Pink Dot Changing Name, Expanding in U.S.

After 13 years of shuttling food and booze to customers across the Southland, Pink Dot Inc. is embarking on a national expansion, changing its name to PDQuick and widening its focus to include more prepared meals.

The Camarillo-based delivery company, which recently received a $35-million cash infusion from a private investment group, plans to open 30 new fulfillment centers in such cities as Baltimore, Washington, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco during the next several months. Its new Web site (https://www.pdquick.com) will launch in August.

Gone is the familiar Pinky mascot with its windup car, replaced by a nondescript corporate logo--a red orb emblazoned with a flash of light and the company’s new name.

Gone too is founder Bill Toro, who sold the company last year to a collection of investment groups that plan to take the company public once it has expanded to several more markets.

To prepare for the national roll-out, Chief Executive Dan Frederickson installed a new management team of former supermarket, food and convenience store executives and is beefing up its menu of prepared meals, adding such items as pizza and fried chicken to current items such as pasta, sandwiches and bakery items.

The company, which takes orders via a Web site and an 800 number, also is ramping up its delivery to businesses and developing credit lines for corporate customers.

“Business is where all the time-starved people are,” Frederickson said. “How many times have you had to work at your desk during lunch or had a meeting and needed four or five salads in the next 30 minutes?”

PDQuick’s offerings will be similar to those found in convenience stores. It will stock 2,000 of the most popular branded grocery items, as well as liquor and household goods. It will charge a flat fee of $2.99 for delivery from its network of 13 warehouses.

However, its average order is more than four times the $5 typically spent at a convenience store. Even so, it will take orders far larger than $20 for PDQuick to expand profitably, said Ken Cassan, an e-commerce analyst with Jupiter Communications. Each fulfillment center the company opens--and each market requires several--costs $500,000.

PDQuick will compete with a handful of other firms in the so-called instant gratification niche, including Kozmo.com, an online service that delivers food, books and videos in Los Angeles and five other cities.

Although Kozmo.com is better funded, receiving a $60-million infusion three months ago from Amazon.com, PDQuick’s orders should average $5 more largely on the strength of its prepared meals, offerings Kozmo.com is beginning to move into.

However, Frederickson, former president of Kinko’s, said PDQuick’s potential is much greater than just take-out and groceries, and it is considering delivering items such as office supplies for people who work at home.

“We want to supply products that people want fast,” he said. “We’re not going to limit ourselves.”