Meal Delivery App Actually Helps Chefs

BY TAMARA PALMER

Meal Drop is a new indie app I just started using in San Francisco (but appears set up to work in other locales) as an alternative to the big meal delivery apps that gauge consumers and restaurants alike.

Billed as the “world’s first at-home room service,” Meal Drop works with local chefs to give them a means to get their food to people and eliminates the mountain of fees that the corporate apps tack onto every delivery order. When I used it for the first time, I noticed a few chefs who were familiar to me (like Bayview BBQ specialist Rome’s Kitchen) and what looked like a number of private chefs with limited hours.

A few weeks ago, I ordered quesabirria tacos from private chef and caterer Smack City Kitchen (pictured above) and received a smooth, no-contact and on-time delivery. It feels good to see some fresh blood in the app space, hopefully reinventing the more cutthroat aspects of the dominant model.