Kingman Taxi Will Deliver Any Food, Any Size

In this Monday, Jan. 11, 2010 photo, Griselda Klenke, left, and Deepen Patel stand alongside one of the Taxi Take-Out 2 U delivery cars on their opening day, in Kingman, Ariz.. The new takeout service is unusual among food delivery businesses in that it will pick up and deliver any amount of food from any restaurant in town. (AP Photo/Kingman Daily Miner, James Chilton)

KINGMAN, Ariz. (AP) By: James Chilton— For such a simple concept, lunchtime can require some pretty advanced logistics in today’s modern office environment.

With most employees granted an hour or less to chow down, those who don’t bring their lunch from home are often forced to brave midday traffic, where the trip to get food can take longer than the time it takes to eat the meal itself.

Things might be different if every restaurant offered delivery, but aside from pizzerias and a few Chinese places, almost nobody in town does.

Until now, anyway.

Deepen Patel and Griselda Klenke, a pair of local hotel employees, have partnered to form Kingman’s first comprehensive restaurant and grocery delivery service, Taxi Take-Out 2 U. The concept is simple. For a small fee, plus the cost of the meal, Taxi Take-Out will deliver food from any restaurant, fast food joint, grocery store deli or coffee shop in town directly to your door, regardless of the size or cost of the order.

Klenke said the idea came to her after sending Patel out countless times to pick up lunch for the office. At first, the two thought of offering the service to their hotel clients only, especially those hotels that only offer continental breakfast but no lunch or dinner. After noting there was no other comparable service in town, however, they decided to expand the service to all of Kingman, Butler, Fountain Hills and Lazy YU.

“We got together and decided, let’s make this a reality, it’s a great idea,” Klenke said.

“We’re really excited to offer this service to such a great community.”

The business has access to the menus from every restaurant in the city and will update its listings at least once every six months to keep up with price and menu changes.

Patel noted that, while other food delivery businesses exist in bigger cities, what makes Taxi Take-Out unique is that they will deliver from anywhere, with no minimum order price.

“L.A. has this one place called ‘Restaurants on the Run,’ but they only do certain restaurants that they pick,” he said. “We do everything: fast food places, sit-down restaurants and even grocery shopping, by appointment.”

Taxi Take-Out charges $4 per delivery, or 20 percent of the bill for orders of $40 or more, not including tips. For now, the business will employ seven drivers, each of whom will deliver to a different part of the city in order to keep delivery times as short as possible, though Klenke admitted the first few weeks are likely to be an adjustment period for the new business.

“I know it’s going to be a little chaotic, but we are pretty much prepared,” she said. “We have warmers, so the quality of food you get at the restaurant isn’t going to be compromised … but if we see we’re getting too many orders in at once, we’ll tell customers (of any potential delays).”

“All the restaurants know about our service, so when we call, we pretty much get priority,” Patel added. “So far, it’s been quite good. It definitely keeps us on the move and busy.”

Taxi Take-Out 2 U is headquartered out of 3010 Fox Ave., though food service is strictly delivery only. Customers can, however, come in for free menus featuring the most popular items from local restaurants.

Taxi Take-Out 2 U accepts both cash and major credit cards and is available 24 hours a day everyday, though availability from most restaurants is limited to each location’s business hours.