Delivery Radius

A shop may accept orders for nearby addresses but reject a distant one, and a radius is a simple way to draw that boundary by measuring distance from a chosen origin, usually the preparing site or dispatch location. Define the measurement, because straight-line distance is not road distance and neither guarantees a particular journey time.

Bridges, one-way streets, traffic and geography can make a nearby address slow to reach. Toast's third-party delivery guidance describes a provider-set straight-line radius, which can differ from what a customer sees in marketplace apps, and for self-delivery Toast documents drawing a custom delivery area on a map.

The operating model changes who controls the boundary. Third-party agreements can constrain changes, since a merchant may be able to reduce a provider-set radius but not expand it, so verify the live provider policy before making plans around a wider area.

Start with the service promise, because a hot meal may have a tighter useful area than a boxed household product, and the time needed to prepare and hand over the order also affects the delivered experience. Calculate the economics by location, since fuel, driver pay, packaging, provider fees and failed-delivery risk can rise farther from the site.

A large radius can bring more orders while reducing contribution per order. Volume matters as much as distance, because one driver can serve several nearby orders on a route while an isolated far order may need a dedicated trip.

If inner deliveries cost $8 per order and outer deliveries cost $14 on a comparable basis, the outer band costs 75% more, though basket contribution decides whether those orders are profitable. Compare actual orders and routing patterns, not only kilometres.

Customers need a clear eligibility check, and asking for the delivery address before the final order is built prevents the frustration of rejecting a full basket at checkout. A business may narrow its area when capacity is limited, but only if its ordering system and customer notices accurately reflect the temporary rule, and it should not promise delivery outside the available network.

Use zones where a circle performs badly, since a polygon can exclude an inaccessible route or include a quickly reachable corridor, though it still needs testing with real travel and service data. Check promised times by period, as rush-hour traffic or kitchen peaks can make the same address slower at lunch than in mid-afternoon, and a static radius and a dynamic promised time answer different questions.

Avoid using distance as a proxy for quality alone, since a distant customer may receive a good product on time while a nearby one receives it late because dispatch was disorganised. For an owner, the boundary is a promise and a cost control, so set it from real operating capacity and review the economics and customer experience by area.