By: Whitney Barnes, Director of Communications and Advocacy at the Illinois Chamber of Commerce
One of the Illinois Chamber’s newest members, SWIPEBY could not have come at a better time. The company is focused on elevating diners’ off-premise dining experience by allowing them to purchase gourmet, healthy or interesting food from their favorite restaurants without getting out of their car.
The app provides for curbside service at a variety of restaurants – both chains and local- at no cost to the customer and minimal cost to the business.
“We looked into the market and saw a different trend that was not that much talked about, and that was curbside service and pick up,” said SWIPEBY founder Carl Turner.
Turner, who was born in Belgium and grew up in Germany, launched SWIPEBY in May 2019, in North Carolina where he attended Wake Forest University.
After doing research on major companies like Target and McDonald’s who were quietly investing billions in curbside pick-up, Turner wanted to expand the model to help local small businesses increase their sales and service.
“How could we become a platform that enables anyone?” Turner said. “Not just Walmart, but a mom and pop restaurant, a franchisee. We wanted to offer a really smooth click and collect curbside service experience for everyone across the board.”
SWIPEBY includes full service, high-end restaurants along with the stereotypical takeout places to enable customers to enjoy food from their local restaurants in the surroundings of their choosing. The app allows consumers to order their food on their phone, drive to the restaurant with their location, and pick up their order through the window, or have it placed in their trunk.
“With curbside service, we are able to give a pre-take out experience for any type of restaurant, because when the customer arrives, the food is ready and hot,” Turner said.
While delivery brings food from A to B, curbside is a very different business model, Turner explained.
“For us, being able to smile at the customer is part of the SWIPEBY experience,” Turner said. “Bringing the customer in front of the restaurant where the restaurant engages with the customer is part of the experience.”
The business model of curbside assistance allows SWIPEBY to avoid the high price of delivery drivers and the insurance that comes with them. They charge the basic basis points on credit fees to allow the business to thrive.
“If you order on SWIPEBY, you as a customer pay nothing extra, it’s the same price as dining in,” Turner said.
Unlike many delivery services that are prevalent in urban areas, SWIPEBY has had great success with customers and restaurants outside of big cities that may have fewer off-premise dining options.
“Our core focus is the commuter markets, which we know is the majority of America,” Turner said. “In suburban markets where people drive anyways it’s the most affordable and most convenient solution to do curbside service.”
SWIPEBY has allowed businesses to shift from dine-in only experiences to reach a new demographic, Turner explained.
“For example, curbside pickup means restaurants can now reach parents with kids in the car, because unbuckling is just not a convenient option,” Turner said.
Besides cost and convenience SWIPEBY offers customers increased security measures by reducing touchpoints with money, credit cards and exposure to others.
“When COVID-19 happened, it almost became a lifeline,” Turner said.
In response to the public health crisis and stay-at-home orders, Turner decided to eliminate the sign-ups for restaurants to join.
“We can be full-free to the customer and virtually free to the restaurant,” Turner said, adding that they have no intention of bringing the fees back as restrictions are lifted.
SWIPEBY has a no contract structure with their restaurants, allows them to leave any time and can onboard most restaurants within 24 hours or less.
“It’s a really fast process for a restaurant to join and get up and running,” Turner said.
Now that restaurants are reopening their doors, Turner believes SWIPEBY will become even more of a value to businesses.
“Having customers call all the time to place the order, and then call again to say they are outside, having the tents with a waitress outside taking orders that won’t be possible anymore and that’s why our solution really provides value,” Turner said.
As a business created to help other businesses, SWIPEBY’s mission has become all the more clear as small businesses struggle to stay afloat against the waves of a pandemic.
“It is really important that places stay open, not only on a personal level because we enjoy interacting with them, but because this is part of our business,” Turner said. “We have a double and even triple interest in helping our partners through the crisis so they can stay open and continue to serve our communities.”
SWIPEBY began moving into Chicago this spring and is working on opening more locations around the state in the coming months. For more information visit: https://swipe.by
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