Alumni turn on-demand business started in OHIO residence hall into multi-million-dollar enterprise

91̽�� alumni (from left) John Zinno, BSS ’16, and Aaron Hoffman, BSS ’16, established what would become DeliverThat in 2013, operating the on-demand delivery service out of their room in Adams Hall. Today, DeliverThat is operating in 43 locations across North America and employs 30 full-time employees and 3,000 delivery drivers.

Before there was DoorDash or UberEats, there was DeliverThat, a business conceived on a cold walk to 91̽��’s Nelson Dining Hall, born in a dorm room in Adams Hall, and that has grown to a multi-million-dollar on-demand service operating in 43 locations across North America.

Behind all of DeliverThat’s success are its founders, 91̽�� alumni Aaron Hoffman, BSS ’16, and John Zinno, BSS ’16, who seized the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an emerging on-demand world and have sustained and expanded the business by remembering how it all started.

“We saw a need, and we filled it.”

That’s the theme Hoffman and Zinno refer to repeatedly as they describe the origins and evolution of DeliverThat and the way they have pivoted the business to adapt to changes in the market and to challenges – both expected and unimaginable.

In 2019, , headquartered in Canton, Ohio, fielded more than 31 million orders, generating approximately $2.8 million in delivery fees and employing 30 full-time employees and 3,000 delivery drivers. It’s an amazing feat, given that back in 2013 there were many, including Zinno, who doubted the success of the endeavor.

“I didn’t really want to do it,” Zinno said in reflecting on the day that Hoffman first mentioned the idea.

It was November 2013, and the two OHIO sophomores were walking to Nelson Dining Hall when Hoffman said, “I think people would pay to have this delivered.”

Later that night in their room in Adams Hall, the pair created a Twitter account for OU Deliveries, offering home delivery of just about anything, but alcohol, to customers on and around 91̽��’s Athens Campus. Three days later, the account had about 3,000 followers, and what would become DeliverThat was born.

There were plenty of challenges in those first days. Orders began coming in via text message to a single phone, and establishing and managing a driver fleet was a new experience.

“We were just college students, and we were hiring other college students,” Zinno recalled. “It’s difficult to have that dynamic work out well, but it did work out. We learned real quickly how to work with people and customer service. … It was tough. We would go to class, and we would make money while we were sitting in class.”

The business proved successful in Athens, and upon graduation, Hoffman and Zinno decided to take the next step, moving the company to Zinno’s hometown in Canton, changing its name to DeliverThat and exploring ways to expand the company.

Faced with a boom in on-demand delivery platforms, Hoffman and Zinno knew they had to pivot their business model to stay competitive. They quickly found their niche, shifting from on-demand delivery to corporate catering delivery.

“When we shifted into that catering space, we knew were solving a problem,” Zinno said.

Under the new business model, DeliverThat partners with restaurants to deliver and set up their catering orders – all for a flat fee. Their partnering restaurants range from small local business to national chains that include Boston Market, Buca di Beppo, Firehouse Subs and Qdoba Mexican Eats.

“We chose to expand where the business was,” Hoffman explained. “Qdoba needed us in St. Louis, so we expanded there and ended up contracting other companies there as well. We go where the demand takes us.”

In the past four years, that demand has taken DeliverThat to 21 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada.

“We just had to show people the value of what we were bringing, and we knew we were bringing a ton of value from the start,” Zinno said.

In late January, as DeliverThat was expanding into the Boston market, the World Health Organization was declaring a global health emergency. COVID-19 hadn’t even been given a name yet, but the reality of the situation was staring down business owners around the world.

In the weeks that followed, Hoffman and Zinno watched social distancing mandates threatened the bread and butter of their business.

“Ninety percent of the people we deliver to are in an office,” Hoffman said. “If people aren’t working at offices, it becomes much tougher to deliver to them.”

Committed to their partner businesses, their customers, their delivery drivers and their dream, Hoffman and Zinno have pivoted their company once again – this time reverting back to their roots.

“Now we’re going back to on-demand delivering because no one can have large gatherings right now,” Zinno said. “Our business was cut 70 to 80 percent overnight. We have a tremendous asset in our drivers and employees. We have a fantastic team, and we were able to pivot quickly.”

“On-demand deliveries don’t cover our losses, not nearly,” Hoffman added, but it’s keeping DeliverThat’s drivers employed and customers fed in the midst of extraordinary circumstances.

“We’ve always been problem-solvers, so that’s all this is,” Zinno said. “If it were something we did wrong, I’d be more frustrated, but we just have to adapt.”

For Zinno and Hoffman, the COVID-19 pandemic is just the latest in a string of obstacles that DeliverThat has had to overcome. Over the past six years, they’ve established a track record of persevering through challenges. This one, they hope, won’t be any different and serves as a reminder to them and to those considering starting a business what it takes to be successful.

“Be nimble,” Hoffman advised. “If you want to start a business, you have to know how to scale it. It isn’t going to become a big thing overnight. You have to be able to pivot quickly and adjust to changes. Our entire business could get wiped out by a pandemic. We didn’t see that coming, so we’re going to have to adapt. Also, you have to have some passion behind it. Find out what you’re good at and replicate it. Find that one area where you can really solve a problem.”

Published

April 22, 2020

Author

Justin Thompson, BSJ '21