Northwest Food Delivery Services

It could be a craving, an office party, a baby shower, a picnic in the park, bad weather or you might just be out of time. We are surrounded with wonderful restaurants and now we want that same food at home (or the office, or the hotel we’re staying in). Seattle DINING! looks at four locally owned delivery options so you’re never at a loss when you’re hungry.

Defining moments make great stories. And great defining moments are those we can all relate to—like the moment Restaurants To Go was born. It was 1993. A craving for the chicken parmigiana at 13 Coins arose, yet no one wanted to leave home and eat out. The issue was resolved by a call to a local cab company. It worked perfectly if you consider a $60 plate of cold chicken parmigiana good eating.

Based on this experience, Randy Bennett (above) started a company that offered food delivery from a hand-picked group of restaurants. Since it was a new concept, they had to convince restaurant owners, find print brokers to print the dining guide and then advertise to potential customers. Randy has since grown the company to 27 employees and 40 restaurants. And instead of printing 10,000-20,000 dining guides, they print 150,000.

Although their normal delivery range is from Georgetown to The Highlands, they’ve delivered as far away as Puyallup, Olympia and even Friday Harbor (yes, there were some extra charges involved…). "Drop and go catering" is one of their specialties. RTG sets up buffets for large groups, then leaves. Everything is disposable, so once the party is over, there’s no difficult clean up or items to return. Recently, they catered for the National Guard while they were preparing to go to Iraq. In addition to restaurants, RTG also delivers for Grace’s Kitchen (see Seattle DINING!’s December issue).

The key to their growth and success is their flexibility. "Anywhere, anything, anytime" is a company motto. Although they have guidelines about delivery areas, minimum orders, advance notice, etc., it’s all negotiable. "We want our customers to be happy with our service so they’ll use us again," says Randy. "If that means last-minute delivery or a ferry trip to Friday Harbor, that’s what we do. We have close relationships with our restaurant partners, so we can meet most customer needs at very affordable prices."

Because of their customer focus, they have also added convenience items to their delivery list. So when someone calls and orders Thai food from Racha they can add Dilettante chocolates and Dura Flame logs to their list. One of the few companies licensed to deliver beer and wine in the state, RTG truly offers a complete meal.

Customer Information:

• To order: Call 206-443-TOGO (8646) or go online at www.RestaurantsToGo.com
• Costs:

Food, as noted on the menu in the dining guide and website. $15 minimum order (if drivers are available, this is sometimes waived).

Delivery charge: $6.99 downtown, $8.99 as far north as Green Lake or as far south as Beacon Hill, $10.99 north or south beyond those points. Delivery charge is per restaurant, no matter how many meals are ordered.

Fuel surcharge: .75 per delivery when gas is more than $1.40 per gallon.

Gratuity: obviously optional, but 10-15% of the order amount is encouraged. Drivers take 94% of tip, the other 6% is shared among office staff who take orders and dispatch drivers. Ten percent is added to any order over $100.

• Hours: 24 hour service. Office staffed from 8:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. daily.
• Utensils: provided to hotel and business customers at no charge.
• Alcohol: beer and wine delivered.

Restaurant Information:

Driver Information:

Dinner Delivery Plus (DDP) has it’s own defining moment. Heather Meier, owner and President, was at friends Paul and Gayle Guinn’s home in 1992 when Gayle clearly indicated she wouldn’t be cooking dinner. Paul wished aloud that they could have something other than Chinese or pizza delivered. And the light bulb went off. The first order was placed in February 1993.

Although the Guinns are not part owners of the company, Paul is very tech savvy (he was Michael Dell’s engineer) and has continued to provide and update company software.

Heather thought the dinner business would explode, but it was lunch that came first. Eleven plus years later, this multi-million dollar company employs 49 and has contracts with approximately 70 restaurants.

Their delivery area is quite large, from Canyon Park south through the outskirts of Woodinville, all of Redmond, Kirkland and Bellevue, the Sammamish Plateau, Newport Hills, Eastgate, Issaquah and even the north end of Mercer Island. They publish two dining guides—Issaquah has it’s own separate guide. Along with the restaurants, DDP also delivers for "Month of Meals" (see Seattle DINING!’s December issue).

The DDP company motto is "honesty, integrity, on-time delivery and fair treatment." If they are running late, the customer is called. Using a computer program to track orders allows them to keep customers informed. No matter how the order was placed, phone confirmations are made. Their excellent customer service doesn’t vary whether the order is a dinner for three in a private home or a large business meeting.

It’s a service that works well for all parties. Steve Fish, Director of Sales, explains. "When people use us to deliver food, it gives them more time with their families." Heather agrees. "There’s something about eating together that really bonds people, whether it’s a family or a group of coworkers. We also increase in-house restaurant business. People use our book at work to order lunch, then use it to decide where to go to dinner. We know one restaurant that had to add staff after they started using us as their delivery service."

"We also help increase restaurant’s revenue," continues Steve. "They may want to reach out to another segment of customers, the ones who want to eat restaurant-quality food, but don’t want to go out. Starting up their own delivery service is just too expensive. They can use us without the start-up expense, it takes no physical space and they don’t have employee costs."

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Owners Jim Bridgman and Mikhail Rebrik have a slightly different start-up story. They actually worked at another delivery service and learned what worked well. They also had ideas of their own they wanted to implement. Off they went and Cuisine Limousine (CL) was born in 2003.

"We’re such a young company, we’re still in the start-up phase. We listen to our customers and learn something every day," says Travis Bridgman. "Our business includes both corporate and residential. Our corporate business has been built on relationships with the people at businesses who order food every day and handle meetings and events."

CL has a large delivery area—Factoria, Bellevue, Kirkland, parts of Woodinville, the Microsoft complex, all of downtown and north to the University of Washington. They have five drivers but want to eventually grow to 30, plus add one more employee in the office. Besides the approximately 50 restaurants they partner with, CL also delivers for Cuizam!.

Like the other services, CL staff know their success depends on good relationships with restaurants. "It’s a team effort and we’re here to help and give them our best," says Travis. "Some restaurants, like Ming Palace, actually print ‘we deliver’ on their menus with our phone number. It makes it very easy for the customer." Their company motto has to do with three Rs—reliable, rewarding relationships.

As part of their growth plan, CL offers rewards to those who use their service. Rewards take the form of gift cards that can be used for future orders or as gifts to customers or friends. Many businesses use them as employee perks and sales reps use them as marketing tools. In addition, they partner with community groups on fundraisers and give donations to PTA bingo events and work with youth.com.

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Creative and fun-loving, Christopher Hughes and Leanne Mumm Pardo (below) don’t seem likely candidates to start a dry cleaning delivery service for corporate customers. Nor does their background at a design firm immediately make you think "dry cleaning!" Nonetheless, it was a successful delivery venture, enabling customers like Washington Mutual and Alaska Airlines to offer perks (hence the name DayPerks) to their employees.

The next logical step was to ask their corporate customers what else they would like delivered. Research showed (and no Seattle DINING! reader is surprised) that it’s all about food. By July of 2001, dry cleaning was phased out and food was in.

What they’ve created is very fun—breakfast and lunch menus for corporate meetings, thank you’s, morale boosters and One Hour Parties TM that make office celebrations memorable. Food quality is their number one priority and they partner with various vendors within a specific territory to supply the best items. No food is prepared by DayPerks. Their vendor partners benefit by increased business through the marketing provided by DayPerks. Pharmaceutical reps give the parties, breakfast or lunch to their clients as marketing tools. Any everyone who orders gets rewarded through the DayPerks Points System TM.

In addition to breakfast items and buffets and appetizers, they offer Action Box Lunches TM. Each lunch has an added element of surprise—it could be Lego pieces, "Loaded Questions" cards that get people talking over lunch or, the newest launch, The Cubes Collectibles. Made by the parent company of Archie McPhee, these are mini-office cubicles with employees, motivational posters, solitaire games on computers and more.

Increased fun comes with the One Hour Parties TM. Like everything DayPerks does, the idea is to have a memorable, bonding office event that takes minimal time. Employees and management get happy at the same time—it’s a miracle. The parties all have a theme, maybe Margaritaville (sorry, no actual alcohol is served), an ice cream social, hot dog tailgate parties or a luau. Props and music are provided. "It’s interesting to walk into a sea of cubicles and be carrying a parrot under your arm," says Christopher. Espresso carts have been brought in to greet employees as they arrive at work. And many ideas come from the customers. "We’ve had people ask about casino and tapas parties, but one of the most interesting was the request for a ‘Celine Dion’ party," laughs Leanne.

"Our niche is casual corporate parties. We don’t do weddings or large events. In 2003, we had a 60 percent increase in our business. In 2004, it was a 53 percent increase," says Leanne." They’ve obviously touched a corporate nerve.

DayPerks

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