The Hidden Costs of Unsecured Pickup Shelves
Q&A with Ashley McNamara, Vice President, Global Marketing at Apex Order Pickup Solutions
Restaurants have spent years optimizing digital ordering, but one part of the guest journey continues to create operational headaches: order pickup. Congestion at open pickup shelves, poor order staging, wrong order retrieval, order theft, and other pickup issues create customer frustration and constant employee interruptions to resolve problems. These challenges are both caused and compounded by poor visibility and accountability once an order leaves the kitchen, creating a break in the chain of custody between order completion and customer handoff.
Here, Ashley McNamara, Vice President, Global Marketing at Apex Order Pickup Solutions, discusses the hidden costs of unsecured pickup shelves and how operators can increase both convenience and security by taking a different approach to the process.
Here, Ashley McNamara, Vice President, Global Marketing at Apex Order Pickup Solutions, discusses the hidden costs of unsecured pickup shelves and how operators can increase both convenience and security by taking a different approach to the process.
RH-Hub: What's the real cost of a missing pickup order?
Ashley: The true cost extends far beyond the price of remaking a meal. A single error can trigger a chain reaction of operational and financial consequences, including additional food and labor costs, the expense of dispatching another delivery driver, refunds or credits, and valuable staff time spent resolving the issue. It can also damage the customer experience, further eroding the bottom line by discouraging repeat business.
The root cause is rarely employee error. It’s almost always a breakdown in the order fulfillment process caused by manual procedures and disconnected systems that make it difficult to track orders from completion to customer handoff.
The root cause is rarely employee error. It’s almost always a breakdown in the order fulfillment process caused by manual procedures and disconnected systems that make it difficult to track orders from completion to customer handoff.
RH-Hub: When do the drawbacks of open shelving outweigh the low upfront cost?
Ashley: Open shelving was an effective solution when off-premises ordering represented a smaller share of restaurant sales. It provided a convenient, low-cost way to stage pickup orders.
As digital ordering has grown, however, the limitations of open shelving have become increasingly apparent. Higher order volumes create congestion, making it more difficult for guests, delivery drivers, and employees to locate the correct order. Placing finished orders on grab-and-go shelves also makes them vulnerable to both pickup mix-ups and deliberate theft. That means staff members are constantly answering pickup questions, investigating missing orders, managing delivery driver confusion, processing complaints, or handling remakes.
The hidden labor costs associated with managing these disruptions can quickly outweigh the initial savings of using open shelving. Given the continued growth of digital ordering and the sustained importance of off-premises business, it doesn’t take long for the operational inefficiencies to erase the savings from a low-cost shelving solution.
As digital ordering has grown, however, the limitations of open shelving have become increasingly apparent. Higher order volumes create congestion, making it more difficult for guests, delivery drivers, and employees to locate the correct order. Placing finished orders on grab-and-go shelves also makes them vulnerable to both pickup mix-ups and deliberate theft. That means staff members are constantly answering pickup questions, investigating missing orders, managing delivery driver confusion, processing complaints, or handling remakes.
The hidden labor costs associated with managing these disruptions can quickly outweigh the initial savings of using open shelving. Given the continued growth of digital ordering and the sustained importance of off-premises business, it doesn’t take long for the operational inefficiencies to erase the savings from a low-cost shelving solution.
RH-Hub: Where does security become too much friction?
Ashley: Security and convenience should not be viewed as competing priorities. Restaurants need accountability over order handoffs. Guests expect a fast, frictionless pickup experience. Where brands get into trouble is when security creates additional work for guests or employees. If a guest has to wait for staff intervention, if employees need to manage every pickup, or if the process feels cumbersome, you've introduced friction
RH-Hub: Off-premises can account for 40% or more of sales at some concepts, but pickup is still often treated as an afterthought. If you were designing a restaurant today, where does pickup belong?
Ashley: Pickup belongs wherever it can best support the restaurant's operational flow and customer experience. The question is less about physical location than about operational design. As off-premises dining has become a core revenue stream, the handoff should be planned with the same rigor as the ordering experience, kitchen workflow, and drive-thru. Every transition, from order completion to customer retrieval, should be designed to maximize speed, accuracy, and accountability while minimizing labor and congestion.
In other words, the handoff should be engineered around how the restaurant already works, taking into account workflow, customer movement, kitchen operations, and the existing physical layout to create the most efficient experience possible. We work with our customers to identify the optimal pickup location within the existing footprint, creating a handoff experience that improves efficiency without disrupting core restaurant operations and thereby closing the gap between order ready and order pickup.
In other words, the handoff should be engineered around how the restaurant already works, taking into account workflow, customer movement, kitchen operations, and the existing physical layout to create the most efficient experience possible. We work with our customers to identify the optimal pickup location within the existing footprint, creating a handoff experience that improves efficiency without disrupting core restaurant operations and thereby closing the gap between order ready and order pickup.
RH-Hub: Labor remains the industry's biggest challenge. What does a well-designed pickup flow give back in labor hours, and what should general managers measure?
Ashley: Many restaurants underestimate how much labor is consumed by pickup-related interruptions. Every time an employee stops preparing food to answer pickup questions, locate an order, assist a delivery driver, investigate a missing order, or process a remake, labor is diverted away from food preparation and guest service. These interruptions accumulate throughout the day, reducing productivity without appearing as a line item on a labor report.
A well-designed pickup process minimizes these disruptions by enabling guests and delivery drivers to retrieve orders independently and accurately. As a result, employees remain focused on food preparation and customer service, allowing operations to scale more efficiently.
At a manual counter, staff are interrupted on every single handoff, 100% of the time. Looking at customer metrics from our automated pickup solutions, that interruption rate drops to roughly 10%. The right person retrieves the right order at the right time in the vast majority of handoffs, and the team gets their time back for food prep and guest service.
For general managers, the key is to monitor the operational indicators that reveal whether pickup is creating labor inefficiencies. Important metrics include pickup-related employee interruptions, order remakes, guest inquiries, congestion during peak periods, and the amount of staff time devoted to managing order retrieval.
The goal is not simply to move orders faster but to create a predictable handoff process. Eliminating pickup chaos allows restaurants to recover valuable labor time, improve accuracy, protect repeat business, and create a pickup operation that scales as digital ordering grows.
A well-designed pickup process minimizes these disruptions by enabling guests and delivery drivers to retrieve orders independently and accurately. As a result, employees remain focused on food preparation and customer service, allowing operations to scale more efficiently.
At a manual counter, staff are interrupted on every single handoff, 100% of the time. Looking at customer metrics from our automated pickup solutions, that interruption rate drops to roughly 10%. The right person retrieves the right order at the right time in the vast majority of handoffs, and the team gets their time back for food prep and guest service.
For general managers, the key is to monitor the operational indicators that reveal whether pickup is creating labor inefficiencies. Important metrics include pickup-related employee interruptions, order remakes, guest inquiries, congestion during peak periods, and the amount of staff time devoted to managing order retrieval.
The goal is not simply to move orders faster but to create a predictable handoff process. Eliminating pickup chaos allows restaurants to recover valuable labor time, improve accuracy, protect repeat business, and create a pickup operation that scales as digital ordering grows.
