We’ve all been there… waking up hung over on a Sunday morning, craving your favourite restaurant meal or being stuck in the office with yet another boring supermarket meal deal.
If only you could just get on the phone and order your favourite Frankie and Benny’s spaghetti bolognese… well now you can!
New Manchester company City Waiters are offering restaurant food to your door or desk from 10:30am – 11:00pm, seven days a week, with charges starting from £2.50 to the city centre and surrounding areas.
Business owner Marvin King explained the thinking behind the concept to MM.
Who’s getting a #SundayRoast delivered by us later ? @BanyanTreeMcr @pertuttiitalian #Manchester pic.twitter.com/KzE72r2yJB
— City Waiters MCR (@CityWaiters) February 22, 2015
“The idea came about one evening when me and my partner were trying to decide on a take-out. We were looking for something healthy but couldn’t seem to find anything that was reasonably healthy and appetising,” he said.
“After searching the internet it became apparent that if we lived in America, we could have practically anything delivered anytime of the day and night. We then got to work.”
Marvin – a trained theatre actor raised in the city, who has played cameo roles in Corrie and Shameless – explained it was currently a part-time business that was becoming increasingly popular.
We can also deliver you breakfast from @frankienbennys pic.twitter.com/dghtL1yGh9
— City Waiters MCR (@CityWaiters) February 21, 2015
“We have had a steady growth since we established and we seem to get busier and busier,” he said.
“If the weather is bad – we get extra busy!”
“We regularly get requests to go further afield and if it is logistically possible at that time, we’re always be willing to go that extra mile.”
@BanyanTreeMcr doing the Lamb Burgers run!!! pic.twitter.com/OxLJPujrrJ
— City Waiters MCR (@CityWaiters) November 23, 2014
The 34-year-old revealed that the strangest request he’s ever received from a customer was to supply seven semi-naked waiters, something which he unfortunately couldn’t bring into fruition.
He also explained that the biggest order he ever had was when they were called to ‘save the day’ by an organiser of a corporate event taking place in the city centre – the caterer had let them down and they had 130 people to feed.
Fancy some #Malaysian #streetfood this evening for a change ? #WeDeliver from @nasilemak_m7 4pm – 11pm pic.twitter.com/09f9RvghbV
— City Waiters MCR (@CityWaiters) February 20, 2015
“Within 60 minutes everyone was enjoying food from some of Manchester’s best restaurants,” he said.
“Most of the restaurants we work with are independent, like ourselves.
“We help these restaurants generate extra revenue with very little hassle – we deal with the logistical headaches of the delivery.”
We are all about working with local businesses in #Manchester & we want to #KeepItLocal & most of all #KeepItMANC pic.twitter.com/EbhxgcpBo2
— City Waiters MCR (@CityWaiters) February 24, 2015
City Waiters work with many well-known chain and independent restaurants including Frankie and Bennys.
Their most popular requested dishes include the Cajun-spiced chicken burger from Castlefield restaurant The Banyan Tree and the Chargrilled Chicken Quesadilla from Great Northern Warehouse-based Mexican restaurant Lucha Libre.
You can view the City Waiters website and make an order by clicking here.
Image courtesy of Pedro Serapio and John Verive, with thanks.
