Have the Avenue Delivered to your Door--at the click of a button

Ordering lunch for the office? Or maybe you’re planning to place an order for family dinner? Or snacks for the dorm? Wouldn't it be nice if you could just place a food order online? Now you can.

The Central Business Improvement District has partnered with Delivery.com. The new website lets customers order food just like they shop—online. The initiative is part of the ongoing efforts to promote restaurants and other businesses within the district, explained BID Executive Director Anthony Capece at a recent presentation to real Commercial estate brokers. We are trying to be innovators in bringing the internet to main street.

The BID coordinated the involvement of a number of restaurants on Central, and provided a link to the website on this newsletter. Now, customers can "have the avenue delivered" right to their door.

The network of vendors on Delivery.com is still growing, but the website includes access to a number of different restaurants, including Ichiban, Salsa Latina, Gandhi Restaurant, and Aashiana. The website provides a full menu at each restaurant, and customers simply click the dishes they want added to their order. At the end, they pay with a a credit card via a secure server, just as they would online.

It's easy and fast, said Capece. And for those customers who tend to order the same things over again, Delivery.com saves your order, so you just press a button, and the restaurant brings you your usual, he said. Restaurants who are participating say they hope Delivery.com will help them reach out to more people.

Salsa Latina owner Luis Uzhca heard about the website through the BID, and liked the idea. He said he currently gets 2-3 orders a day through Delivery.com, and believes it will pick up, “if we could just advertise it a little more.” He suggests letting promoting the website through local hotels like the Clarion and Motel 6, so that hotel guests can order in.

Aashiana owner Saleem Khan said he hopes the website will raise his profile in the community. Currently, he’s had only two orders placed through Delivery.com. Not everyone knows that his Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurant makes deliveries, and he’s hoping the website will help build his delivery business, he said.

The website also provides access to other categories besides food, including flowers and gifts, and household goods. The BID would eventually like to populate these categories with Central businesses as well, Capece said. If businesses want in they should call us, we make it happen...