Restaurant delivery website skips the middle-man

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This article was published 26/11/2020 (1772 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A list of local restaurants and breweries that offer their own delivery service is just a click away.

A website that puts Winnipeggers in touch with their favourite places has been set up by a group of volunteers.

“You can think of us as a directory of Winnipeg restaurants that do their own delivery service. That’s the only qualifier to be on our website,” said volunteer Rob Holter-Ferguson.

“We have specific information about the restaurants’ services and then we link people directly to their website or their phone number.”

The Let’s Order Delivery website was launched on Monday. So far, 14,000 people have visited the site.

“We’ve gotten overwhelming positive feedback from restaurants and the people using the site,” he said. “It’s been extremely positive. They’re thankful for the visibility. A lot of these restaurants are just trying to navigate these restrictions right now and anything helps.”

The website lists restaurants according to areas of the city, to allow users to order close to home.

“We wanted to give people a way to get the most relevant information they could and make the site easy to use. Sorting by neighbourhood allowed people to… support the restaurants close to them that they care about,” said Holter-Ferguson.

Restaurants have lost business and have been forced to spend at least $2,000 a month on personal protective equipment. Many generated less than 40 per cent of pre-pandemic sales, according to a survey conducted by the Manitoba Restaurant and Food Services Association in October.

Holter-Ferguson’s wife, Danielle Northam, posted a list of restaurants, including location, on Reddit. The post got a lot of attraction and a web developer, Ryan Neudorf, suggested they team up and build a website. The couple’s friend, Grant Geard, has helped develop the site.

The seven volunteers at Let’s Order Delivery have put in more than 100 hours to drum up more business for local eateries, said Holter-Ferguson.

“I think everybody in our group of volunteers really thinks the restaurant community in Winnipeg is the heart of our city. We want to do anything we can to make sure they’re still there when these restrictions are over.”

kellen.taniguchi@freepress.mb.ca