Mark Gardner once toted a 50-pound turkey cooker miles through New York City on his bicycle, impressing his customer so much that Gardner earned a $40 tip after unloading the bulky apparatus at the man's doorstep.
"To make a living at it, you have to hustle," Gardner, now a Chattanoogan, said of life in the bicycle courier business.
The former bike shop owner, who most recently spent two years working as a bicycle courier on the bustling streets of the Big Apple, is bringing that attitude to the Scenic City now with his new company, Hey Eugene!
Gardner' bicycle delivery business will tote just about anything to anyone in his territory - the North Shore and the Southside, and perhaps St. Elmo and Highland Park later.
"It's all heart, hustle and muscle," Gardner said
Food deliveries from restaurants in the urban core are a prime market for Hey Eugene! but Gardner and the small team of independent contractors he has hired also will ferry documents and other items across town, for individuals or businesses, with a goal of delivering in one hour or less.
"It's been received so well by the businesses from going in and talking to them," said Gardner, who has been in Chattanooga about a month. "While many of them use our competition, Dinner Delivered, we feel that competition is healthy. It's giving people a choice."
Chatter about how Chattanooga's burgeoning tech and outdoors scenes are attracting people to a revitalized downtown area kept coming up in conversations with friends and on the internet as Gardner and his girlfriend, Suzanne Price, mulled the possibility of leaving New York.
They visited the city in person, liked what they saw and decided to make the move. Gardner, realizing there was not another bicycle courier business in town, decided to create Hey Eugene!
Customers are directed to heyeugenedelivers.com to get their deliveries started. The standard delivery fee for food orders is $5, plus tip.
Gardner, who lives downtown, has bags, bungee cords, straps and thermal bags just for pizzas among the tools at his disposal for toting items.
"You get creative tying stuff on," he said.
Price also has entrepreneurial ambitions that have not been announced yet, and both feel that Chattanooga is great place to pursue new business ideas.
"For two people like us with an idea that's not already here, you kind of just plow through and try to do it," she said.
Gardner also lived in Georgia and Texas while serving in the military. He recalled being told years ago that, if you're going to relocate to a new city, you should bring something cool or new with you.
"And," he said, "I think we're doing that."
Asked if he would ever consider expanding the Hey Eugene! delivery range to Lookout and Signal Mountains, he chuckled.
"I'm not that young anymore," he said.
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.