A Carleton alumnus has created a food delivery start-up that delivers food from restaurants using a format similar to Uber.
Goksu Coler saved up, quit his job in Montreal working for aircraft simulators, and moved back to Ottawa to start his business, MunchWagon.
“I wanted to do this because I don’t want to work for somebody else. I love being involved in tech start-ups, it is something I really enjoy,” Coler said. “People are getting excited and I see a lot of potential.”
Customers can log onto the MunchWagon.ca where they can order food from restaurants that do not have a regular delivery service, such as The Works, Smoque Shack and East Side Mario’s.
Once they’ve clicked on the meal they wish to purchase, MunchWagon.ca takes care of everything else.
Users pay by credit card—no cash is involved—and order the food to be delivered anywhere in the Ottawa downtown core. A flat delivery fee of $4.99 is applied to the total.
Tipping is unnecessary, much like Uber, Coler said.
“It’s made to be easy, convenient and all done within 30 seconds,” he said.
Launched March 2, Coler is already optimistic about MunchWagon’s success.
“The first day we launched, we had one order, and just by social media and word of mouth, it’s been spreading really good,” Coler said. “Everyday we’re getting more orders and adding more restaurants. Pretty soon we’ll have to hire another driver.”
After expanding MunchWagon to reach to the outskirts of Ottawa, and widening the list of restaurants able to be ordered from, Coler would like to further the startup’s geographic area and expand into Toronto and Kingston.
While Coler said it’s a smart initiative for today’s consumer-orientated world, Carleton students are holding skeptical about the start-up.
“If you’re with a group of people and don’t want to waste time travelling or if nothing is close enough, I can see why this would satisfy all those scenarios,” said Filip Szymanski, a second-year information technology, photonics, and laser technology student.
“But if I was interested in restaurant food, I would prefer to go to a restaurant if my friends could agree on something close by to save some money, instead of paying for delivery.”
As a vegan, Francesca Fox, a fourth-year law student said she would like to explore the homemade foods of different restaurants and cafes around Ottawa who cater to different diets.
“It is difficult to find wide varieties of dishes that are vegan in one restaurant,” she said. “If this website were to cater to diets which are not well represented in the menus of popular delivery restaurant menus I think they could gather a following from foodies, vegans, and vegetarians who are looking to expand their ordering options.”
