Skip The Dishes Makes Meal Delivery Easy in Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton
New Brunswickers now have easy meal ordering at their fingertips as food delivery company Skip the Dishes expands into the province.
More than 40 local and chain restaurants in Moncton, Fredericton, and Saint John are now offering the service, which allows users to order food for delivery or pickup from the Skip the Dishes website or mobile app. Delivery is currently only available from 4 pm to 9 pm, but customers can order for pickup anytime during restaurant hours.
KC Chen is the owner of Cinta Ria, a Malaysian fusion restaurant in Moncton. He says had been contemplating offering a delivery service for some time but says it wasn’t feasible for a small local restaurant on their own. He’s trying out Skip the Dishes to feel out his customers’ interest.
Chen is concerned, though, about the high fee imposed on each order in exchange for the service. He says every order is subject to a 25 per cent fee that goes to Skip the Dishes.
“Because their rate is very high, I thought for about a week before I [decided to] try it because deliveries are usually only offered by franchise restaurants. Small, local restaurants normally don’t,” he says.
“I just wanted to try it. That’s why even though the fee is very high, I wanted to participate and just feel out how the whole thing would go, like delivery and ordering.”
Chen is hoping to continue offering the service for a time and take advantage of the expose the service will give his business. He says he’s considering offering his own online ordering service and perhaps delivery in the future.
“For a local business 25 per cent is a very high cost. I just want to get our name out. If we’re on the list, at least people will see our name and maybe try it. That’s what’s most important to me,” he says.
Hugo León de Gante owns and runs a Mexican takeout spot out of The Ville Cooperative, King Pakal. He says they’ve had relatively positive results since they began offering the service about a week ago.
“I used to work in restaurants where they had this kind of delivery. When I heard they were going to do it here, I was pretty stoked because I was thinking about delivering myself,” he says.
León de Gante says they’d tried delivering through taxis before but the cost wasn’t worth it to customers. He seems less concerned about the 25 per cent fee and says he believes the influx of customers thanks to increased exposure through the service will be worth it.
“It will definitely help the business economically because they’re sales we wouldn’t have otherwise,” he says. “These guys wouldn’t come here and make an investment if they didn’t know there was a market for it. It’s promising for everybody.”
Banner image: Hugo León de Gante owns and runs a Mexican takeout spot out of The Ville Cooperative, King Pakal. Image: Cara Smith.