How to sign up your business on DoorDash

As business owners, you are always on the lookout for ways to improve your customer experience. The change in consumer behavior has forced your thinking hat(s) on and in some cases, has sent you down a spiral. Although you might end up in Alice’s Wonderland, you are expected to make your way out and get back to innovating. And with new innovation, comes added work on your plate!

DoorDash, for example, is an on-demand prepared food delivery service. It promises to deliver food for every flavor craving. And for restaurant owners, it promises more profits with fewer efforts - what more can you ask for?

We’ve put together some benefits that you can expect as a restaurant owner when partnering with DoorDash.

• As mentioned above - This is one of the ways to elevate your customer experience. Dashers (what DoorDash’s delivery staff are called) are highly-rated professionals that make ordering food from your restaurant convenient for the customer.

• Partnering with DoorDash will help you bring in more customers. Listing your restaurant on the DoorDash website and app brings more eyes to your brand and increases the number of more orders being placed.

• You get the opportunity to work in your comfort zone - DoorDash enables you to accept orders through phone, computer, a tablet device - whatever you have in place.

• By becoming a DoorDash partner, you get access to the merchant portal. This gives you insight into your customer’s wants and needs and can be used to adjust your marketing strategy.

• DoorDash provides everything you need to get started with food delivery in a readymade package. You should be able to focus on your core tasks - marketing your restaurant and getting more customers!

Partnering with DoorDash is a smart decision that will improve brand awareness and acquire new customers. It is also an easy process. Follow this step-by-step guide shown below to register your business on DoorDash.

Step 1

Head to the sign-up page built for restaurants on the DoorDash website. Fill in your restaurant name, address, phone number, and email.

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DoorDash is presently offering a 30-day free trial, so make the most of it!

Step 2

Once you’ve submitted the form, you will be asked to provide a few more details about your restaurant, such as the “Type” and the number of locations you own. If you are a local restaurant with 1-5 locations, you can proceed as is. If you own a virtual restaurant business (one that only accepts takeout orders), you will also proceed with the same flow.

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If you are an enterprise/national chain, you can still proceed with the below steps. However, the 30-day free trial does not apply to your business. You will receive special rates from the DoorDash team in your inbox or via a phone call.

Step 3

The next step is to upload your menu on the app. You can add a link to the menu from your website, or an external link. You can choose to upload a PDF file as well.

Also, make sure you update your store hours in the format shown. This will ensure you receive orders only when you are open.

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As a restaurant looking to accept food delivery orders online, you NEED to have a digitized menu. But, if you don’t have one already, that’s fine. Use this link to create one quickly.  

Step 4

This step is important because you will need to select your mode of accepting orders and get a chance to review the commission rates.

You can choose from one of the below options:

1. Get a DoorDash tablet delivered to your restaurant. You can use the tablet for free during the trial period but it will be chargeable at $3/week after the trial.
2. Get a DoorDash tablet and a printer so that you can print the orders and send them to your kitchen. This will be chargeable at $5/week after the 30-day free trial.
3. Receive an email for every order, followed by a confirmation phone call. This is an option that will enable fast activation of your partner account and is of course, free of cost.
4. The last one is similar to option 3, but you can choose to receive a fax instead of an email.

Since you are signing up for a 30-day free trial, your commission rates will be applicable post this period. Make sure you review the commission rates before you move on to the next step.

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The most convenient way to get your restaurant account activated on the platform is to accept orders via email (option 3 listed above). You should be able to connect these emails to your restaurant’s POS or find a simpler way to get the orders to your kitchen.

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Step 5

As the last step,  you will need to enter your legal and bank information. Details like legal business name, your Federal tax identification details, the business owner’s name (as on documentation) are required, in addition to your bank details.

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DoorDash promises to ONLY deposit money into this bank account and NOT withdraw from it. Keep that in mind when entering your digits.

Now that you have a DoorDash account set up for your restaurant, make sure you have all the information up to date at all times. This is the most important step because you want your customers to find the right information about your restaurant when they are placing orders.