Tony Illes, a deliveryman who went viral earlier this yr after quitting Uber Eats and going into enterprise into enterprise for himself as “Tony Delivers” is now planning to compete straight with the massive supply apps. He’s getting ready the launch of his personal app, referred to as Tony Delivers, that may have the identical fundamental idea as DoorDash or Uber Eats — you’ll have the ability to order meals out of your cellphone — however with extra transparency and extra communication between driver and buyer.
Illes made a reputation for himself by charging individuals a flat $5 charge to ship meals orders in downtown Seattle and the encircling space at a time when complaints in regards to the excessive price of supply had been spiking. In early 2024, DoorDash and Uber Eats hiked their meals supply charges in Seattle in response to new requirements on minimal wages for app staff coming into impact. Clients in the reduction of on their supply orders, eating places complained about falling income, and members of the Seattle Metropolis Council vowed to repeal that minimal wage ordinance, often called PayUp. The repeal hasn’t occurred, and DoorDash has continued to lift costs, just lately tacking on a brand new $1.99 charge on “long-distance” orders in Seattle.
Illes’s app will ditch all these “charges” in favor of a simplified system based mostly on Illes’s personal enterprise mannequin, with supply individuals on the platform setting how a lot they are going to cost and in what space they’ll ship. Clients could have a menu of supply individuals to select from, every with their very own costs and repair space. They’ll choose their supply particular person, then order their meals. When the meals arrives, the shopper can pay for the supply straight by Venmo or the same service.
“It’s true contract work,” Illes says, in contrast to DoorDash and Uber Eats, which give supply individuals orders with fee quantities connected that they’ll settle for or decline. He thinks that this could make compliance with PayUp comparatively easy, since if a driver is making lower than the ordinance-mandated minimal wage, they’ll elevate their costs.
This course of removes plenty of the opacity concerned in utilizing an app like DoorDash, which costs prospects a wide range of charges after which pays drivers an quantity that may fluctuate based mostly on quite a few components together with the space the motive force must journey and the time of day or evening. However utilizing Tony Delivers will even be much less seamless (pun meant) than the brand-name apps, since prospects will click on by the Tony Delivers app to pay for meals utilizing Toast or the same fee processor, then pay the motive force individually.
Illes says that this has benefits for everybody. It should “unveil what the true price of supply is” for patrons. For drivers — who Illes says can pay a charge, possibly $20 a month to start out, to affix the platform — the principle promoting level might be that they’ll set their very own costs. Since prospects choose who delivers their meals, there’s an opportunity that driver and buyer could have a greater relationship than they’d than when their interplay is totally mediated by an algorithm.
About 100 drivers have informed Illes they’d be all in favour of becoming a member of his platform, he says. At the least the primary batch of drivers to affix the platform might be vetted and interviewed, and most of them will, like Illes, have hundreds of accomplished deliveries for the apps. At first, all of the drivers might be based mostly in Seattle, although Illes has spoken to drivers in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles and thinks that finally Tony Delivers might develop to different cities, tapping right into a market of consumers who’re sad with the excessive charges of DoorDash and Uber Eats.
Illes anticipates beta testing the app quickly and a full launch in October. Till then, he’s nonetheless a one-man band, persevering with to take orders on his cellphone, Telegram, and Instagram. The truth that prospects at the moment have to succeed in out to him personally was one of many motivations behind creating the app — he says that some individuals “need to use this service” however “really feel that I will be overwhelmed” and so don’t trouble him.
The app, he hopes, will let different supply staff do what he’s carried out and go into enterprise for themselves. “Will probably be a special system, for certain,” he says. “There might be some innovation right here.”
Observe Tony Delivers on Instagram for updates on the app.
