As life gets busier and busier, restaurants whose owners never even conceived of implementing a delivery system are now hiring drivers to bring food to their increasingly active clientele.
Downtown Tempe is continuing to burgeon into an active working city, in addition to all of the collegiate traffic in the area. Leading a busy lifestyle can make it difficult to maintain a regular lunch schedule, though.
That's where DoorDash comes in with a new, third-party delivery system.
Frank Lara, the vice president of operations for Chompie's, said the partnership came about as a new way for his business to meet the needs of its customers.
"They've made the experience very easy for anybody who is unfamiliar with their delivery service," he said. "We have seen a good chunk of business that we would not normally get."
Chompie's, which has five locations in the state, has experienced an increase in business since partnering with DoorDash, Lara said. The Tempe location — on University Drive between Rural Road and Dorsey Lane — had 85 orders just in the last week, he said, and is expected to increase even more going into the upcoming school year.
Lara said he was happy to see that DoorDash employees receive training on delivery and have their own uniforms, something that establishes their credibility with customers.
James Hoyt, general manager for DoorDash Arizona, said his company's business has picked up dramatically since making a foray into the state's market.
DoorDash drivers are independent contractors, much like Uber drivers, Hoyt said. Although they are independent, the drivers do undergo company training.
Hoyt said his colleagues have offices in the Biltmore area of Phoenix and are able to easily meet with their partner restaurants and customers to ensure their needs are met. This has enabled DoorDash to see double-digit growth over the past year, he said.
"Customers enjoy our service and come back to us more than our competition," he said. "It's kind of like a rat on a wheel."
Eddie Hantas, chef and owner of Hummus Xpress on the northwest corner of Hardy Drive and Broadway Road, said partnering with DoorDash has given his business unprecedented growth.
"It's been great, we get ... orders daily," Hantas said. "It brings maybe an extra couple percent per day. It helps."
Both Hantas and Lara share an optimistic outlook on the future of their respective forays into delivery service. They said business will pick up even more than it already has once students trickle back into Tempe for the upcoming academic school year.
"We feel that it's going to continue to grow," Lara said. "People don't just have to get pizza — they have a few more options out there."
Reach the reporter at jwbowlin@asu.edu or follow @mrjoshuabowling on Twitter.
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