As more and more companies adopt on-demand delivery, convenience store chain 7-Eleven wants to bring you food, drinks and other items even if you're not at your home.
7-Eleven announced Monday that it will now offer delivery to thousands of public locations such as parks, beaches, sports fields and entertainment venues through its 7NOW delivery app. Shoppers can search for "7NOW Pins," which indicate areas where 7-Eleven can drop off deliveries.
The service is available today in 27 major metropolitan areas, including Chicago. The feature was first piloted in Dallas in 2017.
There are currently 2,000 hotspots where 7-Eleven can deliver across the country, including places like Millennium Park and Grant Park in Chicago. The company said it expects to eventually have 200,000 such locations.
"Our mission is to redefine convenience by becoming a customer obsessed, digitally enabled company," Gurmeet Singh, 7-Eleven chief digital, information and marketing officer, said in a statement. "7NOW Pins makes convenience more convenient, by keeping customers in the moment, whether at a game, in the park or enjoying the sun on the beach."
7-Eleven is using Postmates to handle deliveries to 7NOW Pin locations. It also provides delivery to physical home addresses using Postmates and DoorDash.
Pizza chain Domino's has a similar service where customers can get pizza delivered to public locations.
The 7-Eleven news comes as food delivery wars are heating up across the country. Amazon shut down its restaurant delivery after facing increased competition from the likes of Uber, DoorDash and Chicago-based Grubhub. And analyst Mark Tepper, the president of Strategic Wealth Partners, believes Grubhub's stock could surge 50 percent in the next year as millennials flock to online delivery.
