In-house delivery management:
how Portillo’s took catering delivery in-house to protect quality with Cartwheel
Driver management · catering self-deliveryAbout the company
Portillo’s is an iconic Chicago-style fast-casual brand known for its hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, and chopped salads. As the team improved online ordering, delivery quality became a priority that third-party services couldn’t reliably protect.
The challenge: third-party delivery hurt quality control
While improving online ordering, Portillo’s realized that third-party delivery made quality control complicated. Once an order left with an outside courier, the brand lost visibility and control over the part of the experience customers judge most: how the food arrives.
For catering especially, where orders are large and expectations are high, inconsistent third-party handoffs put the brand’s reputation at risk. Portillo’s wanted to own the last mile without taking on the full operational burden of running delivery alone.
The solution: catering self-delivery, powered by Cartwheel
Portillo’s launched a catering self-delivery program powered by Cartwheel’s driver management. Instead of handing orders to third parties, the brand runs its own delivery with Cartwheel handling the logistics, so quality stays in-house. Key capabilities:
The combination is what made it work. Self-delivery alone is hard to staff and scale, and third-party delivery gives up control. Cartwheel’s driver management let Portillo’s keep the control of in-house delivery without the operational headache of running it solo.
Cartwheel allowed us to adjust our order volume to driver availability, eliminating the worry of having enough drivers to maintain delivery quality.
Results
What Portillo’s gained by bringing delivery in-house.
| Result | What changed |
|---|---|
| Consistent revenue boost | A steady lift from owning catering delivery |
| Higher customer satisfaction | Quality protected from kitchen to doorstep |
| Retained delivery business | Substantial share kept in-house, not lost to third parties |
| Right-sized driver capacity | Order volume matched to driver availability |
*Based on Senior Manager, Off-Premise Dining management’s reported results.
The outcome: quality kept in-house
The headline is control. By bringing catering delivery in-house with Cartwheel’s driver management, Portillo’s protected the quality that defines its brand, all the way to the customer’s door.
The clearest signal is staying power: a substantial share of delivery business stayed in-house rather than leaking to third parties, alongside a consistent revenue boost and stronger customer satisfaction. Matching order volume to driver availability removed the worry of being short-staffed at the worst moment.
