Landshark Delivery owners Robert Bettis and Tanner Thompson said they never expected their company in Oxford to grow so big so quickly.
The food delivery service began in May with eight partnering restaurants, and the only drivers were Bettis and Thompson. Now, the delivery service distributes for up to 20 vendors and uses around 16 drivers.
“It’s probably the fastest-growing delivery company in the Southeast,” Thompson said.
Thompson said the biggest initial challenge for Landshark Delivery was getting drivers and restaurants on board. It was also hard to get the orders up the way they wanted them.
Restaurants such as South Depot, Casa Mexicana and Ya Ya’s were some of the first few to become vendors; other restaurants took a little longer to convince. Despite the skepticism, Old Venice jumped on board at the end of July, along with Boneheads and Square Pizza.
Their strategy is to add more drivers for every new restaurant they acquire. Recently, they hired more drivers with the addition of Pick Thai and Kabuki, a favorite among Landshark Delivery users.
One reason for the success of Landshark Delivery is the drivers are willing to go the extra mile – literally. The designated limit for a delivery is six miles from the restaurant the customer orders from, but some are willing to go a little further.
“If it’s worth the drive, the drivers will go out past the six mile mark,” Thompson said.
Landshark drivers are not always stuck at one restaurant, like drivers at restaurants such as Domino’s or Jimmy John’s. They also do not have to worry about cleaning or the hassles of side work.
Jason Farris, a Landshark Delivery driver, said his favorite part about working there is the flexibility of the schedule.
“It’s easy for me to pick up a shift if we are busy enough,” Fairris said. “I also really like how I am able to choose my own hours.”
Farris said the only downfall with picking his own schedule is that some shifts are not as monetarily promising as others.
“There’s a little more anxiety on choosing the right one.”
There’s also a disadvantage to the service when the restaurants are busy.
“Sometimes when the kitchen gets really backed up, like Old Venice or South Depot, we have to shut them down for an hour or so,” Tanner Thompson said.
Coming from a company that had over 210 orders one Sunday alone, this isn’t surprising. Farris said Sundays are the busiest days for Landshark.
“A lot of people don’t really want to cook for themselves on Sunday,” Farris said. “Also, Sunday football usually keeps people from leaving their house.”
Typically, Landshark takes about 120 orders per day, and the numbers are only going up from there.
In the near future, the owners are looking forward to getting even more restaurants on board.
“We both knew this would be the place to come,” Thompson said. “We never thought it would get this big, this quick.”
