Hot food served up fast using cool GPS service

Some like it hot. In fact most people do.

But consistently satisfying customers' need for hot meals posed a bit of a problem for food delivery entrepreneur, Cameron Reid.

As the operations of his online meal delivery company -- Orderit.Ca -- expanded, getting food to customers, while it was still hot became harder to manage.

Orderit.Ca's customer base extends across Toronto, Richmond Hill and Markham. Customers choose their restaurant from a list on the company site, add menu items to their online cart , and then checkout. The food is delivered to their doorstep.

Timely delivery hinges on effective and timely communication with the company's fleet of drivers.

Time was when Reid relied on voice communications via Mike phones from Edmonton-based Telus Corp. to keep in touch. This method worked when the business managed between 50 and 60 drivers at a time.

But as the business grew this changed.

"There are a lot of hungry people out there," Orderit.ca's founder says. Getting hot food to all of them through an ever expanding fleet of drivers required a more sophisticated and precise communications strategy.

So Reid took action.

When a Telus representative approached him about using the GPS-enabled Track and Dispatch Service -- he saw this would be a good idea.

The service no longer requires Reid to give vocal instructions to drivers. But as the new system is compatible with the Mike devices his company was already using, these devices can be put to new use.

They now are the cornerstone of Track and Dispatch system that Orderit.Ca relies on.

Dispatchers transmit orders via the system to drivers closest to the restaurant from where the order has to be picked up.

Drivers' handsets alert them to an incoming order and -- with a press of a button -- they can then accept or refuse the order. Dispatch is informed of the decision.

The system saves a great deal of time and labor.

For instance, dispatchers no longer need to call out to find which drivers are close to a restaurant.

The software automatically finds them and detects their status -- either free to pick up or busy with another order.

Drivers are tracked on Microsoft Street maps with markers showing their position and speed.

"Our delivery goal is 60 minutes," Reid says. "That allows the restaurant 30 minutes to prepare the food and about 30 minutes for the driver to pick it up and deliver it."

The average delivery time has been cut down by an average of 10 minutes since Orderit.ca adopted the service about 10 months ago, he adds.

The new system has also boosted sales by one-third compared to a year ago.

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