There is a trend in food delivery services across America and these beneficial companies have made their mark on Auburn.
The amount of food delivery services in Auburn has grown in the last few years. There are around five services currently operating on the plains. This trend’s popularity may continue to rise at the same rate of the drive-through trend in the 1930’s.
Food delivery services are created for the customer’s convenience says CEO of Fetch Me application Harrison Evola. You go online or download the application on your phone, type in your address, select your restaurant and order your meal without leaving your home. Fetch Me also allows you to track your order.
Fetch Me can also deliver your groceries. Evola says they can pick you up anything from Walmart, besides large items such as a refrigerator or television.
Auburn has both local and national food delivery services. The national services aren’t based locally, since they are larger companies, but still cater to Auburn along with other cities.
Food delivery services that are based in Auburn include TigerTownToGo.com and application, Fetch Me.
The national food delivery services Auburn citizens use are GrubHub.com, EatStreet.com and application, Envoy Now.
“I’d be studying all day or busy with class and I would look down at my watch and realize it’s really late and I haven’t eaten,” Evola says. “I realized there was a need for food delivery in the market because everyone is short on time.”
While food delivery services are appealing to college students, they aren’t the main customers. Evola says elderly people and local families also take advantage of the convenient service. He says if the majority of their customers were split in two, it would be part college students and part families.
Co-owner and operator of TigerTownTogo.com Shea McCutchen says she believes the delivery service trend will continue to grow here and she is amazed to see how much Auburn has grown since 2013.
“The increased student enrollment, new university buildings on campus, high rise condos and restaurants popping up everywhere shows that Auburn is growing,” McCutchen says. “As long as Auburn continues to grow like that, I believe the delivery service industry will increase as well.”
The increase of food delivery services in Auburn has not negatively affected Jim ‘N Nicks and Mama Goldberg’s Deli. Employees from both restaurants say they haven’t noticed a difference in the number of people dining in.
“The partnership we have with food delivery services has increased our business,” Mama Goldberg’s Deli general manager Christina Nowlin says. “People who don’t have a car can order from our restaurant via food delivery service and conveniently get their meal delivered to their home.”
Nowlin says this way, they are still making the sale that they wouldn’t have made without the delivery service.
Jim ‘N Nicks bartender Robert Brennan says the restaurant is partnered with TigerTownToGo.com and Fetch Me. “Each delivery service will earn money differently. Some services will upcharge each item, while others will have a flat delivery fee,” Brennan says.
The food delivery application, Fetch Me, is currently working on expanding their service by creating a delivery program with the university’s Tiger Dining. “You’ll be able to have food delivered to you in the library using your tiger card,” Evola says.
He says they will pilot this idea some time during this semester and they will take things from there depending on the success of the pilot.
