Special Delivery, Personal Chefs and a Telephone for Your Freezer

A growing number of entrepreneurs nationwide have cooked up ways to capitalize on the gourmet takeout craze by saving customers the hassle of driving to get the food.

The L.A. Lunch Club, operating in San Fernando Valley communities since the beginning of the year, is one of a handful of Southland companies that delivers meals prepared by a variety of restaurants. For a $15 minimum, it will deliver to customers who order from a choice of eight restaurant menus featuring Chinese, Japanese, “nouvelle” Mexican, barbecue and European deli items. The menu price includes the delivery fee for one of four drivers, who have installed insulated boxes in their cars to keep the food warm or cold.

How does it work? “We get a discount through the restaurants,” said co-owner David Swartwood. “They may make a little bit less (on each order), but they do a lot more volume.” The delivery company, in turn, marks up each item a bit and sells beverages at a substantially higher markup. “It’s volume,” Swartwood added. “We make a little bit on everything.”

A Personal Chef

A Chicago company called Room Service has been offering “white glove dining in your home” since February. Bob Horwitz, a partner and vice president, figures he has it easier than a Southern California delivery service because “I can cover 12,000 people in one block. Out there, it would probably be that many in 10 miles.”

Room Service’s partners raised $750,000 to open the business, which delivers selections from eight well-known Chicago restaurants in 10 specially equipped vans costing $26,000 each. Driven by waiters or waitresses, they are stocked with heating ovens, refrigerators and running water.

Within an hour of a customer’s phone order, a tuxedo-clad Room Service employee picks up a slightly undercooked meal from the restaurant of choice and delivers it to home, office or apartment. There, the waiter or waitress sets up the meal, complete with placements, napkins, heavy-duty plastic cutlery, salt and pepper and wet towels. Most meals (at an average cost per delivery of $35) require a few extra minutes of cooking time.

Horwitz said the service, for which the customer is charged 20% over the menu price plus a $3 delivery fee, is geared to upper-income customers. “We save them the hassle of going out, the fear of being molested, the fear of not having a good time,” he said.

In Philadelphia, Steve Poses, a restaurateur and caterer, recently added a service called Personal Chef to his Commissary restaurant and takeout operation. “Today everyone needs a personal chef,” he said. “Unfortunately, not everyone can afford one.” The service sets up menus for entertaining at home. The party fare can be delivered or picked up.

Tasting Parties

Through “Tupperware-style” parties and glossy catalogues, a New York-based operation called Sundborn Ltd. is selling frozen gourmet foods. The founder is Richard LaMotta, who created the Chipwich ice cream product in the early 1980s. He scouted the country to find specialty foods that would lend themselves to freezing and reheating in a microwave. Orders, for a minimum of $50, are delivered within 24 hours of the telephone order.

One of the more unusual delivery services--the Order Inn--is being tested by General Mills, the big food company, in a small area of Minneapolis and its suburbs.

“It is not gourmet,” R. Craig Shulstad, a General Mills spokesman, said of the service, which has been operating since last November. “The concept rather is delivery of family restaurant style meals, such as what you would find in a moderately priced family restaurant.”

Customers receive a menu in the mail and call in orders to a General Mills food-preparation center. They choose from appetizers, salads, sandwiches, entrees and desserts; prices include delivery. The least expensive entree is lasagna ($5.25) and the most costly is prime rib ($10.25). Everything is delivered chilled by the Order Inn’s vans.