A new app to help small grocery stores with delivery during quarantine was launched this month. My Bodega Online is a free app for bodegas and restaurants to manage online orders and dispatch deliveries in 10 minutes, according to the press release. The app was developed by the Bodega and Small Business Association of New York and JungleWork, a tech company.
Jose Bello, founder and CEO of My Bodega Online said in the press release that he only asks that “the public to tip generously our delivery partners in gratitude for their heroic service.” Francisco Marte, founder and CEO of the Bodega and Small Business Association of New York calls the app “public service to the City of New York,” in the press release.
My Bodega Online wants to register 1,000 bodegas in 6 weeks, which would create 1,500 temporary delivery jobs in New York City and to help this effort a crowdfunding page “Delivery NYC Now ” has been started. The funds would go to training and system adoption by bodega owners and technical development.
There’s a new app called mybodegaonline giving users choice to buy directly from bodega owners to avoid the Seamless surcharge. The application also advertises delivery but it’s not yet available in my area pic.twitter.com/teek5KDJY4
— alec m (@MeekersMark) April 13, 2020
The app was originally planned to launch after July 4th but due to the coronavirus, Bello decided to offer their solution as “public service” and released the app on April 23, 2020. The week they launched they were one of the top 100 business apps on the App Store and there are 50 stores currently in their system, about 12 incoming, Bello wrote in an email to the Bushwick Daily. There are about 4,000 registered users across their platforms. There is no delivery fee but customers are encouraged to tip and a users’ access to bodegas is limited to those within a few block-radius of their registered address, according to News12.
Half their stores are located in the Bronx, but Queens and Brooklyn are making up an increasing share while there are also a few stores in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Hartford, Connecticut.
Cover photo by Allyn Faenza
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