New Business Opportunities and Delivery Guidelines

Print the COVID-19 Resource Guide for Licensed Food Cart and Food Truck Vendors in Wisconsin

Business Opportunities

Please check with your city/town/village to make sure you are in compliance with local vending regulations when implementing any of the following:

  • Provide delivery and take-out services.
  • Contact businesses that remain open to see if you can park in the street or in the parking lot to offer employees unique meal options during breaks. Examples include manufacturing and distribution facilities that are still in production.
  • Help feed first responders, health care providers, grocery store staff and other front line staff.
  • Consider no cost or low-cost advertising and marketing using Facebook or Instagram.
  • Arrange for carry-out service from your base/commissary kitchen. At some shared kitchens, multiple food businesses are working together to market online for carry-out or delivery from a single website and POS platform.
  • If you have the capacity, offer family-size meals or increase portion sizes (and price points) so people do not have to go out as often.
  • Partner with other businesses to share deliveries or package items together, such as family meals or other products families could use while sheltering in place.
  • Ask your customers to buy a gift certificate to use later or send as a gift to someone in need.
  • Limit your menu or highlight one special per day.
  • Partner with other organizations to provide access to food for those in need or unable to leave their homes. Share the ways you are working to improve food access in your community on social media.
  • If allowable in your city/town/village, park various neighborhoods at meal times. Promote your neighborhood pop-up routes and schedules, and whenever possible, coordinate and co-promote with other food carts to maximize visibility and consumer interest.

Offering Delivery  

Accepting credit card payments

Food carts and trucks can offer takeout, delivery, and curbside pick-up. You must accept credit cards to do this safely; no contact options such as Venmo and Square Online Store are even better options because they eliminate interpersonal contact altogether.

To accept credit cards, a quick and inexpensive way to get started is to use a mobile credit card processor. Mobile credit card processing allows you to accept credit card payments with a smartphone or tablet. Once you have done some research, call a few companies to compare prices and features.

Following are some questions to consider when choosing a mobile credit card processor:

  • How well will the payments integrate with your bookkeeping software like QuickBooks?
  • How easy is it to use?
  • Do you have to buy or lease equipment?
  • What is the length of the service agreement? Are you locked in? Is a low commitment contract available?
  • What are the per transaction costs?
  • Does it offer a tipping feature?
  • Does it offer an online ordering feature or upgrade?

Here are a few articles comparing mobile credit card processors:

Best Mobile Credit Card Readers for Your Small Business

6 Best Mobile Credit Card Processing Options

Best Mobile Credit Card Processing Solutions

*University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Extension and the City of Madison do not review or recommend products or services.

If you have questions or need one-on-one consulting, you may contact Jason Schleip, Lead Consultant for the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center’s Restaurant Initiative.

Jason Schleip

jason.schleip@business.wisconsin.edu

608-381-2352

https://wisconsinsbdc.org/restaurants/

Insurance for Delivery 

The Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) created new COVID-19 insurance options on March 17, 2020.

  • OCI has removed insurance barriers that may prevent a restaurant from delivering.
  • Delivery drivers are now covered under their personal auto policy. However, it is strongly suggested each employee now classified as a delivery driver contact their own auto carrier and inform them of the change.
  • OCI ordered all insurers who provide commercial general liability coverage to a restaurant to extend at no charge (approximate $5,000 savings) a rider or stand-alone policy for “hired and non-owned auto coverage”. It is recommended that you contact your broker to make sure this rider or stand-alone policy is in place for you.
  • This is effective as of March 17, 2020, and shall remain in effect until the public health emergency order is lifted, in whole or in part, to permit restaurants to resume normal operations.

Source: COVD19 Get Ready to Deliver, WI Restaurant Association

Food Safety Guidelines for Take-out and Delivery 

  • Employees should not work if they are feeling ill; paid sick leave can help incentivize employees to make the safest decision for themselves, their coworkers, and the customers.
  • Food must be packaged and protected from contamination.
  • Food must be transported in temperature-controlled containers. For example, transport hot foods using insulated containers and cold foods using insulated coolers with ice packs.
  • Drivers must practice social distancing of at least 6 feet between people, when making a delivery.
  • Drivers must practice responsible hand washing or use hand sanitizer before and after each transaction.
  • Restaurants and retail food operators are encouraged to post signs alerting third-party delivery drivers to best practices.

If you have any questions or need more clarification, please contact datcpfoodcomplaintsemergencyresponse@wisconsin.gov. 

Source: Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Division of Food and Recreational Safety

For more information on offering food delivery and for information on third-party delivery companies, please visit the WI RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION’S HOW TO GET STARTED WITH DELIVERY FOR RESTAURANTS IN WI.

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