Dinner delivered by scooter
In the age of online shopping and Uber, consumers are used to being able to get what they want delivered right to their front door.
The rise in food delivery services is seeing this expectation reach new heights, as it’s now possible to eat food from your favourite restaurant in the comfort of your own home.
Delivereasy, Wellington’s latest food delivery service, is adding fresh competition to a relatively new market.
The company partners with local restaurants to deliver their food, in custom-made recycled wood boxes on the backs of scooters, to hungry customers around the city.
Directors Nick Foster and Blair Kippenberger said they came up with the idea on a lazy Sunday last year, after talking for years about having a business they could be passionate about.
‘‘One of our flatmates would always get Hells [pizza] delivered on a Sunday, and that was all she got – so we thought why can’t we get more of our favourite restaurants delivered?’’ he said.
The pair teamed up with third director Tim Robinson and in May Delivereasy was launched.
They have partnered with 10 restaurants of various cuisines so far, with an aim to double that amount.
Their delivery vehicles of choice were scooters, which helped keep costs down and was better for the environment.
Kippenberger said this energy conscious approach was a point of difference for the company.
A spokesperson for Food Ninja, established in Wellington in 2014, said it welcomed competition as this would enhance the service quality of each delivery company.
When Food Ninja started, there were only a few food delivery companies and not many people saw the need.
Now, even with increased competition, they were fully booked every night.
The competition was only likely to increase with Food Ninja expecting overseas companies such as Deliveroo and UberEat to enter the NZ market within the next year.
Expansion plans
Delivereasy plans tomove into Auckland or Christchurch within 18 months, but not before they grow their brand within Wellington and move beyond just a dinner service. ‘‘Wewant to go probably to the Hutt and Porirua.’’