Eat Harlem Launches Food Delivery Service in Harlem

Online, November 23, 2011 (Newswire.com) - A new Web-based delivery service wants to change the way Harlemites eat, making it easier to order in while enjoying food from neighborhood heavy hitters such as Red Rooster, Amy Ruth's, and Patsy's.

Eat Harlem, a multi-restaurant food delivery service, will launch on Thanksgiving Day, providing Harlemites living between 110th and 155th Street and from the Hudson to the East River with hundreds of additional eat-in options. Deborah Umunnabuike, digital marketer for a luxury retailer, and Vincent Choi, former pricing consultant, founded the company.

"We are going after Harlemites that love eating at restaurants in the neighborhood, but may not feel like leaving their home for a sit-down meal, or are stuck working late," Choi, said. He believes it will be an attractive service for working families and young professionals in Harlem that have the capacity to spend money on a regular basis in restaurants yet want more options for delivery.

The duo, Harlem dwellers themselves, chose the historic Uptown neighborhood to set up shop because of its population density, food diversity, and dearth of decent food delivery options. "Harlem has some of the best African, Italian, American Soul, and Dominican food in Manhattan," notes Choi. "Unfortunately, the vast majority of restaurants do not deliver, and the few that do have limited delivery zones."

Eat Harlem will deliver to Harlem residents from virtually any local food vendor-even if the restaurant doesn't have traditional delivery services-within 45 minutes of placing the order. Although this is their first foray into the food industry, neither of the two founders are new to entrepreneurship. Their first start-up, a Web-based fashion retailer, landed them on BusinessWeek's best American Entrepreneurs list when they were twenty-three.

The service, which will operate on Thursday through Saturday evenings from 5pm to 10pm to start, features a website listing nearly 300 restaurants in Harlem with their menu pages and Yelp profile. Customers place their order through the site and receive an email once their order is placed with the restaurant. They receive another message when their food is on its way. Eat Harlem charges a flat $15 delivery charge, without any order minimums.

For more information on Eat Harlem, or to submit an order, visit EatHarlem.com or @EatHarlem on Twitter. The website also includes twice-weekly blog posts written by Choi and Umunnabuike about, naturally, Harlem dining and culinary trends.