Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504200012
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Meals in Motion, a 2-year-old company owned by Shawn Anderton of Roanoke County, will deliver hot restaurant meals to residents of Southwest Roanoke, Northwest Roanoke County and Salem.
The cuisine ranges from traditional American meat and potatoes to Mexican, Chinese and Greek food. In the past year, Merrill has called Meals in Motion ``at least a dozen times. It's easier than cooking,'' she said, and it's better than ordering pizza.
Merrill used to work for a large pizza chain, she said, and ``I got really tired of it.''
``It's something different than pizza,'' Anderton said. ``It's a convenience for people who wish they could go out, but can't.''
Anderton, 28, grew up in Roanoke and attended Patrick Henry High School. After graduation, he attended Virginia Commonwealth University. In 1987, he began working for a pizza chain, where he learned the delivery business.
Anderton said he had hoped to have his own business one day, but owning a restaurant seemed too expensive and too risky. While he was in school in Richmond, he saw something similar to Meals in Motion and thought it might work in Roanoke.
Getting started was hard, he said. Working out of his apartment, he spent most of his of time pitching his idea to local restaurant managers.
Because his idea was so new, restaurants were reluctant to participate at first, he said. In fact, he worked on one manager for an entire year, paying him weekly visits until he finally agreed to sign on.
At first, ``it was hard to find drivers,'' he said, so his family helped out with the deliveries and in the office.
In November 1993, he moved the business to larger quarters - two rooms in an office building on Electric Road.
``It was a big step,'' he said. Now, the business has four part-time employees to answer the phones and more than a dozen drivers, who work on contract and for tips.
Anderton still works 10 to 12 hours each day, seven days a week. ``I still actively seek new restaurants,'' he said.
Although the business is not making enormous profits yet, it is paying for itself, Anderton said.
Soon after he opened, a similar business started up and tried to compete with him. It lasted only a few months, he said.
That business charged a delivery fee, just as he does, Anderton said, but most of his profit comes from the discounted meals he has negotiated with restaurants.
They are able to offer a discount, he said, because there is less overhead involved in preparing a carry-out meal.
``We can add $100,000 a year to their sales, money they would have never seen otherwise,'' he said.
Anderton also sells advertising space in his menus, which provides another source of income.
Each delivery area has a different menu, limited to restaurants in the area. For instance, customers in the North County zone can order from Spinnakers, but not from El Rodeo, which is available only in the Southwest and Salem zones.
The company's slogan is ``We Bring the Restaurants Home,'' and to reinforce that image, Anderton's drivers make deliveries in black slacks and tuxedo shirts. He communicates with the drivers through portable radios.
Anderton recently expanded delivery service into Salem, and someday would like to cover the entire metro area, but he plans to go slowly.
Within the next month, Anderton plans to change the name of the business to Carry-out Chauffeur.
Part of the reason for the change is because his business often is confused with the Meals on Wheels program. But the main reason is because of his partnership with Take-out Taxi, a similar business in the New River Valley.
He and the owners of that business, Bill Reid and Wayne Webb, opened a third delivery service in Lynchburg in March. All three businesses will take the new name.
Anderton said he one day hopes to be able to franchise the business, ``but that's way down the road.''
Meals in Motion will deliver lunch Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner from 4:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday hours are 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday's are noon to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights are the busiest times, Anderton said, and dinner accounts for 75 percent to 80 percent of his business.
Although having a restaurant meal delivered at home may seem like a luxury, most of his customers are ``middle-income people,'' he said. Most of them work all day, and many are families with children.
Call Meals in Motion at 774-1500.
by CNB