Food

Geography first, everything else after

A brilliant campaign shown four kilometres outside the delivery radius is a wasted budget with a good creative attached. Catchment areas, delivery zones and dayparts are structural decisions here, not refinements: the same ad is worth a different amount at eleven in the morning and at eight in the evening, and it is worth nothing at all to somebody you cannot deliver to.

The second order is the business

First-order economics in delivery are usually bad on purpose. Whether the account works depends on repeat rate, and repeat rate is decided by things paid media does not control — accuracy, timing, packaging, whether the food travels. We will say so when the acquisition number is fine and the retention number is the problem, because buying more first orders into a leaking bucket is the most expensive way to be busy.

Marketplace dependency

Aggregators bring volume and keep the customer. Every order placed through one is a customer relationship you rent. Direct ordering is worth more per order and worth far more over a year, but it only exists if people can be brought to it — which is what a direct channel, a local search presence and a reason to order direct are for. Most operators need both and should know which one each euro is building.

What we run

• Local search and maps — the highest-intent traffic in the category, and the part most operators leave half-configured.
• Paid social by zone and daypart, with creative that shows the food rather than the brand.
• Lifecycle — the messaging that turns a first order into a habit, which is the only place the unit economics get fixed.