Restaurant delivery services — a ‘temporary lifeline’ for some — trying to protect drivers
Getting food other than pizza delivered at home is something that this time last week many Wichitans considered an occasional luxury.
But as the response to coronavirus continues to evolve, restaurants and diners alike may soon be looking at food delivery in a new way.
Over the past few days, third-party delivery services like Wichita2Go, UberEats, Grubhub and DoorDash have started installing new “no-contact” delivery options, and some are waiving delivery fees for diners or commission fees for restaurants. In addition, several Wichita restaurants that previously didn’t offer delivery have been been adding it to their list of offerings, and some that did are now offering it for free.
If Kansas eventually goes the way of other states and bans restaurants from opening except for drive-through and delivery service, those in the food delivery sector want to be ready.
“If that happens, as long as I have restaurants wanting to continue to have delivery, I’m going to keep it open as long as it’s an option,” said Brian Burleson, who started Wichita2go four years ago. “We’re prepared. We’re ready to go.”
So far, Burleson said, delivery orders have picked up only slightly. But he’s getting lots of calls from restaurateurs who want to be added to the list of nearly 100 local places already using his service. He’s also been overwhelmed with e-mails from locals who want to come on board as drivers.
Burleson said he’s working with the restaurants to get menus online as quickly as possible. So far, he doesn’t need any more drivers, he said, but he knows that could change at any minute.
“Not everyone goes to the grocery store,” he said. “Some people want that feeling of normalcy, and food is definitely one of those things. We can be a temporary lifeline.”
The last few days also have seen several restaurants that didn’t already have delivery service adding it themselves. The Angry Elephant, which is the barbecue restaurant that recently took over the space attached to Augustino Brewing Company at Central and Tyler, is one of them.
Owner Santiago Munoz said he already had the website capabilities set up, so starting this week, he added delivery of his barbecue dishes within a five-mile radius. Delivery is free for orders of $25 and over, $3 if they’re less.
Delivery is giving Munoz, who is keeping his dining room open for now, a way to keep extra cash coming in as business slows. It’ll also help him stay afloat if bars and restaurants are ordered to close their dining rooms. In many states, takeout and delivery is still allowed when that happens.
“We’ve got to do what we’ve to to do right now,” he said.
Several restaurants and delivery services are also taking extra steps to protect their drivers and make delivery more affordable.
Wichita2Go this week added a new “no contact” delivery option, where customers can ask that the driver drop the food at the door and then return to the car. The driver waits until he or she can see the customer pick up the food and then leaves. For now, they’re also still allowing traditional deliveries.
Burleson is also offering a coupon code — STAYSAFE — and anyone who enters the code at checkout can get up to $4.99 off of the delivery fee.
Several of the national delivery services operating in Wichita are doing similar things.
DoorDash has changed its default delivery method to a no-contact option on its website and is also allowing independent restaurants to sign up for free for its service and pay no commission for 30 day.
Grubhub is deferring commission fees for independent restaurants and offering no-contact delivery. And Uber Eats, which is also offering no-contact delivery, said Monday it would waive delivery fees for orders from independent restaurants.
Many of the big delivery services, including DoorDash, Uber Eats and Postmates, are also offering financial assistance to drivers who are diagnosed with coronavirus or have to be quarantined.
To see a list of some of the restaurants in Wichita that are stepping up delivery services, visit Dining with Denise on Facebook.
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 3:45 PM.
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