Tamper-Evident Packaging: How to Stop the 80% of Drivers Who Steal

Food delivery is a huge and growing market. Customers are increasingly looking for tasty meals that fit their schedule and are willing to pay for the added convenience of staying at home. In fact, food delivery is estimated to be a $220 billion market by 2023 and is expected to make up 40% of a restaurant’s sales. In all, it should be a fast-growing and profitable segment for restaurants across the country. But what if someone was stealing from your delivery program? It’s probably already happening, and you’ll need tamper-evident packaging to prevent it.

80% of Drivers Steal Food from Customers

The unfortunate truth is that most drivers steal food from their customers. Nearly 80 percent of delivery drivers polled by Circuit Route Planner admitted to eating the food they were supposed to deliver. If you pick a social media site and run a few searches, you’ll find plenty of accounts of people catching their drivers stealing their food—or drivers catching other drivers stealing food.

Customers, meanwhile, may blame the restaurant, not the driver, for the short in their food. They may accuse the restaurant of forgetting an item or being stingy with portions. Whether customers blame the driver or the restaurant, it’ll fall to the restaurant to fix it for the customer by providing new food and perhaps even delivering that food to the customer. Or, customers may not call at all and simply choose a different restaurant next time they order delivery.

Your customers work hard for their money and want to make sure they’re getting the full value of it when they order from your restaurant. Likewise, you work hard to provide your customers with a delicious and filling meal. Investing in solutions that prevent food tampering ensures that customers get every bite of food they ordered, and it gives you peace of mind.

How to Prevent Tampering with Food

Tamper-evident packaging is packaging that creates evidence when someone tries to tamper with the package or its contents. Tamper-evident packaging varies by industry, but it can include:

• Watermarks
• Plastic seals
• Perforations
• Bag seals
• Induction seals
• Security tape
• Dye packs

A lot of restaurants have turned to labels or staples to seal their packages, but these solutions are problematic. In that same Circuit Route Planner poll, 17 percent of drivers admitted to opening and resealing packages.

As we’ve written about before, labels fall short because thieves can easily circumvent them. They can remove the label and then reapply it, pour food out from the side of the bag, or reach their hand down the side of the bag. Staples, meanwhile, can fall into a customer’s food and chip or break a tooth. Worse, they could end up in a customer’s stomach (a high iron diet you do not want).

Handle Cuffs Seal the Meal

Handle Cuffs™ Tamper-Evident Bag Seals protect carryout and delivery orders from theft and tampering. They:

• Seal the full length of the bag
• Hang over the edge of bags to prevent theft using the bag’s side gusset
• Are available in three sizes
• Conveniently fit all standard twist handle paper bags
• Easily integrate into any delivery process
• Come with convenient mailer-style pull strips for easy removal (by customers)
• Are recyclable

If you want to go for complete protection and give your customers the tamper-evident packaging they want, contact us. We’ll go through your packaging options with you and help you reach a solution that works for your business and your needs.