Chomp Delivery Co-Op Celebrates Fifth Anniversary

Chomp, an Iowa-based delivery provider that’s primarily owned by area restaurants, is celebrating its fifth anniversary in its Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty markets. One of a handful of delivery cooperatives across the country, Chomp Delivery was conceived of in the summer of 2017, a few months after Grubhub bought OrderUp. The company said, …

LoCo Helps Restaurants Create Their Own, Cheaper Delivery Networks

It’s a throwback to the earliest days of delivery: what if restaurants banded together and created their own delivery service to avoid the costs of third-party delivery apps? After a few ups and downs, LoCo Co-Ops is doing exactly that in markets across the country, with plans to enter Chicago in the coming months. LoCo …

Chomp to end delivery services in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Chomp is terminating its food delivery services in Cedar Rapids on August 15. In a note to restaurants, the locally owned company said its delivery services have been “highly successful” in Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty, but it has not seen the same success in Cedar Rapids. Chomp was …

Big Tech’s food-delivery apps face a grassroots revolt

When Grubhub came to Iowa City in 2017, Jon Sewell got what he describes as a “call to action.” He owns a D.P. Dough franchise there and had been using a delivery service called OrderUp to get his calzones to college students. But then Grubhub bought OrderUp and doubled the commission on orders to an …

Customers paying about $.50 more per order to support drivers during gas spike

NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa (KWWL) – The price of gas had dipped slightly in Iowa in recent days, but it is still up 50 cents over the last month. “Usually my tank is like 40 dollars, so the jump was like straight up to 50,” Jonathan Jackson said, a driver for CHOMP delivery service in Johnson …

Legislation aims to regulate third-party delivery drivers

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – People who order food on third-party delivery apps might soon see some changes in the people delivering their food. A bill in the House and one in the Senate add regulations to drivers. It was a change Kurt Bean, owner of Bops Pizza on Blairs Ferry Rd, said needed to …

How Is Lyft’s Food-Delivery Strategy Different?

Ride-hailing service Lyft is entering the food-delivery space in a partnership with online-ordering platform Olo. Though it may sound like Lyft is trying to become the next Uber Eats, it’s setting itself apart with a different strategy. “This is not about Lyft creating a clone of Uber Eats,” Olo CEO Noah Glass told Insider (Dec. 14). The Strategy Lyft’s …

Home food delivery still going strong for Iowa businesses

From online retail giants to local takeout, last year’s home quarantine period saw a boom in home-delivery services. That wave receded this spring as vaccination numbers grew, but larger Iowa markets are likely to see continued growth in the service. “We anticipate more customers choosing online shopping as their primary way to shop for groceries,” …

Delivery Co-ops Offer Growing Alternative to National Gig Delivery Services

When the pandemic-induced economic shutdown hit the United States in March 2020, among the hardest hit businesses were restaurants. A National Restaurant Association report published last January estimated that 110,000 establishments had closed at least temporarily—and many permanently. That’s one in six restaurants nationwide. An estimated 2.5 million jobs were lost. To survive amid shutdown orders and …