Delivery driver and pickup handoff checklist for cafés and restaurants
The last ten seconds of a delivery order happen at your counter. A driver walks in, says a name, picks up a bag and leaves. If it was the wrong bag, or the right bag that sat on a cold shelf for 25 minutes, the one-star review goes to you, not the app.
This checklist covers that handoff: how the pickup shelf is set up, how a bag is matched to a driver, how it's sealed, how long it may wait, and what gets written down when something goes wrong. What it costs to be on the apps, and the order-accuracy checks before the bag is sealed, are in what delivery apps really cost a small restaurant.
This is general information, not legal advice. Your health department and each app's merchant terms have the final word.
Why the Food Code cares about the handoff
The FDA Food Code treats a delivery order as your food until the customer has it. Its definition of a food establishment includes an operation that "Relinquishes possession of FOOD to a CONSUMER directly, or indirectly through a delivery service such as home delivery of grocery orders or restaurant takeout orders" (§1-201.10(B), 2022 Food Code). Four lines follow from that:
- Hot stays hot, cold stays cold. Time/temperature control for safety (TCS) food is held at "57°C (135°F) or above" or at "5°C (41°F) or less" (§3-501.16(A)). A hot bowl on an unheated shelf is out of temperature control from the moment it lands there.
- Protected from contamination. "FOOD shall be protected from contamination that may result from a factor or source not specified under Subparts 3-301 - 3-306" (§3-307.11). A closed, sealed bag on a clean shelf, away from the trash and the mop sink, is the simple answer.
- Drivers stay out of the kitchen. The person in charge makes sure "PERSONS unnecessary to the FOOD ESTABLISHMENT operation are not allowed in the FOOD preparation, FOOD storage, or WAREWASHING areas" (§2-103.11(B)).
- Allergens in writing. A carry-out bag isn't "packaged" food in the Food Code's sense: the definition says "packaged" "does not include wrapped or placed in a carry-out container to protect the food during service or delivery to the consumer, by a food employee, upon consumer request" (§1-201.10(B)). So the rule for unpackaged food applies, and you "shall notify CONSUMERS by written notification of the presence of MAJOR FOOD ALLERGENS" (§3-602.12(C)). For delivery, that means allergen notes in each app's menu descriptions, from your allergen matrix.
The 2026 Food Code adds a duty that fits the handoff: the person in charge makes sure employees "are aware of FOOD DEFENSE, such as signs of intentional acts of ADULTERATION as it relates to their assigned duties, and report suspicious activity to the PERSON IN CHARGE" (§2-103.11(R)). A torn seal or a bag that's been opened is that kind of sign. The 2026 edition's references (Annex 2) also point to the Conference for Food Protection's guidance on direct-to-consumer and third-party delivery.
No federal rule requires a seal on a restaurant's delivery bag. It's still the cheapest way to show the bag left you closed.
The pickup shelf: set up once
Setup | Done |
|---|---|
A pickup shelf or rack at the front, where drivers can reach it without passing the line | |
Shelf wiped and sanitized at open and after spills; nothing else stored on it | |
Labeled zones: Hot, Cold and Drinks, or one slot per platform | |
A heated cabinet or hot box for hot orders that wait, if you do much delivery | |
Tamper-evident seals or stickers, bags, drink carriers and order labels stocked at the bagging station | |
A sign: "Drivers: please wait here. Tell us the order number." | |
The tablet for each app charged, volume up, at the bagging station | |
An allergy flag (a colored sticker) for orders with an allergy note |
The handoff: every order
At the bagging station:
- Check the bag against the ticket, item by item, including drinks, sauces and sides.
- Hot and cold in separate bags. An iced drink next to a hot sandwich ruins both.
- Allergy order? Put the allergy sticker on the outside and say it out loud to whoever bags it.
- Close and seal the bag. The seal goes across the opening, so it tears if the bag is opened.
- Label it: customer's first name, order number, platform, number of bags ("1 of 2").
- Mark the ready time on the label or ticket.
- Shelf it in the right zone. Hot orders go in the hot box if you have one.
When the driver arrives:
- Ask for the order number and the customer's name. Don't read them out first. Match both to the label.
- Count the bags ("1 of 2, 2 of 2") and hand over all of them together, drinks too.
- Mark it picked up on the app's tablet.
- Driver says a name you don't have? Check the other platforms' tablets before saying no. It's often the wrong app.
Orders that wait:
- Set a shelf time and stick to it. For example: hot food on an unheated shelf for 15 minutes at most, then it's remade or the platform is told. In a hot box, check the box holds 135°F or above. Your rule, written on the sign.
- Unclaimed after the platform's cutoff? Follow the platform's process for cancelled or unclaimed orders, then log it (below). Don't put a cold-held order back into stock.
- Seal broken or bag opened before it left? Remake it. Don't re-seal.
Customer pickup (your own app, phone or website orders):
- Same order-number check, and say the items as you hand over the bag: "Two lattes, one oat milk, and a croissant." It catches the wrong bag before the door closes.
The daily handoff log
Fill this in at close. It's what you'll need when a platform's refund report or a customer's complaint arrives days later.
Time | Platform | Order no. | What went wrong | Picked up at | Remade? | Refunded or disputed? | Initials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
What counts as "went wrong": wrong driver or wrong bag, missing item reported, driver late (shelf time passed), order unclaimed, seal broken, spill. Once a week, count the lines by type. The most common one tells you which step above to retrain. Our post on order accuracy and remakes has a review routine and the cost math.
Where Mays fits
Mays doesn't connect to DoorDash, Uber Eats or Grubhub, so orders stay on each app's tablet. What Mays runs is the station around them:
- The setup and rush checks as a checklist. Build the pickup shelf setup as an opening checklist under Tasks → Templates, with a Photo answer for the shelf and the seal stock. A second list for the rush, with a Visibility Window (say 11 to 2), shows only during lunch. See Creating a checklist template.
- The handoff log as a form. Under Tasks → Types, build a Delivery handoff log form with Repeatable rows (Single choice for the platform and the problem, Text for the order number, Yes / No for remade), and add it to the closing checklist. The closer fills it in on the phone, and every row lands in Task Data, where Export CSV gives you the month for a dispute. See Building custom forms and Task Data.
- The fix, assigned. When the same miss keeps coming back, Tasks → Tasks → Create Task gives one person the fix. See Creating one-off tasks.
What Mays doesn't do: it doesn't see delivery orders, ready times or pickup times, so it can't tell you which orders waited too long. That stays on the label and the log. And a staff member can't open the log form on their own mid-shift; it comes as a task, so the closing list is the natural place for it.
Ten seconds, done right
A clean shelf by the door, a sealed and labeled bag, the driver says the number first, and a shelf time you stick to. Everything else is the log.
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