We all love having food delivered at the touch of a few keystrokes. But what happens when your meal doesn’t meet your expectations?
That happened one too many times to Caleb Merkl, one of the masterminds behind Maple. Merkl elegantly summed it up when talking to the New York Times: “Restaurants don’t focus on home delivery.”
That’s why Merkl, along with Akshay Navle, William Gaybrick, and chief culinary officer David Chang, are all working to bring Maple to NYC in 2015.
What’s different about Maple? The plan is to use a combination of smart planning and technology to change food delivery for the better.
Here’s how they plan to do that.
- Chang will lead other NYC chefs and farmers in creating menus for Maple, which will change daily
- Customers will place orders using the Maple app or via the website
- Typical dishes will run $12 to $15, including tax, tip, and delivery charges
- Food will be prepared fresh in a commissary kitchen
- Food delivery goal time: 15 minutes
- To facilitate the tight delivery areas needed to even contemplate 15 minute delivery windows, Maple will have anywhere from 15 to 30 kitchens throughout NYC
Chang talked to Business Insider about Maple:
Maple raised $4 million in seed funding earlier this year, according to BI. So while these may be some big dreams, there’s definitely some financial weight propping them up.
You can sign up to learn when Maple is live here.
If Maple is successful, we’re hoping it changes the way more people do food delivery—both in NYC and beyond.
So many people order food for delivery that it’s past time to design some specific dishes with deliveries in mind, instead of deliveries being a perpetual add-on restaurant service.