Dive Brief:
- Waffle House is offering late-night delivery from 500 of its stores through a partnership with Olo, according to a Wednesday press release.
- More of the chain’s roughly 2,000 stores will add the ordering channel throughout the year.
- Guests can order delivery through Waffle House’s website and app, and Olo then uses its Dispatch tool to pair the orders with a delivery worker from a third-party provider. Olo has worked with the casual dining giant on online ordering and pickup payments since 2023.
Dive Insight:
This is the first time Waffle House has offered delivery, according to the press release. Unlike other chains that offer delivery across dayparts, Waffle House will only deliver from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., according to its website.
Late-night ordering has been on the rise in the restaurant space. According to DoorDash, orders from midnight to 5 a.m. were up 44% in the U.S. last year.
“We will continue to evaluate expanding delivery to more of our restaurants in the coming months,” Patrick Marshburn, an executive vice president at Waffle House, said in the press release.
Consumer pullback has put pressure on brands to find new avenues for customer acquisition in recent years. This has pushed previous stalwarts of owned-channel ordering like Domino’s to add third-party ordering and Darden to add third-party delivery. Waffle House’s decision to maintain control over its ordering channels through its Olo deal is interesting in that context, considering the large audiences third-party aggregators possess.
Daypart growth, alongside third-party delivery, is another way major brands have sought to cope with consumer traffic problems. Starbucks has tested offsite prep of late-night orders for third-party delivery, while Pizza Hut began pushing restaurants to remain open until midnight in 2023. Other chains have also embraced the opportunity late-night presents for incremental traffic.
Yet the move makes particular sense for Waffle House. The brand prides itself on its 24/7 reputation; an expansion of delivery orders there does not require a tandem increase in operating hours.
