Case study · Hybrid delivery
Build-your-own hybrid delivery: how Potbelly made delivery
as customizable as its menu
with Cartwheel
Potbelly mixes in-house drivers and third-party couriers on a single platform, letting each of 400+ locations build the delivery setup that works best for them.
About Potbelly
Potbelly is a nationwide fast-casual sandwich shop with 400+ locations. As online ordering grew, delivery became one of the biggest factors in whether a digital order actually converted, and whether the guest came back.
The challenge
Delivery was a dealbreaker for online ordering.
No two Potbelly locations are alike. Some have their own drivers, some lean on third-party couriers, and demand shifts by daypart and market. A one-size-fits-all delivery setup left some stores overpaying, others short on capacity, and made delivery the weakest link in the online ordering experience.
Potbelly needed delivery to be as flexible as its menu, without adding operational chaos.
The solution
Build-your-own delivery on Cartwheel.
With Cartwheel, Potbelly runs a hybrid model: in-house drivers and third-party couriers on one platform, configured per store. Three capabilities made it work across 400+ locations.
Build-your-own dispatch
Mix in-house drivers and third-party couriers per store, market, or daypart, tuned to each location.
Faster, more efficient
Every order routes to the best available option automatically, cutting wait times and cost.
One flexible platform
Every delivery mode managed from a single system, scalable across all 400+ locations.
Making delivery configurable per store turned a weak spot into an advantage. Each location runs the mix that fits its economics, and the online ordering experience finally matched the food.
Delivery as customizable as the menu, across 400+ locations.
Key results
What Potbelly gained with hybrid delivery on Cartwheel.
The outcome
Delivery that fits every store.
Potbelly now runs delivery the way it runs its menu: built to order. Each of 400+ locations picks the mix of in-house and third-party delivery that fits, and Cartwheel keeps it all on one platform.
The result is faster delivery, higher satisfaction, and more efficient operations, without forcing every store into the same mold.