(Photo: bridgeeats.ca)

By Justin Goulet

Lethbridge pub owner supporting local through new food ordering app

Dec 23, 2020 | 10:57 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A local pub manager is striving to support fellow area business owners.

Kieran Meeks is the General Manager of The Duke Pub & Grill on the west side of Lethbridge. He’s teamed up with a few other restaurant owners on the “Bridge Eats” food ordering app.

“It’s another third-party food ordering service for local restaurants [so] that the restaurants don’t lose the big percentage that the companies like SkipTheDishes and DoorDash are traditionally taking,” he told LNN.

Meeks explained that Bridge Eats will include a flat rate, “so there’s no hidden fees for either parties involved”. That way, he said restaurants will be able to keep more of the money used for orders and put money back into the community.

Meeks said the flat rate now is set at $8.50, split between the customer and restaurant. However, that could change as the app goes to launch and the flat rate could see a tiered system, depending on the price of the full food order.

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INSPIRED BY SHUT-DOWNS

Meeks told LNN that the initial idea came just after the initial COVID-19 shut-down this past spring.

“People were stuck at home, they still wanted to enjoy the food that normally they would get to eat. Especially now, the idea of supporting local is growing larger and larger over the course of the year and people, they want to give back to the community and help the businesses that they enjoy” he said.

“During that first shut-down, there was an increase in apps like SkipTheDishes and DoorDash and that’s great, the convenience level for the customer is huge, but I feel like they don’t often realize how much money the restaurants actually lose to these third-party companies, which in turn, just goes elsewhere because these companies are not based in Lethbridge.”

APP LAUNCH

The mobile app isn’t currently active, but Meeks said he’s hopeful it will launch soon.

He’s encouraging residents, as well as restaurant owners, to visit bridgeeats.ca and sign up to receive an email when the app does become available.

“The app won’t be as successful if there’s not a large amounts of restaurants on there, just because the convenience factor for the customer is not there if there’s only going to be a handful of places to order from, so the more restaurants that are able to get involved and the more knowledge and [information] we’re able to get to the public, the better,” Meeks said.

He added that The Duke Pub & Grill has received tons of support over the past few months and is very grateful to the community.

“It doesn’t look like the pandemic is going to end any time soon here, but I just wanted to give thanks and encourage everyone to keep ordering from their local places because it does make a big difference.”

Meeks and his team members have partnered with a software company in Victoria, B.C. to develop the Bridge Eats app.