Every week, without fail, my roommates and I collectively have that moment of, “you know what I could go for right now? A big ol’ juicy steak.” What typically stops us from satisfying our craving for red meat are the facts that most steak restaurants don’t deliver, we don’t have our own personal assistants, and sometimes leaving the couch is just plain unappealing.
Today our problems are solved. Austin-based Favor recently launched in Atlanta, and their on-demand delivery platform lets you get anything delivered and gives everyone their own personal delivery assistant. We recently chatted with the Favor team to learn more & landed a deal for you to try it out – enter promo code JUSTPEACHY to waive your first delivery fee ($6).
Founded by Ben Doherty and Zac Maurais, “Favor is a simple way to have anything you want delivered. Think Lyft for food delivery, except we’re more like personal assistants (and we rock these swanky blue tuxedo t-shirts),” explain the co-founders. “Favor connects customers with Runners, who will pick up and deliver anything, from queso to video games, in under an hour. Requests are placed through the Favor iPhone or Android app.”
Growing up, Ben & Zac were best friends in high school. They worked together at a small restaurant, delivering pizzas and one day, they had an idea. “We thought it would be cool if there was a way to deliver from any local store or restaurant,” recalls Doherty. “Honestly, we didn’t know where to start, so in the summer of 2011, we bought a ‘Coding for Dummies’ book with a few friends. We couldn’t read the thousand page book at the same time, so we cut the book into pieces using a bread knife and started reading.”
“Favor originally came up through an incubator program called Boost, where we just sold burritos and beer to college students at Cal Poly,” he continues. Users of this app could push a button for beer, a button for burritos, or both, and await their deliveries. The app was popular, but users wanted more. The beer and burrito service was an outgrowth of our original company: NeighborFavor. This forerunner gave people the chance to request favors, such as deliveries and rides, from each other. Having started with a complex, high-concept model, then going to a stripped down food delivery service, the best of both worlds was found in between: today’s Favor app.”
“Atlanta is a city of foodies and we knew there was a gap in the places that offer delivery already, something we could fill,” say Doherty and Maurais. “The city has a great culture and emerging tech community. We’re also excited to be serving the students at Georgia Tech, Emory and Georgia State. Students typically tend to be the early adopters and signup as Favor Runners, the folks doing the deliveries. With Favor hitting Atlanta, anyone in the delivery area will now be able to get their favorite foods delivered from Atlanta favorites, especially those that don’t currently offer delivery. A tasty burger from Yeah! Burger, or treats from Sublime Donuts have been the more popular places we’re picking up from in Atlanta so far.”
According to GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney, “The domestic take-out market is $70 billion annually.” In 2014, $600M was invested in the delivery space, a 13X jump from 2013. Rapid expansions are occurring due to the fact that the market is massive and largely untapped. Following this trend, Favor recently raised $13M in Series A funding. Leading the round was S3 Ventures and the investment will enable the Austin-based startup to roll out nationally and compete with established players in the delivery market. Favor are also currently hiring a Marketing Manager and Operations Manager in Atlanta. Check out the available positions on our job board.
Download Favor today on the App Store for iOS or Google Play for Android.
Follow Favor on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/askfavor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/favor
Instagram: https://instagram.com/favor/
Featured Image: Favor Co-Founders, Ben Doherty (L) and Zac Maurais (R) – Credit to Favor