Yesterday, as you know by now, Dallas lost dining-in privileges to the coronavirus. The list of restaurants in this city that are already pivoting full-steam toward takeout and delivery are many. Team Better Block wants to help make this process more efficient.
The community-boosting company says it is in the process of putting together kits that will quickly equip restaurants for no-touch takeout (which, of course, equips them for the onslaught of new orders through delivery apps, as well). Once assembled, the kits will use a locker system and signage to “not only direct customers through their parking area—or on street—to the drop-off location but also, it’s kind of a no-touch way to deliver the package,” says Andrew Howard, principal at Team Better Block. The set-up will accommodate people coming by car, foot, or bike. In addition to restaurants, some smaller markets could find the equipment handy as well, Howard says.
The company will consult with the businesses on their needs. Howard (who, if there are interested restaurant owners reading this, can be reached at [email protected]) says he’ll have a photo of the system to me soon, so I’ll post it here when he does. Meanwhile, the Dallas-based ride share service Alto said it would be open to allowing waitstaff to license its software for delivery, which allows restaurants to track the progress in real time and route the vehicles. Click that link and DM the CEO, Will Coleman.
“We started going and asking can we help you by delivering your food so you can keep your kitchen open? A lot of them have Door Dash and Uber Eats and that sort of thing, but higher end restaurants restaurants that weren’t doing delivery have said now that’s interesting—except for what do we do with our waitstaff?” Coleman said. “If you’re going to go create a delivery fleet, we’ve spent several million dollars making that an efficient operation. We’re just looking for creative ways to help other Dallas companies.”
Now go justify the hell out of some local food delivery.
