How the vGrubs Tablet is Paying for Itself Ten Times Over at Island Bagel Bar

Managing multiple delivery channels was a major challenge for Demetria Depaolo, owner of Island Bagel Bar, a proud family-owned and operated restaurant that has been serving the Long Island community for over a decade. With orders coming in from multiple platforms, and needing to manually accept deliveries, manage the menu, and adjust store open hours on over 6 tablets, ensuring orders were taken and fulfilled by staff became an ever increasingly complex task.

We interviewed Demetria to see how her staff were using vGrubs, and how it’s become an essential solution for their store’s delivery management.

The Problem with Order Management

“So when we came in there [were] about six or seven different tablets, uber, doordash, chownow, slice, eatstreet, grubhub, and it was frustrating right? Because when you have to change your hours, or your items, or things that you were out. You didn’t know where to hit ready to pick up, so many different aspects of it was just frustrating,” says Depaolo.

For Depaolo and her staff, the manual process of accepting and tracking orders from different channels was time-consuming and led to errors, causing frustration for staff.

A solution that could integrate all delivery channels into one platform, automate the order process, and provide a way to manage all platforms at once was something Depaolo didn’t think possible until she happened to meet a vGrubs representative.

“We were actually very blessed in the sense that we came across a gentleman by the name of Mark and he does vGrubs. What vGrubs has allowed us to do is put everything into one tablet, so one stop shop. We’re able to go on the tablet, change our hours, change our items, put on hold for items that we don’t have,” says Depaolo. “[vGrubs] has actually made our lives so much easier on so many different levels. I mean ease of use is what we all want as human beings and owners, and vGrubs has allowed us to do that.” says Depaolo.

VGRUBS I CASE STUDY

vGrubs as a Solution Island Bagel Bar found the solution to their delivery management challenges with vGrubs, our universal delivery tablet aggregation service, though it turned out to be a whole lot more than expected. Thousands of dollars of revenue a month, more. vGrubs not only integrated all delivery channels into one tablet, it also provided a way for Island Bagel Bar’s owner to increase sales and recover cancellation revenue.

Island Bagel Bar experienced an average boost of $9,526 of additional sales per month, with on average $539 revenue recovered from cancellations and adjustments per month. For the nine months between August 2022 and April 2023, a total of $85,737 of additional revenue, directly from vGrubs, was injected into Depaolo’s business. The owner was stunned at the results. vGrubs had paid for itself far beyond ten times over!

“It's actually increased our online sales [by] about 23% in less than four months. That’s a lot! Right? I mean, 23% - don’t even grow that in a year. So our online sales have literally gone from plateau to booming and the reason for that is because vGrubs was able to create additional stores for us as well, like other bagel stores, other chicken stores, like a juice bar, a salad bar, so they’re able to not only expand your business but promote it to other aspects of people,” says Depaolo.

The Universal Tablet

The implementation of vGrubs had a profound impact on Island Bagel Bar's business. With vGrubs handling all of their delivery channels through a single, unified tablet, staff were able to work much more efficiently.

“One tablet, one change, one button, to the sense that my staff loves this. They never had this before, they've been in this industry for a long time, and honestly this was the easiest part switching over to something new. Because change is hard but this change was fantastic,” says Depaolo.

No longer did they have to manage multiple tablets and switch between multiple delivery apps, instead, everything was accessible through a single screen on the vGrubs dashboard. This made processing orders and managing delivery apps much simpler and faster.

“We are all human beings and we all do human errors but with vGrubs you just know where to go, your staff doesn’t have to try to figure out which tablet they’re hitting right now, which tablet was canceled, which tablet is working, which is not working. So ease of use is something that I would tell every single restaurant owner is what you need in your business,” says Depaolo

Boosted Orders

Island Bagel Bar experienced a significant boost in their orders, with a 23% increase in their online sales in less than four months after implementing vGrubs, a universal delivery tablet aggregation service. Though this was not the only financial impact vGrubs had on the restaurant.

After calculating estimated labor cost savings based on the number of hours a dedicated employee had to work at the delivery tablets ($900 to $1100 a month), the total financial impact that vGrubs had on Depaolo’s business added up to be quite the eye opener for her.

“They have helped me accomplish so much more than what I entailed in the last four months that I bought my store. They have helped me reach a whole different set of customers, they have helped increase my sales, and that to me was an accomplishment that I wanted to do on the day I bought the store,” says Depaolo

Revenue Recovery and Concierge

“I don’t have to sit on the phone and try to call different areas, I don’t have to sit on the phone and try to call my Uber account. I don’t have to sit on the phone and call my door dash account. I just call vGrubs,” says Depaolo.

In addition to the many benefits already provided by vGrubs, the service also offers a Revenue Recovery team that helps businesses like Island Bagel Bar recover lost revenue. This team is trained to handle order cancellations, address customer complaints, and manage other issues that can arise during the delivery process.

Typically, a restaurant owner would have to sit down and call the offending delivery company to try and file a claim to get back any lost revenues from cancelations or adjustments that were not taken into account. By handling these tasks, the Revenue Recovery team was able to help Island Bagel Bar recover on average $520 per month, providing a significant return on investment.

The combination of increased sales, streamlining the delivery process, and lost revenue recovery makes vGrubs a complete solution for businesses looking to grow and succeed in the competitive world of food delivery.

“Exceptional" would be a word that I would definitely use in the sense of customer service in general. I call Mark’s team, there’s always somebody to answer my call, so if something’s wrong, they’ll come right out and fix it, if i’m having issues, they’ll pick up the phone. Whatever the case scenario is, exceptional customer service would be the way I would describe vGrubs,” says Depaolo

Overall, the impact of vGrubs on Island Bagel Bar was overwhelmingly positive. The service not only streamlined the delivery process, but it also helped the business increase sales, recover lost revenue, and improve the overall experience for both the staff and customers. By using vGrubs, Island Bagel Bar was able to grow their business and succeed in the competitive world of food delivery.

“You want to grow, you want to do better, you want your sales to increase, and this is the way you do it,” says Depaolo.