With Mealeo.com, Shenendehowa grad Blake Hanan is making take out easier than ever. He has eliminated the busy signal, sidestepped being put on hold and given people a way to order out without ever having to pick up a phone, much less leave the house.
We have so many options: pizza, Chinese, sushi, Indian. When parents get home from work, sometimes they’re not in the mood to talk to people anymore, so they place order for whatever they’re in the mood for without having to talk to anyone, said Hanan.
Hanan founded the Clifton Park based Mealeo, Inc. last year. At first, the idea crept up as a way to make his former job, simpler.
`I was in pharmaceutical sales and I found myself doing a lot of catering; ordering meals for 20 or 30 people in doctors offices and having the food set up and delivered, just to allow me time to sell my products,` said Hanan. `I found I had a lot of restaurant menus sitting in my car and on my passenger seat, hanging out of glove box I thought how great it would be to do my job in the day and not have to call all these places to coordinate. I could just order online from anywhere, a one stop shop.`
Mealeo.com has taken off, featuring 200 local restaurants from around the greater Capital District, and serving more than 20,000 people. Hanan said the site originally targeted catering but has since expanded to process even more meal orders from individuals, families and college students. The restaurants are pleased with the additional take out option, too.
`Some restaurants are absolutely thrilled because no only are we giving them more business, on average, orders are going up in size because when people order online they can order at their own pace. They can look at the whole menu and we ask if they want to complete the meal with a dessert or add a beverage,` said Hanan. `Restaurants are happy because they spend less time on the phone fielding calls, writing things down, answering questions and it allows them to focus on what’s going on in the restaurant and making food.`
Hanan also drums up business by doing a lot of giveaways through Mealeo.com’s Facebook page, which has almost 2,000 fans. Sometimes the company will give away a free pizza to a randomly selected fan, which gets delivered right to their house. Other times they’ll give away sweatshirts or other items.
`We do a lot of contests and giveaways because our goal is that if we give away a pizza on us, that person will tell a few other people; it’s a marketing strategy,` said Hanan. `It’s the interaction.`
Hanan said he knew he’d someday own a business, he just didn’t know when.
`It was always my goal to own a business, I just didn’t know when it would happen but I knew it would happen,` said Hanan. `This was my first venture out of pharmaceutical sales and I’ve been fortunate enough to get this thing off the ground and rolling along here.`
On Facebook, Mealeo.com can be found by searching `Mealeo.` Mealeo.com also has a Twitter account, with the handle `HiMealeo,` which Hanan is still trying to get the hang of. Once patrons are on the Mealeo.com website, Hanan posted a video that gives a quick rundown of how to use various portions of the site, but it’s really very simple, he said.
To illustrate his commitment to interacting with consumers, Hanan said he will offer readers of The Spotlight $1 off their order if they try the site out, from any restaurant they choose. To redeem the discount, when customers arrive at the page where they add food items for an order, there will be a discount code field toward the bottom and readers can enter the code `Spotlight.`
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