TRENDS are fleeting by nature.
"Since we began a three month trial with Deliveroo restaurant turnover is up by around 5%"
Truffle oil, ceviche, kale, those twatty man-buns, all have come and gone like an Aperol Spritz in 2014.
Still, Deliveroo's online 'premium takeway' concept, the latest food trend to take hold of Manchester, is in it for the long haul.
Deliveroo - launched in London in 2013 by former-investment banker William Shu and software developer Greg Orlowski - allows its 60,000+ users in London, Brighton, Oxford and now Manchester to order restaurant food directly to their home or office.
It's an attack, they say, on the 'kebab shop crap' punters have been left with until now. "People will always want high-quality food," says Daniel Fruhman, Deliveroo's Regional Sales Manager for the North West. "The reason people have settled for Just Eat or Hungry House until now is because they're drunk at 3am or just because there's been nothing else on offer... now there is."
DeliverooThe food delivery service has taken the capital by storm, where 300 Deliveroo drivers and cyclists now deliver food from over 750 restaurants to 120 neighbourhoods across London.
The investors have clocked the potential. In January 2015 the food delivery start-up received nearly £17m in funding (led by Accel Partners) to drive 'aggressive' expansion across the UK; following Manchester the service will launch in Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Dublin, Bristol... and just about every major conurbation in the UK.
Business in Manchester, according to Fruhman, has increased by 'roughly 10% each week' since their launch in January.
"We're now doing nearly 100 deliveries a day from 32 restaurants in Manchester city centre," says Fruhman; that's fifteen more restaurants than when we first met in late-February.
Gaucho, Carluccios, Umezushi, Southern 11 and Solita have all now jumped into bed with Deliveroo; and the list (see bottom) gets longer each day.
"We're picking up three to four extra restaurants each week," Fruhman continues, "We hope to soon be up to 60 restaurants in the city centre, and will launch in Fallowfield, Didsbury, Chorlton and Salford very soon."
Quality measures remain tight at Deliveroo with drivers travelling a maximum of 2.5km from each restaurant to keep time on-the-road below ten minutes and the food hot. Average delivery time currently stands at 32 minutes.
"Food quality is our main concern," says Fruhman. "That's why we won't deliver food from a city centre restaurant to Didsbury. If that food turns up cold and an hour later than that reflects badly on us and the restaurant; and the restaurants main concern is maintaining the brand."
Tampopo owner, David Fox, with a Deliveroo driverFranco Sotgiu, owner of Solita restaurants, wasn't sure about the new service at first, but is now sold on Deliveroo:
"We were reticent at first, our main concern being that it would slow our kitchens down," Sotgiu told us. "However, their system allows us to alter our service times and put a block on orders during hectic shifts in the restaurant.
"Since we began a three month trial with Deliveroo we believe we're their most popular restaurant in Manchester, "even though we limit transactions at the weekends," he continued. "Restaurant turnover is up by around 5% and we'll be trialing the service at the Didsbury restaurant from tomorrow."
David Fox, owner of long-standing Manchester Pan-Asian restaurant Tampopo, is equally enthused.
"Where Deliveroo are smart is they recognise that restaurants main focus is dine-in customers, so they make it easy for restaurants to flex delivery times depending on how busy they are. This encourages good restaurants to participate knowing that they still have control."
The appeal of Deliveroo is easy to see; it's a winner for all parties. Customers can order restaurant quality dishes without lifting a buttock; restaurants can increase sales and revenue in quieter periods without putting too much pressure on the kitchen; and Deliveroo take a small cut and create jobs.
This is one food trend that might just have the legs (or the wheels, in this case) to make it last.
Participating restaurants include: Handmade Burger Co., Splendid Kitchen, Philpotts, Gaucho, Lucha Libre, Filthy Cow, Carluccios, Solita, Tea 42, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Sapporo Teppanyaki, Avalanche, Wanderlust, Per Tutti, Crafty Pig, Shack, Southern 11, Wahu, Ning, Umezushi, Tampopo, Ocean Treasure, Bollywood Masala, Armenian Taverna, El Capo, Oishi Q, Barburrito, La Bandera, Crazy Pedro's, Veeno, 23rd Street Pizza...
