RETAIL / TOURISM : Eat-at-Home Crowd Is Back in Business With Diner’s Express

When Restaurant Express folded late last year, some Newport Beach eat-at-home diners were left hungry.

For four years, the service delivered meals from 34 of Orange County’s top restaurants to customers’ doors. But its owner eventually turned his interest to desktop publishing and other business pursuits, finally closing the business after unsuccessful attempts to sell it.

Four employees saw the service’s potential. So they waited a few weeks, scraped together $30,000 and last November formed a new company, Diner’s Express of Newport.

The new company is delivering about 25 to 30 dinners a night from its offices in Newport Beach and Dana Point, which together cover most of coastal Orange County, said Thomas Austin, a vice president who doubles as a dispatcher.

While delivering food might seem like a fairly straightforward job, Diner’s Express has added some high-tech touches. The company sends out thousands of circulars listing menus from participating restaurants. A customer chooses from any of the restaurants and phones in an order. The order is entered into a computer system that is linked to a printer in each restaurant. Because the order prints out seconds after it is taken, and drivers are assigned by sectors, the food is usually delivered within 40 minutes.

Drivers arrive at the door dressed in tuxedos, with the food separated into special hot and cold compartments. Meals, which can even be ordered with a bottle of wine, can be charged on a credit card.

There is a $10 minimum order, and dinners from some of the more upscale restaurants generally run about $20 to $25 each. There is a $5 to $7 delivery charge, but Diner’s Express makes most of its money from discounts of up to 35% that it receives from participating restaurants.

“We’ve been doing real well,” Austin said. “The biggest pitfall has been in getting restaurants to take part.”

So far, the restaurants appear pleased with the new service.

“We haven’t had any complaints,” said Corry Kruip, an administrative assistant at Five Crowns restaurant in Corona del Mar.