• Fetcht, a local restaurant delivery service in Oxford, Mississippi, fills a niche for hometown restaurants that want to offer delivery without paying huge fees and commissions.
• “My job is to help you get more orders, and your job, as the restaurateur, is to prepare the food and to have it packaged hot and fresh when we get there, with everything correct,” the owner says. “And we deliver it.”

Related: How independent pizzerias and local restaurant delivery services can join forces

In his former career as a corporate “fix-it” guy, Kent Breckinridge says he “made a lot of people a lot of money.” But the 14-hour days took a toll on his health, and he finally decided enough was enough. Now he owns Fetcht, an independent restaurant delivery service in Oxford, Mississippi, with his son, Deyampert Breckinridge. In a small college town known for its outsized restaurant scene, including more than a couple of James Beard Award-winning chefs, Fetcht fills a niche for those local restaurateurs who don’t want to pay the huge commissions and fees charged by third-party delivery giants like DoorDash and Uber Eats.

Restaurants that partner exclusively with Fetcht don’t pay a dime for its services. As explained in PMQ’s October 2022 cover story, it’s the customers who shell out the extra money for the luxury of getting delicious food delivered straight to their homes. And they’re perfectly OK with that.

“If you look overall at what’s happened over the past couple or three years, there’s been a lot of growth within the food delivery industry,” Breckinridge says. “Part of that is because people see a need for it, and the customers want that luxury. The other part, which is very important, is, it has helped a whole lot of people. We’ve been facing a pandemic, and people didn’t know what to do. Restaurants were closed to indoor dining and all of these things, so, at that point, we became a very vital piece of the puzzle.”

Foodies in Oxford have plenty of dining choices, virtually all of which—including fast-food restaurants—are featured on Fetcht’s website and app. Some are exclusive Fetcht partners, some also use DoorDash or another major delivery company. Some are “non-participating restaurants,” such as Arby’s or McDonald’s. Even for those QSRs, customers can still order and pay through Fetcht; Fetcht then places the order for the customer, a driver picks it up, pays with a prepaid credit card and delivers it to the customer. And, again, it’s the customer who’s paying extra, not the restaurant.

Breckinridge sees it as a win-win relationship. “My job is to help you get more orders, and your job, as the restaurateur, is to prepare the food and to have it packaged hot and fresh when we get there, with everything correct,” Breckinridge adds. “And we deliver it. And then, while you’re telling people all about your great food, tell them about us.”

Fetcht is a member of the Restaurant Marketing Delivery Association, a nonprofit that wants to bring local restaurants and local delivery providers together to challenge the third-party delivery giants. Watch the video below to learn more about both and start thinking about how you can build your own partnership with a local delivery service.