People in Washington D.C. love new food experiences, and if that food experience can come to them and not cost much, even better. That basic understanding is what led three local entrepreneurs to put together MunchQuick, a startup designed to deliver healthy and tasty yet cheap meals with a minimum of effort and waiting after ordering. The service officially launches on June 30, a pretty quick turn-around from its founding in April.
"It's all fresh-cooked, delicious food made that morning," said Asad Yusupov the CEO and one of the co-founders of MunchQuick. "It takes 30 seconds to order and then you can follow the order in real time. It works as though it were Uber."
To order, users can go use the Web app (Android and iOS apps will be released soon) and order from the menu, which changes daily. Every day there will be two main dishes, one of them vegetarian, an appetizer kind of small dish and a dessert. Once the order is placed, users can track the order delivery in real time and even ping the driver with a new location if they move around.
A main dish costs $9 and a complete order of all three would cost less than $20, perhaps reaching $20 if you tip as there is no delivery fee. Despite the low cost, Yusupov said that it's enough for the company to make money right away, rather than requiring subsidies from investment funds. He added that prices may go up at some point but it's not a necessity for being in the black.
"We cook our own food and have custom-made food incubators that keep it fresh that day," Yusupov said, explaining that the drivers, four to start, will have the food incubators in their car to keep the food fresh right up until the delivery.
Dishes could include any kind of cuisine whether steak, pasta, salads or dessert crepes. And whatever food is left over won't go to waste either. MunchQuick is in talks with Martha's Table to deliver any food unsold to the food banks for those in need. A nice, community-minded touch but one that fits a company with local founders who want to integrate it as fully as possible into the community.
MunchQuick is funded by angel investors. Yusupov wouldn't reveal how much in total but according to AngelList there was at least $50,000 seed funding round. It was enough though for him, COO and recent American University graduate Leith Jaber and Muslima Yusupova the Chief Culinary Officer and an experienced restauranteur who has run several restaurants in Central Asia.
It's pretty straightforward and at first glance the difference from other delivery services might not be obvious. Yusupov said that while there are similar models in other cities, none have the same model in D.C.
"D.C. is the perfect market for this," Yusupov said. "It's a different type of fast food, with a new menu every day. People here want that."
To start, MunchQuick will offer service in an approximately three-mile radius around Metro Center on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. There are plenty of plans in the works for expansion geographically and in terms of food though, Yusupov said. The company is already looking for more drivers to expand into the rest of the District and eventually Virginia and Baltimore. And while strictly lunch for now, creating dinner menus is also on the checklist. Expansion plans might seem a bit early, but aren't too hard to design thanks to the back-end of the website and related infrastructure Yusupov said.
"We're strongly focused on the tech side of our business," he said.
If you'd like to try MunchQuick once it launches, you can like the company's Facebook page for a 10 percent discount off your first order. And if you're curious, you can see two of MunchQuick's founders pitch their idea in the video below to whet your appetite.
"I love food," Yusupov said. "I think people will love what we deliver."
