Appetizing Communication: Improving the Food Delivery Experience

Food delivery services and are now a mainstay in the dining experience. Everywhere you look now, there’s an app built specifically to deliver food straight to the customer’s door.

Food delivery is perfect for a lot of reasons.

Perhaps you don’t want to leave the house or the office to eat. Or there are those who dislike the gathered atmosphere, surrounded by crowds they don’t know (especially during a pandemic). What better opportunity than to just order in and have breakfast, lunch, or dinner wherever you’re located?

In a recent survey, roughly 90% of people reported using food delivery in the past 90 days.

While food delivery is prospering, the customer experience is suffering largely due to miscommunication. Establishing better communication for both parties is needed to improve the food industry experience altogether.

There’s Not an App For That …

Mobile apps are convenient, and most food delivery services use an app to keep consumers up to date on their delivery, who’s driving, and what time to expect their food. But apps have their limitations.

What happens when there’s an issue with an order? Just one slip-up, and it creates a negative experience for the customer. Nearly 79% of people reported needing customer service over a delivery issue.

Some of the reasons people required customer service:

To get the best experience, customers need improved, direct communication from their restaurant or delivery service.

Sending a message through the mobile app can get missed or the customer may be unresponsive.

Regardless of who’s at fault, there are more immediate, more effective forms of communication.

Ring the Dinner Bell

Phone calls get the job done.

A lot rides on a call; how fresh the food is, for example! It’s the difference between a tasty meal and an empty stomach.

It’s no surprise, the quickest and most urgent solution is the phone call, with 93% of people wanting a call with an order issue, or when the driver needed assistance (59%).

Food For Thought

It can be difficult to provide customers with the best experience when bad communication comes to play. More than 3 in 5 people said they missed a call from their driver because it wasn’t identified properly.

One customer’s experience:

“I forgot to change the delivery address after I moved. The driver called me several times, but I didn’t answer since there are too many scam calls every day. Then the driver contacted me from his delivery platform customer service. I told the customer my new address, so the delivery took much longer than I expected.”

One bad delivery experience can cost a service their customers. Over two-thirds of consumers would switch to a service that properly identified themselves on outbound calls.

Delivering a Solution

Nobody wants to be hangry, so how can you prevent it? To ensure an answer from customers, food delivery services can brand their calls.

With First Orion’s Branded Communications solutions, your business can properly identify itself, letting customers know who’s on the line, and giving people a reason to answer their phones again.

First Orion creates mobile communication solutions that enable businesses or agencies to identify who they are and why they’re calling on your incoming call screen. First Orion's INFORM® Branded Calling features a customizable 32-character message.

August 4, 2026

First Orion Wins 2026 Pinnacle Award for Cybersecurity

First Orion has been named a Platinum Winner in the 2026 Pinnacle Technology Awards, earning Cybersecurity & Data Privacy recognition for Identity Verification & Fraud Prevention. The award recognizes First Orion’s SENTRY Call Blocking and INFORM Branded Calling solutions, which help carriers block suspected fraudulent calls and enable verified businesses to display their identity on consumers’ mobile screens.
Read More
First Orion Head of Product Josh Whitehurst, named one of Arkansas Money & Politics' 2026 Future Icons.
July 28, 2026

First Orion’s Josh Whitehurst Named a 2026 Future Icon

First Orion Head of Product Josh Whitehurst has been named one of Arkansas Money & Politics’ 2026 Future Icons, an annual recognition honoring 100 rising leaders from across the state who are making a meaningful impact through business, entrepreneurship, public service, and community leadership.
Read More
First Orion launched Mobile Originated Branded Calling (MOBC) with T-Mobile, enabling authenticated branded calls directly from mobile devices.
July 21, 2026

First Orion Launches Mobile Branded Calling with T-Mobile

First Orion has launched Mobile Originated Branded Calling (MOBC) with T-Mobile, an industry-first wireless provider deployment that lets business customers initiate authenticated branded calls directly from mobile devices—displaying verified brand name, logo, call reason, and a preferred callback number on supported devices.
Read More

the solution behind every trusted connection

From small businesses to global enterprises, First Orion helps you increase answer rates, verify identity, and build customer trust and transparency.

Dashboard showing a circular progress chart, a vertical bar graph, and a list with blue and white items.

AFFIRM®

Reputation Monitoring

Monitor how your outbound calls appear and catch labeling errors fast.  

Smartphone screen showing incoming call from +1 (212) 555-8724 with a green call approved badge.

SENTRY®

Call
Blocking

Block bad actors from spoofing your numbers, protecting trust with your customers.

Labels showing risk levels with phone numbers: Low Risk green check, High Risk red alert, Medium Risk orange alert.

PROTECT+

Risk Detection

Detect suspicious inbound call activity in real time with intelligent risk analysis.