create efficiencies, but it is important to locate those efficiencies in places that do not sacrifice quality,” Bahena said.
Devgan sees the digital menu as a source of customer confidence. Accurate prices, current offerings and easy navigation help establish that the restaurant is credible and ready to fulfill the order.
The information surrounding the food matters, too. Devgan advises operators to make pickup and delivery availability, hours and scheduling options clear. Guests should be able to find ingredient or nutrition information, understand how to place larger or group orders and get help when something goes wrong.
“Operators should be looking at the entire off-premise experience as a whole – from how quickly and easily guests can order to whether the order is accurate, ready when promised and consistent with the quality of in-store experiences,” Devgan said.
His advice is especially relevant as AI becomes another avenue for restaurant discovery. A recommendation still needs to lead to information customers can validate and an order they can place. Devgan encourages restaurants to keep menus, prices, availability and ordering information accurate and organized so both people and technology can understand them.
Price For the Channel and the Customer
A menu that generates orders can still strain profitability if its prices do not account for the costs of serving them.
Kharasch advises operators to build packaging and labor into menu pricing and account for delivery commissions. His warning is straightforward: Absorbing those costs without adjusting the economics can take a substantial amount out of the restaurant’s return.
“The entire menu should be priced with packaging and labor into the overall menu,” Kharasch explained. “Commissions can add as much as 30% to the order. This is where the delivery charge needs to be added to the bill. A customer who orders $50 of food for delivery will need to pay the $15 fee, otherwise, the restaurant will lose a substantial amount of money.”
Kharasch also recommends higher prices for menus on third-party delivery services. Hartgrove, however, stresses that customers can compare channels, and any difference has to make sense to them.
“Pricing can differ by ordering channel, but your customers will know immediately, so you must justify it,” Hartgrove said.
Operators must remain competitive with to-go pricing, according to Hartgrove, although customers may pay more for a strong to-go offering. Together, those perspectives call for evaluating the cost of each channel alongside the value guests perceive in the food, packaging and convenience.
Hartgrove also sees opportunities in bundling and upselling. She suggests combinations that give customers a reason to expand an order, such as offering a free salad with three entrees. Customer feedback should help guide those decisions.
“People want the upgrade and will look for a way to spend more to get it,” Hartgrove said. “Upselling is a great opportunity.”
Build Delivery Into the Operation
The kitchen’s capacity puts another limit on what a to-go menu can accomplish. An item that travels well may still create problems if preparing it slows service for everyone else.
Kharasch cautions that takeout and delivery can consume enough staff time to disrupt the dining room. His response during peak periods is to protect the guests already inside.
“I have a simple formula for my clients during peak periods; if to-go/delivery service will affect inside dining, then turn the delivery services off and turn them on again when service slows down,” Kharasch said.
Madrid de la Vega takes a different approach to the long-term design of the program. While he sees a role for limiting dishes that cause bottlenecks or hurt ticket times, he wants operators to build a menu they can offer consistently each day.
“They build it into their day-to-day operation, with the right staffing, preparation, packaging and execution,” Madrid de la Vega said of brands that have incorporated delivery into their business.
For him, frequently changing availability based on how busy the restaurant becomes can work against guest trust. The two perspectives highlight a practical tension: Operators need to protect current service while designing a program that customers can depend on.
Execution also depends on the people packing and handing off each order. Kharasch places particular emphasis on training employees on the to-go operation, to check the ticket and resist mistakes caused by rushing. Missing utensils, napkins, requested dressings or an entire food item can undo the kitchen’s work.
“They need to review the ticket to ensure that they have all of the correct products,” Kharasch said.
The handoff is where menu promises become a finished order. Accuracy and timing deserve the same attention as recipe selection and container testing.
Use Platforms to Build Relationships
Overall, choosing delivery partners requires weighing access to customers against the costs and implications of relying on another company’s channel.
Hartgrove favors going where customers already order. “Fish where the fish are. You want to be on the most popular one and the one with the most customers,” she said.
Allen sees third-party apps as a way for independent restaurants to gain discovery, with direct engagement serving a different purpose: building loyalty after customers find the brand. He points to direct loyalty programs and exclusive promotions as ways to encourage repeat business and retain customer data.
A recent industry announcement illustrates how direct ordering and outside delivery fulfillment can intersect. In an Oct. 14 news release, Sauce, a restaurant ordering, delivery and retention platform, announced a partnership with Grubhub. According to the release, the offering pairs Sauce’s direct ordering and customer-facing tools with Grubhub’s delivery network, allowing eligible restaurants to support direct sales while using that network for fulfillment.
The announcement fits the distinction Allen draws between attracting a customer through a platform and developing a continuing relationship with the restaurant. It also underscores the need to consider ordering and delivery fulfillment separately when evaluating a channel’s role.
Devgan advises maintaining a strong restaurant website and direct ordering experience even when third-party platforms remain part of the mix. The digital experience, he said, should encourage repeat business beyond the first transaction.
Across all to-go menu and process decisions, though, the central test remains whether the restaurant can deliver what the customer expects — through food selection, clear ordering information, sustainable pricing and a carefully executed handoff.
“Whether a guest is sitting at one of our tables or ordering food at home, they should feel that they are equally important and receive the same quality from our brand,” Madrid de la Vega said.