DeliverMe Arlington/Lakeland

01/08/2024

Hey everyone.

We opened our doors at DeliverMe on July 17, 2017, as a third-party restaurant delivery service (RDS). Since then, we've completed over 74,000 orders, serving areas like Millington, Shelby Forest, Atoka, Munford, Drummonds, Brighton, Arlington, Lakeland, Eads, and Hickory Withe.

Locally, prior to the emergence of industry giants like DoorDash and UberEats, local restaurants in Millington and its neighboring areas were hesitant to pay the 30% commission these platforms demanded. This model didn't align with the interests of small and independent restaurants who were focused on profitability over sales. In delivery, 30% is the bare minimum needed to make the model work and your local restaurants viewed delivery as having to offer a 30% discount on their product for no other reason than their customers wanting their food delivered to them. To address this, we adopted a hybrid RDS model, charging customers through menu markups while paying restaurants their full price. This approach allowed us to start operations successfully but lacked automation, requiring constant decision-making on our part. We were responsible, both reputationally and financially, for the customer experience.

The landscape changed dramatically with the entry of well-funded competitors like DoorDash. The industry resembled the impact of major retailers on local businesses in the past, such as when Walmart opened in suburban towns back in the 80's. Much like the disappearance of local independent grocery, clothing, and department stores, the number of local RDSs across the country has dwindled significantly. Shortly after we opened, we knew there were at least 475 independent RDSs in operation, and that number in 2023 has contracted to around 125 nationally.

As you are likely aware, our customer front end website at www.mydeliverme.com has seen changes over the years. While we started with a company called rdscloud.net as our original white label tech solution, we quickly outgrew their support capabilities and turned to other companies in the space in 2018 such as DeliverLogic. After internal support issues arose that were irreconcilable for our company, we switched in 2019 to DataDreamers, where we remained until Q2 2023. The current tech infrastructure faces significant compatibility issues between the old and new systems. Building a new tech stack from scratch would also prove extremely costly and risky, given the competitive and evolving nature of the industry, with the main competitor being a Fortune 500's Future 50 company with unlimited venture capital to spend to gain market share through 'any means necessary'. This is a company that could literally and has, run in the red, since its inception. Hey, DoorDash only lost 75 million dollars last quarter! /facepalm.

During this time, we stepped into catering setup and delivery after working in the RDS space with Baby Jacks owner Will Clem. Our experience in catering was very positive and this venture helped us refine DeliverMe and expand the catering operations of our company into a national delivery service provider for other clients such as ezCater, with our presence now from Seattle to Miami.

I was born and raised in Millington. Elizabeth, a midtown Memphis native, has been here since 2014. I have been and will remain dedicated to my hometown. With that said, Elizabeth and I are actively evaluating our immediate next steps to ensure our core service as a Delivery Service Provider aligns with the evolving landscape. One option is to shift our focus from being an order originator to concentrating solely on delivering orders that originate elsewhere outside of our platform, allowing us to streamline our operations and enhance our core mission.

During this evaluation period, the DeliverMe website will remain in an inactive state. Since the the delivery landscape is constantly changing, we have to ensure we make the correct and best strategic choices for our operations as a whole. We appreciate your continued support and we love each and every one of you for placing your trust in DeliverMe. We will keep you updated as we navigate these challenges and determine the best path forward.

Trey and Elizabeth Asbridge

10/21/2023

Cheers to your next chapter!

Goodbyes are never easy but they are sometimes necessary....

Wow! Arlington, it's been a wild ride and a pleasure serving you for the past 7 years. To the community, surrounding areas, crave fans and followers, I can't thank you enough. You all helped take a dream I had sketched in a binder and turn it in to a reality. To those who consulted with me in the very beginning and who believed in me, I love and appreciate you more than you know. To my original staff (you all know who you are) for brainstorming, planting new ideas and making it through trials to finally get our end result, I thank you and I miss you daily. Serving this community has been one of the best seasons of my life. From meeting new friends and families, to cars driving through the front windows, making it through COVID together and coming out on the other side, here we are. Here I am on the other side with an amazing staff, amazing past and present managers who gave/give me their all, To you guys I thank you!

With that being said, as they say "all good things must come to an end." I am afraid that is true for me. Crave Bistro was an incredible season in my life. One that I will cherish and mourn the loss of forever. My heart is heavy, sad, happy and peaceful all at the same time. I have reached a point in my life where I need to pour in to me, my kids, my husband and family. My bake shop (Crave Sweets) has grown so quickly that it's requiring more of me in order for it to be successful. Baking is my heart and passion so I was left with an ultimatum. Give as much to both and none to my family or give more to my bakery and the most to my family. Yesterday was my last day at Crave Bistro. Tho I will no longer have Crave Bistro, I am still in this community and just right next door. Crave Sweets is staying.

Have no fear, when choosing a buyer for Crave, I wanted to make sure it was someone I liked, who believed in community involvement and who would also take care of my staff the way that we do.

I believe I am handing Crave over to someone who has an incredible concept and has more time to continue to improve and grow with up and coming trends! He has every intention of keeping my current staff so all of the familiar faces should remain the same. There will be changes to come but I do hope you all will show up and support him as much as you did me.

To all of my Crave family and friends, I love you dearly. My family and I will forever cherish the memories we all made together and will always remember the support we received from this community.

There's a trick to the 'graceful exit.' It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, or a relationship is over--and let it go. It means leaving what's over without denying its validity or its past importance to our lives. It involves a sense of future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are changing directions rather than leaving something behind. I am officially 86ing myself. (those who are restaurant people will know)

Yours Brewley, Lana 💚

Congratulations Belltower Coffer House.

10/09/2023

Hey everyone. As you've likely noticed, the website and the app looks a little different. We've been testing a replacement product over the last few weeks. There have been a few bugs we've had to deal with during that time, and in order to get all of them fixed, at once, we are going to close for Monday and Tuesday, October 9th and 10th. This will allow us to be all hands on deck dealing with tech to ensure when we open back up on Wednesday we can deliver on the experience you are accustomed to from us.

As always,, feel free to drop us a line at [email protected] or by phone at 901-873-1364. See you in a few days! =)

-Trey & Elizabeth

09/06/2023

Hey Arlington and Lakeland family! DeliverMe has a new look on the way! We've switched our primary marketplace tech over and you will be seeing a new website design as well as new apps on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. As with any tech transition there may be bumps in the road so please give us a shout with any issues you run into at [email protected] or you can call us at 901-873-1364.

Common problems during transfers like this can usually be corrected by refreshing your page or clearing your browser's cache.

If you have prior credits or gift cards that are not working, contact us so we can make sure those are reflected on your next order.

We also are ready to bring on a few new drivers to compliment our amazing crew we have. For more information on driving with DeliverMe, check the comments below for the jotform link, which has information on how we operate.

Hope to see you soon!

-Trey & Elizabeth