Small Business
Professional Catering Delivery Without Running Your Own Fleet
Scheduled last-mile delivery for restaurants, caterers, bakeries and growing food businesses — so you can say yes to catering orders without hiring drivers, buying vehicles or losing margin to commissions.
Small Business is Houston Delivery Services’ service for restaurants, caterers, bakeries and other food businesses that want their own catering orders delivered reliably, without hiring drivers, buying vehicles or handing a percentage of the order to a commission-based delivery app. You keep the customer relationship and the order; HDS becomes the delivery capacity behind it.
Who this is for
The catering order you almost turned down
Catering is good business — larger tickets, booked in advance, planned rather than reactive. Getting it out of the door is the part that breaks.
Staffing a driver you cannot keep busy
Catering demand is lumpy. Hiring for the peak means paying for the trough; hiring for the trough means turning work away.
Pulling someone off the line
Sending a cook or a manager out on a delivery costs you the shift you actually needed them for.
Vehicles, insurance and equipment
A car is not a catering vehicle. Thermal equipment, mileage, maintenance and cover all sit on your P&L before a single tray moves.
Commissions eating the ticket
Marketplace platforms take a cut of the food on the orders where your margin is best.
Chasing the delivery yourself
When a customer calls to ask where their order is, someone in your kitchen has to stop and find out.
Focus on the Food. Let HDS Handle Delivery.
HDS gives your business delivery capacity without the fixed cost of building it. You book a delivery when you have one, and pay a flat rate for that delivery — there is no fleet sitting idle between catering orders, and no commission taken on the food.
We operate as delivery infrastructure behind your operation rather than as a sales channel in front of it. We are not a marketplace: HDS does not list your restaurant, does not sell your menu, and does not stand between you and your customer.
This is scheduled catering delivery, booked in advance. It is deliberately not a same-day, small-order, on-demand service — that is a different business, and it is not the one we run.
What's included
What HDS provides
Scheduled catering delivery
Book deliveries in advance against the pickup and delivery times your kitchen and your customer actually need.
White-label delivery
The order stays yours. We are not a marketplace listing your menu or inserting our brand into your customer relationship.
Professional drivers
Drivers experienced with catering-sized orders, who verify the order against the booking before they leave your kitchen.
Thermal transport equipment
Professional thermal equipment as standard, so temperature integrity is not left to chance or to whatever bag is in the car.
Tracking and delivery visibility
Follow an order from pickup through to completion, so you can answer a customer without calling the driver.
Proof of delivery
Every completed delivery is confirmed and recorded against the order, so there is a record of what went where and when.
Use cases
How food businesses use HDS
Restaurant catering orders
Take the tray order your dining room can produce but your staffing cannot deliver.
Corporate lunch deliveries
Office lunch drops that have to land before a meeting starts, not around it.
Catering company overflow
Extra delivery capacity on your busiest days without adding permanent headcount.
Repeat business orders
The standing customer who orders every week and expects the same standard each time.
Large event food delivery
Weddings, conferences and functions where the volume is the hard part.
Ghost kitchen delivery
A delivery operation for a kitchen with no dining room and no fleet of its own.
In practice
How HDS Fits Into Your Operation
The order still starts and ends with your business: a customer books catering with you, your kitchen prepares it, and HDS steps in for the part in between — collecting it at the time you agree and delivering it while your own staff stays on the line.
A regular office lunch client
A nearby company orders lunch for twenty every Thursday. Your kitchen preps it on schedule, you book that delivery through the portal each week like any other, and a driver arrives when the order is ready — no staff member driving across town.
A caterer without a delivery team
A local catering company takes on a wedding reception order for 150 guests but has no drivers of its own. HDS handles the pickup and delivery to the venue at the agreed time, in thermal equipment built for the volume.
A ghost kitchen with group orders
A delivery-only kitchen gets a large group order too big for a normal courier pickup. HDS collects the full order as one scheduled job and delivers it as a single delivery, not split across multiple trips.
Overflow on your busiest day
Your own limited delivery capacity is already booked on a big catering day. HDS takes the extra orders you'd otherwise have to turn away, without hiring temporary drivers for one day.
Process
How it works
Set the account up once, then booking a delivery is a short form rather than a phone call.
Open a business account
Register your business and your first pickup location. This is what gives you access to the booking portal.
Book the delivery
Enter the pickup location, the destination, your requested times and the order details. Your addresses are validated as you go.
Review your price and confirm
See the flat-rate delivery price for that job before you commit, then confirm the booking.
We collect, deliver and confirm
A driver collects from your kitchen at the scheduled time, delivers in thermal equipment, and the delivery is confirmed on completion.
Why HDS
What holds true on every delivery
Whichever way you work with us, these are the parts that do not change.
Catering is the whole business
HDS is not a general courier that also moves food. Large, scheduled food orders are what the service is built around.
Thermal transport as standard
Drivers carry professional thermal equipment and are trained to handle catering orders so they arrive as the kitchen sent them.
Flat-rate, no commissions
A flat base fee based on order value, plus a per-mile charge only when a trip runs beyond 10 miles. No commission is ever taken on the food itself.
Scheduled, not on demand
Deliveries are booked in advance against a pickup and delivery time, so the timing is agreed before anyone gets in a vehicle.
Visibility from pickup to handoff
Order status is available from pickup through completion, and every finished delivery is confirmed and recorded.
One metro, covered properly
Houston and its surrounding communities, served by drivers who work here — not a thin national footprint.
Coverage
Across the greater Houston area
Houston and its surrounding communities — one metro, covered properly.
From The Woodlands and Conroe in the north, west through Katy and Cypress, south to Sugar Land, Pearland and League City, and east toward Baytown and the ship channel communities.
Delivering inside the city itself? Houston coverage covers the downtown, Medical Center and Energy Corridor sub-markets district by district. Suburban markets have their own pages too, including Katy, The Woodlands and Sugar Land.
See every area we serveNot sure how it all works?
Walk through a delivery from booking to handoff, or look at what one costs before you get in touch.
Pricing
Straightforward delivery pricing
You pay a flat base fee based on the value of the order being delivered, plus a per-mile charge only when a trip runs beyond 10 miles. That is the whole model — no surge pricing, no hidden fees, and no percentage taken from the food.
Because the price is tied to the order and the distance rather than to demand, you can quote catering to your own customers knowing what the delivery will cost you.
FAQ
Questions about this service
Does HDS charge restaurant commissions?
No. HDS charges for the delivery, not a percentage of your food. There is a flat base fee based on the order value plus a per-mile charge beyond 10 miles — no commission is taken on the order itself.
Do I need my own drivers or vehicles?
No. That is the point of the service. Drivers and thermal transport equipment come with the delivery, so you can take catering orders without hiring, insuring or equipping a delivery team.
Is this the same as being listed on a delivery app?
No. HDS is a logistics provider, not a marketplace. We do not list your restaurant, publish your menu or acquire customers for you. You bring the order; we deliver it.
Can HDS handle orders we receive regularly?
Yes. Businesses with ongoing catering commitments book those deliveries through the portal as they come up. If you are running a large or complex programme, talk to us and we will set it up with you.
Can we and our customers see where an order is?
Yes. Order status is visible from pickup through to completion, and each finished delivery is confirmed and recorded.
How do I become a client?
Register a business account with your company details and your first pickup location. Once the account is set up you can book deliveries directly from the portal.
Ready to Add Professional Delivery?
Open a business account and start booking catering deliveries, or talk to us first about how it would work for your kitchen.