Grocery, food delivery among options during coronavirus pandemic

Across the state, thousands of restaurants have scrambled to modify their business model since Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered them to shut down their dining rooms March 20.

In West Orange County, this includes dozens of local and independently owned restaurants from Ocoee and Winter Garden to Dr. Phillips and anywhere in between.

And with Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings’ stay-at-home order in place through at least April 9 — an effort to help curb the spread of COVID-19 — many people are relying more heavily on both food and grocery-delivery services.

With delivery, curbside pickup and takeout services available to both support local businesses and allow for ordering groceries and meals, there are plenty of viable options at hand.

FOOD DELIVERY

Many people already are familiar with services such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, Postmates and GrubHub. Each of these services allow customers to place orders with participating restaurants for delivery to their door.

These platforms typically charge delivery fees, but Uber Eats and GrubHub are temporarily waiving those fees for orders to independent restaurants. This is to help demand and keep orders coming in.

“Our focus is on helping drive demand to local, independently owned restaurants and small businesses,” said Javier Correoso, spokesperson for Uber Eats. “We’re taking steps to protect the health and safety of everyone on Uber Eats — ensuring we are a reliable platform when people need it most. Drivers and delivery people are working extra hard right now doing critical work to support the community.” 

Each of these platforms is offering contactless delivery, in which couriers will simply drop the food off at the customer’s doorstep or where specified. Users can add special instructions to communicate additional drop-off preferences.

“We believe the success of every restaurant depends on customer demand, which is why we are putting the majority of our efforts into driving orders towards independent restaurant owners and operators on Eats,” Correoso said. “We've waived activation fees for all new partners, as well as fees on any pickup order. …We’re also promoting local, independent restaurants to users in-app and through email marketing to drive hungry people towards local restaurants.

GrubHub is using its Donate the Change program to help support drivers and restaurants affected by the restrictions surrounding the virus. DoorDash is offering 30 days of no commission fees for independent restaurants that join through the end of April, as well as waiving commission fees on all pickup orders for restaurants already part of the network.

DOWNTOWN WINTER GARDEN CURBSIDE

In conjunction with the Winter Garden Merchant’s Association, the city of Winter Garden has implemented the Downtown Winter Garden Curbside Program for pickups of merchandise and food from your car.

As of press time, 12 stores, 12 food and retail businesses, and 25 restaurants in downtown Winter Garden are participating in the program.

“Winter Garden is a small city with a strong sense of community,” according to a post on the program’s Facebook page. “Over the next few weeks, we need to be responsible and safe but we also need to support our community. Everyone has a role to play. Our health care professionals, our city workers, our police, fire and EMS are all on the front lines right now. Our business community has been hit hard with many businesses having to shut down. Please do what you can to support them.”

Customers can choose the restaurant or shop they’d like to purchase from and place an order via phone or the merchant’s website. The next step is to arrive at the location and park in the designated curbside pickup location or nearest parking spot.

Upon arrival, customers call to inform staff they’ve arrived. They can also text their name, which zone they are parked in and which establishment they ordered from. Orders will be brought to their car while maintaining standard sanitary and social distancing procedures.

GROCERY DELIVERY

Although heading to the grocery store is an acceptable reason to leave the house while the stay-at-home order is in place, some people are turning to grocery-delivery services like Shipt and Instacart to avoid heading to the store.

Both services employ shoppers who will claim an order, shop for it at the designated store and bring the groceries and household essentials to customers’ doors.

Shipt requires a membership purchased at a flat annual cost or monthly fee. Instacart offers an express membership but also is available — with a delivery fee — for those who shop the service without a membership.

Instacart’s annual fee for its express membership has dropped from $149 to $99 — annual Shipt memberships also cost $99 — and the platform eliminated its 5% service fee. Delivery fees have decreased in light of the pandemic. Both services also have implemented the option of contactless deliveries.

Both services have hired thousands of new shoppers across the country to keep up the rise in demand for home delivery of groceries, household essentials and medications. Additionally, Shipt announced March 26 that it has donated $150,000 to Feeding America in order to get resources to those who need it.

“We’re enabling ‘social distancing’ by implementing no-contact deliveries, or door drop-offs, in which shoppers will leave your order in a secure spot at your door,” according to Shipt’s website. “Although we pride ourselves on friendly hand-off delivery, we want to provide you with your order in the safest way possible.”