Delivery Dudes

Delivery Dudes was founded by Jayson Koss as Delray Delivery Dudes in Delray Beach, Florida in 2009.[1] According to Koss, his "delivery service" was initially just himself on a moped delivering food and marijuana.[2] After a slow start, the company gained pace in 2012.[3]

In October 2015, the company introduced the "Dudes Liquor" service in Delray Beach to deliver alcoholic beverages and related supplies. At the time, Delivery Dudes had operations in 29 cities in Tennessee, Colorado, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and southern Florida.[4] By mid 2016, it had approximately 2,000 drivers nationwide. At the time, the company had grown using a franchising model with about half of its locations being franchises[3] and served 50 cities by late 2019.[5]

"Dudes Bodega", a no-contact home delivery service for groceries, prescriptions and other household goods, was introduced in May 2020 in East Delray Beach.[6] The company eventually expanded the service across its markets in South Florida.[7]

In March 2021, Delivery Dudes agreed to sell its assets to Louisiana-based online restaurant pickup and delivery platform Waitr Holdings (Nasdaq: WTRH) for about US$23 million. The move was intended to accelerate Waitr's growth in Florida. Two months later, Delivery Dudes announced it was hiring 200 additional contract drivers in South Florida to handle growing demand.[7]

Users can place an order by choosing their location and restaurant through a web browser, mobile app, or by calling a phone number specific to their area. Deliveries are completed by contract workers using their own vehicles who receive dispatch orders via a smart phone app. Drivers are responsible for maintenance and fuel for their vehicles and receive a portion of Delivery Dudes service fee and the full tip for each delivery.[8]

In the company's first few years, orders could be placed online or by phone, no smart phone app was available. These orders were then called into restaurants by operators at the area's Delivery Dudes office. The company has since switched to primarily using an automated tablet-based system to pass orders to restaurants.[8]

As part of an effort to reduce its environmental impact, Delivery Dudes works with 4ocean, an ocean cleanup group based in Boca Raton. Delivery Dudes offers its customers the option to forego single-use cutlery normally included with restaurant deliveries.[2] The company has raised more than $14,000 for nonprofit organization Hospitality Helping Hands (H3) by donating the delivery fees it collected during two days in April 2020.[9]

Delivery Dudes was the subject of a lawsuit filed by a Delivery Dudes driver Justin Attai and others claiming they should be classified as employees instead of independent contractors. The suit alleged that the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by paying some drivers less than minimum wage and not paying required overtime. According to Delivery Dudes CEO Koss, these drivers were part of a franchise. The company settled the lawsuit in May 2016. The suit occurred at a time when a number of other delivery companies including Uber, GrubHub, Caviar, and DoorDash had been sued by drivers with similar complaints.[3]

• Official website