Delivery as Easy as 1-2-3
Realizing there was a need for food delivery here beyond what a few pizza joints and Chinese takeout restaurants offered, Mark Ripolone, a Montauk native and the founder of 123 Delivery, set out to fill this void.
Last summer he developed the 123 Delivery app and website, 123delivery. net, and began operating in Montauk, partnering first with John’s Drive-In. This year, he has about 60 drivers who pick up and deliver food from more than two dozen restaurants and businesses in East Hampton, Springs, and Montauk, and soon he hopes to expand to Southampton and Stony Brook.
Orders can be placed via the smartphone app or on the website, but they must be from within the same hamlet as the delivery location. If they are not, 123 Delivery will nevertheless accommodate customers, though for an extra fee.
Delivery rates, which typically range from $5.99 to $9.99 depending on the distance a driver has to travel, decrease in the winter months. “There are a lot of companies that are just open in the summer, and I want to make sure everyone is happy all year long,” Mr. Ripolone said.
“It’s been a very good experience and the drivers are prompt,” said Dave Rutkowski, the owner of John’s Drive-In. “If I tell them the order will be done in five minutes, they’re there in five minutes. I get great customer feedback too.”
Last summer, Mr. Rutkowski said, 123 Delivery made just one or two deliveries a day for John’s Drive-In, but this summer there are days when the business makes 10 or 12.
While most of the deliveries revolve around takeout food orders, Mr. Ripolone has his sights set on being a sort of overall concierge service. Mr. Ripolone has booked golf tee times for one customer and found a fishing boat for another, and 123 Delivery also picks up orders from liquor stores and grocery stores and connects with Hampton Beach Service, a Montauk beach umbrella and chair rental service he runs with Carlos Real.
He began operating the latter, which mainly works with hotels, this summer, but two weeks ago, the town issued him a summons for peddling without a license. He is set to appear in court on that matter later this month, but said last week that he does not think a peddler’s license is the right fit for a company that uses an app for transactions before a delivery.
“If it fits what the business is, then we will obtain that license with the town, but the town is so far behind technology,” Mr. Ripolone said. “It’s all about the people who visit, and if you want to accommodate them, then you need to be in the year 2017, not in the 1990s.”
The entrepreneur does not have bad blood with the town, though he feels it is necessary to have up-to-date laws to ensure that visitors have good experiences. “Everyone is on their smartphones and if you’re spending $600 plus and not getting all the things you normally can, people will go somewhere else,” Mr. Ripolone said.
A stay in East Hampton or Montauk is pricey and Mr. Ripolone wants to help provide visitors with all the services they expect, while also benefiting locals.
“I want people to come back to Montauk and East Hampton,” he said. “Since growing up here, the number of people that visit has increased, and with that increase there is a price increase. Everything is more expensive and I want to do something extra to make it worth it. . . . If you’re satisfied, you will come back.”