Thinking outside The Rice Box: Local restaurant wants small business to grow in Vernon

Sitting at a table in the back of The Rice Box restaurant sits On Ouch.

His eyes are fixed on his computer screen, his fingers feverishly clicking away at the keyboard. Ouch is putting the final touches on his new small business venture — fitting it should happen during Small Business Week.

With a touch of a button, Ouch launches the Driver Dispatcher service into the North Okanagan.

Driver Dispatcher is a local delivery service created with the aim of helping local small business owners to get their products to customers without taking on any added expense.

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The way it works, local businesses sign up and local drivers deliver.

The delivery fee doesn’t get charged to the business, it gets charged to the customer who placed the order.

However, in some cases like at Ouch’s restaurant The Rice Box, the cost can be split between the owner and customer.

The drivers are subcontractors vetted through Driver Dispatcher. There is a base rate of $7.

“Businesses need to add more service to their customers without adding additional cost to the bottom line,” Ouch says about why he created Driver Dispatcher. “Businesses can’t just wait for the customers to come. They have to think outside the box and figure out new ways of getting their products out to the customers.”

Ouch, who is the founder of Driver Dispatcher, says the idea was born out of his own frustrations in running a small business.

“The profit margins for restaurants are already razor-thin,” he said. “The problem when you hire your own delivery drivers is there might not be enough work for them. So, that person comes in and sits around for two or three hours, or the driver might get too many deliveries in an hour, then one driver isn’t enough. So, this way if you subcontract, you save off your bottom line.”

The Driver Dispatcher website is now live and small business owners can download the app on their phone.

Customers receive a text notification and can track their driver and delivery.

The app also logs the drivers’ delivery time and drivers get feedback ratings from the restaurant owners.

“If a driver is taking too long, we can address that with the drivers,” Ouch said.

So far, 16 small local businesses signed up. Ouch also hired 12 drivers and is actively looking to hire more.

“I had to teach myself a lot, but I definitely was also helped by a team of talented people who helped bring this to life. Many of those people who helped me are small business owners themselves,” Ouch said. “There was a lot of trial and error, early mornings and late nights and a lot of tears, sweat and money.”

The obvious comparisons will be made to other delivery services, like the popular Skip the Dishes app, but Ouch says the main difference between the competition and his company lies at the roots and profitability.

“Keep it local. Promoting local. Easing financial cost while increasing the reach of a company and creating jobs in the community. Local businesses help build a community. If the community supports local, it provides jobs for the mom and pop shops. It is re-investing in the community.”

The local small businesses already on board with Driver Dispatcher range from restaurants to chocolate shops to flower shops to coffee shops. Ouch hopes to add more local businesses like pharmacies and grocery stores to the growing list in the very near future.

“If you really love a local business, you have to keep ordering from them. Support your local businesses and we are going to try and make it as easy for you to do that as possible.”