John:

I'm not going to answer your two questions. I am going to tell you what I have seen...

JH already mentioned WebVan...

Same deal in Australia. Some (many) have tried. None have stayed.

Deliverying restaurant food has been tried repeatedly down here. Each time the business folds within six months.

One 'legality' to consider is the temperature of the food. It MUST stay ABOVE a certain temperature. And putting it in an 'esky' just won't do it. It needs to be a properal heating device (more on this in a minute).

Beer CAN be delivered BUT it MUST be via an authorised seller of alcohol. So you can 'team up' with a drive-thru bottle shop or whatever. The price you quote is the 'shops' price plus a delivery charge.

Back to the food delivery...

what has been able to last is a mobile 'fresh fruit and vegetable' van. With the authorisation of 'retirement' communities, they drive around and pull up infront of each resident. Ding ding goes their bell as they drive.

Of course, after a while they get to know the stops and can work more to a schedule - pulling up and dinging their bell to let the resident know they are there.

Sounds okay. Prepare for spoilage though.

Also, HOT FOOD is doing very well. Fully stocked vans drive around the industrial areas at morning break, lunch and afternoon break.

These work by being allowed to pull in at each stop - those who have a work force on site call the FOOD VAN people and schedule a regular daily stop.

Note: These vans are fully equiped to carry hot food and follow all government guidelines for keeping the food above a certain temperature.

One interesting thing I heard of was: mobile coffee. A normal van fitted out with a couple of espresso machines. It would pull up near high-pedestrian-traffic areas and where people were forced to wait - at a warf waiting for a ferry to take them across the river, sporting events, etc. They then managed to get a 'contract' to be on-site during movie shoots!

Michael Ross
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