Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce are among the 60 cities recently added to the door-to-door delivery service DoorDash, which helps busy people get dinner on the table as quickly and easily as possible.
DoorDash, a San Francisco-based tech company, launched in 2013, providing a way for restaurants to efficiently deliver orders to customers, without requiring a fleet of delivery drivers.
It’s a triple-win for the company and community, according to Brent Seals, general manager of launches for DoorDash: customers get the orders they want without having to go to the restaurant; restaurants can serve more customers than just those who go through their doors; and residents can earn money as drivers delivering meals from restaurants to customers.
“We’re continuing to expand,” Seals said. The company can now connect 12 million residents with local restaurants all through an app on their phones or online via computers.
Prior to this latest 60-city launch, DoorDash had mostly been in metropolitan areas. But with “encouraging results,” Seals said, the company is expanding into suburban areas.
In St. Lucie West, DoorDash customers can choose from national fast food chains such as Wendy’s and Taco Bell, to more local fare including Lola’s Seafood Eatery, Frank & Al’s Pizzeria and Spiro’s Taverna.
Other dining options include Kilwins, Duffy’s Sports Grill, LongHorn Steakhouse and even Starbucks, to name a few. A complete list of options can be found at www.doordash.com; enter your ZIP code to get the list of participating restaurants.
Seals said restaurants not already partnering with DoorDash can easily do so by going online and applying for the partnership.
Interested eateries can go to the company’s website and select “Be a Partner Restaurant” from the menu.
Residents who are interested in making the delivery runs –called Dashers – can also go to the website and select “Be a Dasher.”
Seals said Dashers can earn money when and where they want and can create their own “super flexible” schedules.
Dasher go through a screening process to ensure safety.
So where will DoorDash expand to next? Seals said the company is encouraged by the support it has seen in Florida and more suburban areas will be added; it’s just a matter of restaurant participation and resident desire.
Both factors are measured via social media mentions and web traffic – as more residents plug in ZIP codes not currently served, the company begins to pay attention to a potential need to move there.
“We’re excited,” Seals said of the prospects going forward.