An Interview With Hungry? We Deliver: From Local Pocono Restaurants To Your Door

Hungry We Deliver is a new business in the Pocono Mountains that provides a delivery service from local restaurants to your door.  We had the opportunity last week to interview the co-owners of Hungry? We Deliver, Richard Infante and Evelyn Infante to learn more about how their business works, and how needed this great new service is in the Poconos.

Thanks for talking with us today, when we heard about the service you offer we were pretty excited, so let’s start by talking about what exactly your service is and how it works.  Can you give us a brief explanation of how your service works?
HWD: What our service does is partner Customers with Restaurants. You go onto our website, check out the various cuisines, make your choice, view their menu, order, and checkout. We send the order to the restaurant and within 30 to 60 minutes (depending on weather or distance) your food will be delivered to your door or place of business as serve ready as possible.

People love convenience of food delivery – and not just when they’re tired and prefer to veg out on the couch with a hot meal. Delivery makes life easier for busy parents that don’t have time to cook or take a bunch of kids in the car to go out far, have disabilities, lack transportation or a great way to surprise a loved one, or even your office with a meal from a restaurant that they normally would not have access to getting delivered to them.

It’s convenient, more accurate and time saving.

What area restaurants are you currently partnered with?
HWD: Ahh…Sheri Empanadas, Big Mama’s Soul Food, CiCi’s Pizza, Cocina Dominicana Dominican Kitchen, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, Pocono Cheesecake Factory, Primo’s Pizza Pasta, Royal Caribbean Island Delights, Siamsa Irish Pub, Simply Seafood, Sophie’s, Vincent’s Deli Catering (list updated as of 10/24/2014 please check www.hungrywedeliver.net for the most current list)

Are you planning on including any more restaurants in the future?
HWD: Absolutely.  We are always looking for new restaurants to sign with us.  If you don’t see your favorite restaurant on our site, we are probably working very hard to sign them.  Check back frequently as we continue to add more restaurants.

What areas do you service currently?
HWD: Our office is located in Tannersville and we service an 8 mile radius from Tannersville.

Are there any plans for expanding to offer your services to other areas?
HWD: Yes.  We know that this service is going to explode and our future plans include expansion until we have covered the whole Pocono Mountains area.

What is the fee for your service, and does your fee include a driver’s tip?
HWD: We charge a $4.99 delivery fee for most restaurants and a little more for deliveries in hard to get areas.   This does not include a tip for the driver. We only suggest that you tip them as you would a server at a restaurant.

Is there an order minimum?
HWD: Yes, $15 for lunch and $20 for dinner.

Where we live there is only one local pizza place that delivers, and they just started to offer that last year.  Needless to say a service like this seems great for people like us!  But for those who live “in town”,  how can this service benefit them if they could just order directly from the restaurant?
HWD: I have found that the restaurants that deliver are rare and if they do deliver it’s only a short distance. In the Poconos mostly pizza and very limited Chinese food is delivered.  We want to fill that void and make restaurant delivery available from as many restaurants as possible to everyone.  People should have choices when they don’t feel like or cannot go out to pick up their dinner or lunch.

I see that you can place preorders, that’s great!  So I can place an order today to have a meal delivered to me this weekend?
HWD: Yes.  With HWD you can preorder for any time or day you want. That way people can plan ahead.

How did you come up with the idea for the service?
HWD: Restaurant Delivery Service is not a new concept.  In other cities like New York, Philadelphia, Boston, etc. there are services just like mine with names such as Take-Out Taxi, Grub South, 919Dine, etc.  I saw the huge expansion of chain restaurants in the area along with the resurgence of the Poconos becoming a year round tourism spot again and from personal experience I saw the long lines and even longer waiting times and how many people are basically being turned away at the door because of it. But if you don’t want to cook your only delivery option was pizza.  So I basically said “why not restaurant food delivery”?

Is there anything else you’d like the people of the Poconos to know about your service?
HWD: At HWD we are committed to delivering your food to you in as restaurant-ready condition as possible.  That is why we use the best delivery bags in the business.  These bags are guaranteed to keep your hot food hot and your cold food cold from the time it leaves the restaurant until we deliver it to you.  Our customer service is here to help you with any problem or concern you may have and our delivery people are trained to be courteous and professional.  At Hungry We Deliver we strive to serve our customers and keep them happy.

If someone wants to use your service, how do they contact you?
HWD: We can be reached at www.hungrywedeliver.net and once we provide our restaurant menu booklet to hotels and businesses you can call us at 570-629-3587. We are also on Facebook at Hungry? We Deliver and Twitter @4hungree.  Please feel free to post on social media and let the public know of your experience with HWD. We appreciate our customers and will try to make them happy.