The Uber model has a few successful siblings on various applications. It stands to reason that a location-based food delivery app is nice. It’s something that’s both a profitable business and a necessary convenience service. A few years ago, it was hard to find any place with delivery to your home or office if you didn’t want either pizza or Chinese food. Doorstep Delivery gives customers the option to eat what they want, wherever they want, when they want. And however they want it.
Quite simply, people today have come to expect on-demand services for whatever they want, and Doorstep Delivery has come to fill this need for food delivery. You simply go to the website and enter your ZIP code. They will display what restaurants are available for delivery near you.
About Doorstep Delivery
Doorstep Delivery was founded in 2008, and the team soon included two industry veterans as well as the two co-founders. Daniel Sinor and Tom Colangelo founded Gatorfood.com back in 1999. The idea of an online restaurant delivery service at that time was both novel and revolutionary. Doorstep Delivery’s drivers are self-employed delivery professionals. They are in the service of a restaurant marketing firm, rather than a delivery firm.
As such, if several people are ordering in the same delivery location they can choose different restaurants to order from under the same delivery order. This offers a convenience that would be difficult to arrange otherwise, without any hassle. Luck saw Doorstep Delivery start in the delivery business just a few years before the widespread proliferation of smartphones. The small devices play a major role in expanding the company. It’s become much easier for local services to function thanks to low investment that smartphones and tablets offer.
Doorstep Delivery Areas
Gatorfood.com, the predecessor of Doorstep Delivery, was founded in Gainesville. The company initially worked exclusively in Florida. Since then, Doorstep Delivery has a foothold across the southeastern United States and continues to focus its expansion largely on that region. However, it does serve a few other cities outside the region, such as Indianapolis and Denver.
Current delivery locations include: Birmingham, Alabama; Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; Knoxville and Nashville, Tennessee; Fort Lauderdale, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Pembroke Pines, Sarasota, Tallahassee, and Tampa/St. Pete, Florida.
Doorstep Delivery Hours
Delivery hours depend on the restaurant and location, and vary with each. Generally, if a given restaurant is open for business in your area, you should be able to get the delivery. As there are no specified timings, it’s best to just go on the website or app and see what’s around you if you want to find out what your options are. While delivery times depend largely on the restaurant and traffic, most orders on Doorstep Delivery take an average time of around 55 minutes from the time they are placed.
Doorstep Delivery Fees
Online delivery orders start from $3.99, and the fees depend upon the distance of the delivery. There are also processing fees sometimes, which depend on the individual restaurant. A $3 manual order fee is also levied on all orders placed via telephone or through a third-party ordering portal.
Additional Information about Doorstep Delivery
Doorstep Delivery mostly works with chains such as Chilli’s, TGI Fridays, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, California Pizza Kitchen, Jersey Mike’s Subs, and Bento Café. This is by now means exclusive though, and in Central Florida alone they have more than 300 partner restaurant locations. Nationally the company employs over 600 drivers, and has worked on a franchise model since 2011. With the widespread proliferation of location-based apps in the past few years Doorstep Delivery has expanded even faster than anticipated, and looks to continue its coverage to more and more cities.
In addition to basic deliveries, Doorstep Delivery offers a concierge service as well, and delivering large orders is somewhat of a specialty – part of their vision was revolutionising how to feed a large group, as catering services are both expensive and need advance notice. With Doorstep Delivery, everyone can have a choice in what they eat and it’s not much more expensive than ordering the same in a restaurant, given the $3.99 delivery fee.
Conclusion
Doorstep Delivery fills a niche for location-based food delivery. That niche has hardly become full across the United States. Similar services like Swiggy in other countries have seen a lot of success in recent years with the rise of cheap smartphones. While Doorstep mostly keep their services in the Southeast ,there’s definitely some scope for expansion. You may start seeing the service available in your region in the next few years.
The convenience of being able to order from a wide variety of restaurants and then having your order arrive at your home or office is amazing. How many times have you mused about having more delivery options than just pizza or Chinese? As Doorstep Delivery currently works mostly with large chains, you get a lot of variety. Still, there’s always room for improvement in their selection. Have you had any experiences with Doorstep Delivery? Feel free to add your comments below.