People looking to get a cheap bite to eat delivered to their door without walking uptown will soon be able to get their fix.
Big Mamma’s Burritos, 10 S. Court St., will begin delivering to customers this week, owner Quinn Schaller said, possibly as soon as Monday night.
“We have some loose ends to tie up tomorrow,” he said. “Hopefully, we will start tomorrow night.”
Schaller has seen a high demand for delivery in the area, which had him thinking of starting a delivery service at the Big Mamma’s in Athens.
“With our Columbus location, we do deliveries through UberEats, GrubHub and services like that,” he said. “That, and the explosion of popularity of delivery, kind of led me to realize that we need to offer that in Athens as well.”
The new delivery service will deliver throughout Athens after 6 p.m during the week and all day on weekends. Deliveries will continue until 3 a.m.
“We will just kind of gauge the demand and see where it goes from there,” Schaller said.
A $2 delivery fee will also accompany the orders, which Schaller says is on the lower end of delivery fee costs in Athens.
Big Mamma’s also plans to deliver beer from the Beer Store, which is located next door, along with the burritos.
“(Delivering beer) kind of adds another dimension to the delivery,” Schaller said.
On Saturday afternoon, Big Mamma's posted a photo on its Facebook page of a smart car on a trailer with the caption, “Keep an eye out for Big Mamma’s new delivery vehicle around town.”
The smart car was not Big Mamma's initial choice for a delivery vehicle, though.
“We were actually originally going to use golf carts (to deliver),” Schaller said. “Most places in Ohio, golf carts are street legal, but unfortunately, in Athens, they are not street legal.”
Utilizing a smart car comes with many advantages, such as being small, economical and able to fit into tight spaces, he said.
“Our parking area for staff is pretty tight,” Schaller said. “So, it’s a lot easier to get in and out with a smart car.”
It will also be a unique delivery vehicle, he said.
“Hopefully it will draw some attention to people,” Schaller said.
Schaller said Big Mamma’s will only have that one car for deliveries, but the restaurant plans to add another in the fall.
“It just kind of depends on the demand and how we keep up on everything,” he said. “Demand is relatively slow during the summer, so we figured, to get it rolling, we’d only need one.”
