The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Food delivery service DoorDash growing in county
A budding food delivery service in the Cleveland area is growing in Lorain County with the help of a few of its drivers.
DoorDash, a food delivery service that allows customers to order food through its phone app and get it delivered directly to their door, has now seen expansion throughout Lorain County and as far out as Painesville, Sandusky, Akron and Huron.
Recent expansions include Grafton, Vermilion and Oberlin.
Both local and chain restaurants in the county are able to utilize DoorDash’s services, which provide a driver to pick up food directly at the restaurant and take it out for delivery.
Christine Mazorek, a DoorDash driver, or “dasher,” from Oberlin, said that she began the gig part time in mid February this year and was hooked after her first order.
Now having made food delivery through the company her full-time job since April, she said the freedom and independence of being her own boss was the major plus for taking the job on.
In the spirit of her work, Mazorek has also invested hundreds of dollars into decking her car out with DoorDash magnets and light-up signs, as well as sporting T-shirts to represent her work while she is on deliveries.
“I want everyone to know about it,” she said. “I want everyone to see my car, everybody to look up and go, ‘What the heck is DoorDash?’”
Mazorek’s car doesn’t go without being noticed either, with many people shouting or waving to her as she goes on deliveries.
Mazorek said her schedules are made six days in advance for which region in Northeast Ohio she will be working at, where she will pick up orders as they come
in through the app.
On average, she will go on two to three deliveries
an hour and could take as much as 16 to 20 deliveries a shift.
“When it’s good out there, you wanna keep going and going and going,” Mazorek said.
Deliveries will run no less than $5 and can be as much as nearly $50, according to Mazorek.
The services provided through DoorDash also go beyond food delivery, she said.
Many days she will also help those who are bedridden pick up their newspapers and take out their trash.
“It’s just little stuff like that ... There’s people that need help,” Mazorek said.
Being a dasher is also good work for those who are disabled, need some extra cash, are retired or struggle finding work in more traditional settings, she said.
“This is really the job for them,” Mazorek said.
For those who are “dashing” in Lorain County, Mazorek said she encourages them to represent the brand to help get the word out.
“I encourage everyone to represent ... Let people know who you are,” she said.