Meal delivery no longer in back seat

Pizza delivery has taken a back seat. Now, diners can enjoy everything from Thai to tapas without leaving the comforts of home with two new delivery businesses, River City Takeout Express and Dinner Delivered.

Jason Kemp and business partner David Harris grew tired of having few options for foods brought to their residences. In January they launched Dinner Delivered, which brings meals from 10 restaurants to local homes and businesses.

With a dozen drivers driving their own cars with magnetic stickers on the sides and car toppers on the roof advertising the business, “Business is absolutely fantastic,” Mr. Kemp said.

Chattanooga has had several delivery businesses offering the same service in the past, but they closed almost as quickly as restaurants with no patrons.

“We worked for months trying to come up with a good business model to make the logistics of this type business work,” Mr. Kemp said. “Once we found the right one, we decided to move forward.”

Mr. Kemp credits a software program designed for home delivery service for making Dinner Delivered a success so far.

The Web site — www.dinnerdeliveredonline.com — allows patrons to peruse menus from the restaurants and place orders online. If an order for steak is made, it lets people choose to what degree they want it cooked. A choice of side dishes are another option. And orders placed for multiple diners can be tagged with their names to simplify deliveries.

Rhonda Hampton, a perioperative support assistant at Erlanger Medical Center, has just 30 minutes for lunch, so delivery is a must for her and coworkers.

“Not everyone delivers, so sometimes we have to go out and get our meals and that makes us late getting back,” she said, adding that she likes the idea of a service that delivers food from several restaurants. It gives her a choice, she said.

“We eat in the cafeteria here and at the Chick-fil-A here, but sometimes we want something different,” she said.

Though RiverCity Takeout Express, started by Garrett Beavers in December 2007, does not have an interactive Web site yet, the Internet site has menus from the restaurants participating in Mr. Beavers’ delivery service. But he’s also added the restaurants’ daily specials as well as nightlife happenings should the restaurant choose to have live music and other events.

“I update the Web site every day,” he said. “It’s a good way to help the restaurant out and keep customers informed about what’s going on.”

Mr. Beavers drove for a restaurant delivery service while in college in Oregon and knows the business well, he said. When he moved back to Chattanooga, he perceived the need for such an operation and wanted to run his own business, he said.

Response so far has been good, he added.

“I’m happy with my decision to do this,” he said. “It makes for a long 12-hour day, but I’m sure those long hours will be rewarded.”

Getting restaurants to sign up has not been difficult, he said. Once the first few had signed on, others soon followed. He has 14 eateries so far, with more coming on board on a regular basis.

“It’s beneficial for the restaurant,” he said. “It gives them free advertising and marketing.”

Sticky Fingers is one of the restaurants that have signed up with River City Takeout, and manager Dennis Hubbard said it’s been a good move.

“We’ve been doing quite a bit of business with them,” he said. “It’s a service a lot of us have talked about and wanted to see open downtown. It benefits people who want dinner delivered because the only delivery we do is for catering jobs.”

How to order

* River City Takeout Express: www.Rivercitytakeout.com or 752-0041. Delivery fee: $5. Delivers downtown, to north Chattanooga and Red Bank (limited).

* Dinner Delivered:

www.dinnerdeliveredonline.com or 634-8899. Delivery fee: $4.99. Delivers downtown, to St. Elmo, North Chattanooga, Highland Park and Lookout Mountain, Tenn. (additional fees apply).