It’s a dark, windy Thursday evening. If the cold walk from campus to Main Street is just too big of a pill to swallow, the New Paltz Delivery Doctor has just the remedy.
The New Paltz Delivery Doctor service is a three-week-old business based solely on picking up and delivering food from various restaurants in the village. The New Paltz Delivery Doctor adds delivery service to restaurants that were originally eat-in or pick-up only, including Neko Sushi, Lemongrass Thai, Mexicali Blue, Kosiner Brothers and P&G’s.
President of the company, Michael Katz said he was at home babysitting his two-year-old daughter when he called Mexicali Blue, and to his dismay was told that there would be no delivery service for the rest of the night. He said he thought it was ridiculous that the restaurant wouldn’t be delivering at 7:00 p.m. on a Saturday.
Katz, a SUNY New Paltz Alumni said when he was still in school there was a delivery service, Fast Lane, that acted as a delivery service for some of his favorite eateries at the time. He said ever since they closed up shop he felt that someone needed to fill their void.
In addition to adding a delivery service to restaurants that were previously lacking, the New Paltz Delivery Doctor accepts Hawk Dollars, even for food from the restaurants that don’t accept them. This gives students who are low on cash but still have Hawk Dollars more options, Katz said. There is an 8.75 percent convenience fee to cover outside merchant fees, according to the New Paltz Delivery Doctor website.
In the three weeks since its opening, Katz said that he has gotten a enthusiastic response from everyone he’s talked to about the business. He said the New Paltz students he’s talked to told him they think it’s a great idea.
Fourth-year biology major Joey Drew said he approved of the idea.
“That’s pretty sweet,” he said. “Something I could possibly be interested in using.”
Students are not the only audience Katz hopes the New Paltz Delivery Doctor’s services will attract.
Katz said he hopes to increase the company’s business delivering to administrative offices on campus. He said the service will be a helpful utility for professors and other administrators who need to stay and work on campus.
“Because let’s be real, professors get hungry too,” he said.
An employee at Mexicali Blue, fourth-year contract linguistics major Andrew Kitzrow said the Delivery Doctor service is “killing it” in regards to bringing the restaurant business. He said they are enthusiastic about their service and are a helpful asset to Mexicali Blue’s business.
“It lets the restaurant tap into a whole other sector of customers that wasn’t getting reached before,” Kitzrow said.
The New Paltz Delivery Doctor is looking to expand its clientele and work with additional eateries throughout the town of New Paltz, Katz said.