From garage to glory

BY SANNE VAN GINKEL

Seven years on and the founders of Delivereasy talk to Charlotte Fielding about the beginnings of their business.

It began in a garage in Mount Victoria one night after work: three friends talking over some beers about the idea of a food delivery on-demand business. The next day Nick Foster, Tim Robinson, and Blair Kippenberger were still keen on the idea, and they didn’t waste any time. Robinson said he could build the platform, so they agreed to “give it a crack”.

That was August 2015, and the Delivereasy website was launched the following May with five Wellington restaurants on board. “Pretty compelling selection,” Foster jokes. “It was three Asian restaurants, an Indian restaurant and a pizza joint. You gotta start somewhere, right?”

The idea began with a hangover; Foster’s flatmate would order Hell Pizza every Sunday. “She would get it delivered to her in bed, the guy would come through the house and take it to her door,” Foster says. “She’d say if there was something else she could get delivered, she would.”

Wellington felt like the ideal place to start the business. “Wellingtonians are progressive, smart, switched-on, techsavvy. It’s a great place where people will try something and if it goes well they’ll get behind you,” Foster says. “The ‘support local’ aspect is probably bigger here than anywhere.” The combination of Wellington’s tight geography, and inclement weather makes people want to stay home rather than venture out to dine. With the city’s great restaurants, it made Wellington a great location to launch from.

These days, Delivereasy services 30 locations throughout the country, with around 100 employees, 1,500 restaurant partners, and over 2,000 drivers. Far from its humble beginnings, Delivereasy recently surpassed the milestone of five million orders, and was in the top 10 of the Deloitte Fast 50 index for the third year running.

Key to the success of the business is the friendship the founders share. Kippenberger remains a friend and shareholder, while Robinson and Foster are now co-CEOs. “There’s a natural cohesion between us that just works.” Foster says. “We’re still pretty tight mates and I think that helped us because we could get through a big night and then have some beers. The social life took a hit, but at least we had each other.”

In the early days of the business, they were all working full-time jobs. After an eight or nine-hour day they’d sprint home to jump on their scooters and deliver orders until 10.30 at night. “I think we looked after each other better than we looked after ourselves,” Robinson says. “Doing it as one person would be pretty impossible. I think it would break you pretty quick. If you have two or three of you, it makes it a lot easier to share the load.”

Foster agrees. “I think it’s just being able to understand what each other's going through. A lot of it has worked out naturally; Tim and I complement each other really well. We both have the attitude of being able to put ourselves through the wringer for the sake of the business, something that’s bigger than us. You don’t want to be the one that's dragging the chain. It’s about having respect for the other person, knowing that they’re trying their best and working hard.”

Delivereasy got its first growth spurt when a post on the Facebook page Vic Deals went viral. “I think we went from doing 10 orders a day to 35 to 40 in a day. Obviously it’s not a lot now, but at the time it was huge,” Foster says. “It was like, this thing actually works.”

“We knew pretty early that this was a service that people wanted,” Foster says. “If we worked hard enough, and did the right things, and were strategic about what we did, customers would follow. But there’s definitely ebbs and flows.” Competitors entering the industry were initially a little bit daunting, but also a kind of a challenge. “It’s that classic underdog story. It’s like, we’ve come this far. I’m not going to roll over and take it: let’s fight back. And when we started fighting back, we realised that we could actually toe it with some of the big companies. For me that was a lot of motivation.”

The trio slogged it out in the early days, sometimes working 100-hour weeks for less than the minimum wage, doing all the development, sales, dispatch, and deliveries themselves. They expanded to the regions first, knowing tough competition would meet them in Auckland where the overseas players were focused. They received massive support in places like Dunedin, which gave them confidence in the scalability of the business, as they expanded.

Foster and Robinson recall hiring their first driver, which felt like the first step towards becoming a sustainable business. “Our first staff are still with us and that’s real cool,” Foster says. Some of their drivers moved up into operations and management roles. “Our Chief Operations Officer was one of our earlier drivers. There was a moment where almost all of our staff started as drivers. You feel a little bit like parents.”

Although the business was steadily growing before Covid hit, the post-lockdown demand for food delivery services brought a boom for Delivereasy. “Coming out of Covid was a cracker,” Robinson says. Orders more than tripled overnight. “Trying to plan for doing three to four times the number of orders in one day than you’ve ever done before is absolutely mindblowing,” says Foster.

With many people tired of their own cooking, demand was so high that restaurants were running out of food. Some drivers weren’t available, wary about health concerns. “It took us a couple of weeks to get it all back under control,” Robinson says. “But it was a good thing for us as well.”

“Covid was pretty awesome for business, really,” Foster agrees. “But we had to be in the right place at the right time to take advantage of it and we had to work hard enough to see the benefit of it.” These days the business makes “a couple hundred thousand” deliveries a month.

In the last year the founders’ roles have changed as their staff has grown, particularly in management and operations. These days they’re less hands-on, more big-picture strategy. “We managed to hire a really good management team. Our core roles were taken off us, which is a weird place to be in life. You kind of outsource your own job,” says Robinson. “Feels like finally we can live more of a normal life and enjoy life a bit more. It was all-consuming for three or four years.”

When it comes to business advice, both Robinson and Foster encourage others to get out there and give it a go. “The number of people who say – and I’m sure a lot of business startup owners get this – ‘I had that idea three years ago’ and you’re like, that’s cool, what did you do about it? And that is probably the hardest step. If the timing’s right and you think the idea is good, give it a crack,” says Foster. “Don’t hold back, don’t look back, be willing to sacrifice.”

“Don’t dip your toes, just go,” agrees Robinson. “It’s too easy to get too caught up in trying to raise money. Obviously money always helps. But if we’d worried too much about spending a year trying to put together a huge business plan and work out how much money we needed, we would have lost a year of timing which probably would have been the death of us.”

In the future they plan to “deliver more things to more people”. Foster sees being in New Zealand as conferring an advantage. “You can see where industries are going before we get there. On-demand, everything delivered, seems like the way forward and that's where we see the future for us. Trying to look after the bread and butter though as well. Without the restaurant side we don’t have the platform to deliver everything.”

The Delivereasy CEOs agree service has always been critical to their success, and to maintaining and growing their position in the market. They focus on looking after the restaurants, and looking out for their drivers and staff, as well as their customers. “They reciprocate what we put out to them,” Robinson says. Feet on the ground, keeping that local, personal touch.

Coastal escape

Looking to keep your summer rolling? The Kāpiti Coast has been holding on to it for you. Those summer feel-good vibes can be found everywhere - from the 40km of sandy beaches stretching from Paekākāriki to Ōtaki, to the lush flora and fauna found in plentiful pockets of untouched nature. You’ll be greeted with a quintessential relaxed coastal atmosphere with a microclimate that *everyone* talks about.

Just 45 mins from Wellington you can get outdoors, but you choose the pace: beach stroll, mountain walk or perhaps a horse trek calls your name. You will find tracks and trails ranging from easy to epic, including the Paekākāriki Escarpment track. From mountain to sea, let the Kāpiti Coast be as relaxing or invigorating as you want it to be.

Across the channel lies Kāpiti Island - an ecological jewel in Aotearoa’s crown. A visit to the Island offers a unique opportunity to experience some of New Zealand’s endangered wildlife and appreciate the lush flora and fauna of this natural taonga. Stay amongst the trees in a handcrafted cabin, listen to the waves crash as you sleep in a beachside bach or get remote and glamp with a variety of accommodation options.

Untouched nature can also be found on the mainland at Ngā Manu Nature Reserve where you can listen to and see bird life enjoying their beautiful surroundings.

Fill your cup (and your plate) with a wonderful selection of markets, eateries, artisan produce and liquid goodness, the Kāpiti Coast has no shortage of perfect spots to sip a brew and enjoy locally-sourced fare all while soaking up the sounds of local music.

The Kāpiti Coast rolls at a different pace, where you can find pockets of activity as easily as you can find secluded hideaways surrounded by quiet nature - designed to make you feel a world away. To plan your visit and keep summer rolling visit kapiticoastnz.com

Wellington

Fri, 10 Mar, 6.30pm

Michael Fowler Centre

Mozart & Salieri

Don’t miss an entertaining evening with the sounds of eighteenth-century Continental Europe.

Haydn Overture to L’infedelta delusa

WA Mozart Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major

Salieri 26 Variations on La folia di Spagna

Hummel Eight Variations and Coda on O du lieber Augustin

Wellington

Sat, 11 Mar, 7.30pm

Wellington Cathedral of St Paul