Two riders with the same six deliveries can ride very different distances. The difference is not speed — it is the order they visit the stops in. Getting that order right is the cheapest improvement most tiffin businesses can make.
Why stop order matters so much
By hand, riders usually follow habit, or the order the list was written in. Both tend to criss-cross the area: out to the far side of town, back past the kitchen, out again. Each crossing is distance ridden for nothing, and on a busy round it is the difference between everyone eating on time and the last customer calling you.
What we measured
We took a scattered round of six stops and measured it both ways:
Same six meals, same rider, 38% less riding. Rounds that are already in a sensible order will save less; scattered ones can save more. The point is that you do not know which you have until you check.
How route optimisation works
Finding the perfect order for many stops is a famously hard maths problem, but good practical methods get very close quickly. TifTif uses two steps:
- Nearest neighbour. Start at the kitchen and always go to the closest stop not yet visited. This gives a sensible round in a fraction of a second — but it can leave the rider crossing their own path near the end.
- 2-opt improvement. Take the round and try reversing sections of it. If a reversal makes the round shorter, keep it. Repeat until no reversal helps. This removes the crossings.
Because it runs inside your own database, there is no per-route fee or outside quota to pay for.
Practical tips for better rounds
- Start from the kitchen. Plan from where riders really start, not the first customer on the list.
- Keep rounds tight. Do not put far-apart areas in the same delivery window; split them across riders or rounds.
- Use two rounds per meal. A 12:00–13:00 and a 13:00–14:00 round halves the stops each rider needs to reach in one window.
- Re-plan after changes. A cancellation or a corrected address can change the best order.
- Give turn-by-turn navigation for each stop. The round tells riders the order; navigation gets them there. TifTif shows the road route and ETA and hands off to Google Maps for turn-by-turn.
- Keep the same rider on the same round. Local knowledge — gates, lifts, parking — saves minutes at every stop.
Measure it yourself
For one week, note each rider’s distance or fuel per round. Then plan the rounds and compare. You will know within days what better ordering is worth to your business — in fuel, in rider time, and in food that arrives hot.
See how it works in TifTif on the route optimisation page, and read the full tiffin delivery operations guide.