Born out of frustration with large food delivery companies, cofounder Alex Foulkes set out to create Shoreline Menus in 2018; a local restaurant-owned delivery service with an important mission.
“Building up local businesses and creating strong community partnerships is essential to what we are trying to do,” says Lauren Ashe, the Director of Partnership Management. “Shoreline Menus began purely as a mode to support our local business community while simultaneously offering an innovative and exciting service to customers across the shoreline. When one small business succeeds, it benefits us all.”
The company operates as its own community, with each restaurant owner given the option to become a business partner. They currently have 14 partners that represent and service locals along the Connecticut shoreline, from Guilford to Groton. With firsthand experience in the food service industry, the partners of Shoreline Menus aim to give power back to local restaurants that are often at the mercy of impersonal, national delivery services.
“It has been really nice to be able to have instant access to the owners of the business and not a person who doesn’t have a vested interest in the success of the operation to talk to,” says Robert Bernardo, owner and chef of New London’s Right Path Organic Café. “They are responsive to any questions or concerns and are willing to customize your platform to fit exactly what you need. Lauren has been in our café several times and it’s as much of a friendship relationship as a business one!”
Control comes back to the restaurant owner in all aspects of the delivery process; pricing, menus, and hours. These points were important to Foulkes, as issues with prices and customer service began to weigh on local food service businesses long before the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Shoreline Menus plans to continue expanding into new areas along the CT coast. Despite this growth, their mission remains the same.
“At Shoreline Menus, we really try to give all the tools necessary to the restaurants so they can operate their delivery business as they would their in-house business,” adds Foulkes.