Chris Chandler, ChopChop president and CEO (Photo courtesy ChopChop)
Chris Chandler wants to take food-delivery service out of the hands of the big corporations and provide local service, using a local delivery team, with a local touch. In January, Chandler launched ChopChop, the only Richmond-based food-delivery service app.
In 2016, while working as the general manager for OrderUp, a national delivery app that was acquired first by Groupon, and then by GrubHub, Chandler felt there were some gaps in the corporate apps.
“I saw a need for better service for Richmond's food scene, as well as better partnerships with our local restaurants,” Chandler says.
Restaurants are unique, and Chop Chop allows its Richmond-area restaurant clients a great deal of customization. With ChopChop, if a restaurant doesn’t want to compromise their product through takeout, they can limit their delivery range to a mile. If they don’t want to provide takeout on the night of First Fridays because it puts stress on the kitchen, so be it. If a restaurant just wants to deliver to breweries in Scott’s Addition, that’s a possibility as well. (With the national apps, customization is more limited if a restaurant uses the apps' drivers rather than ones hired by a restaurant itself.)
“We can do that because we're a small business — we can listen to the needs and wants of the restaurant,” Chandler says. "I’d like to provide a delivery model that suits the restaurants' needs. If that means they use us for lunch on Monday and that’s it, then that’s it."
ChopChop’s drivers also are part of the company's on-the-ground accountability. Chandler meets regularly with drivers whom he's hired.
“The drivers are the liaison between the restaurant and the customer, and we [ChopChop and restaurants] essentially share customers,” said Chandler. “We don’t have long-term agreements with restaurants, so I’m working each day to make sure that the restaurant is happy. We want to make sure that process [from] start to finish is good for everyone.”
Currently, ChopChop employs 20 delivery drivers, and the service operates Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. The delivery area is limited for now, with a focus on Midtown/Downtown, spanning from Glenside Drive to Shockoe Bottom, but may expand farther in the future. Other ventures may include breakfast delivery, along with kiosks in breweries that would allow delivery to the brewery so people don’t have to leave when they're hungry.
Forty-two restaurants are currently partnered with ChopChop and include The Pit and the Peel, Kokonut Grill, Foo Dog, Fat Dragon, Boulevard Burger and Brew, and Lemon Cuisine.
ChopChop charges a $3.99 flat delivery rate to the customer, which goes directly to the drivers, along with any tips from customers. The company profits by charging restaurants 16 percent of the order subtotal (before taxes and credit card processing fees). Some other platforms charge anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the total bill (including taxes, delivery fees set up by the restaurant or app, and tips on credit card transactions) as well as credit card processing fees.
When food is ordered, ChopChop sends an email with an exact delivery time and updates the customer with the order status. Restaurateurs can also track inventory through ChopChop and see what menu items are popular and when they are ordered most.
“It’s all about cutting the strain on the process, [both] for restaurants and the customer,” Chandler says. “It will speed things up for the restaurant and the person that delivered. There will be less phone traffic for takeout orders coming into the restaurant, and it will minimize the challenges that come with delivery.”
Other features of the app include a rewards system that offers discounts if someone posts a picture of their delivered food, plus the option to preorder hours or days in advance and split payment among groups.
ChopChop is available online, in the App Store and on Google Play.
