Chicago-based Bootler wants to be the Kayak.com of food and alcohol delivery

Another food and alcohol delivery startup launches in Chicago?

Not quite.

On Tuesday, Bootler opened its virtual doors, emerging from beta not as a food delivery startup per se, but instead as a food delivery search and comparison engine. With Bootler, users can search and discover restaurants that deliver in their neighborhood, browsing by restaurant or category.

“Bootler is an all-in-one food and alcohol delivery engine that comprises data from GrubHub, Delivery.com, Door Dash, Postdates, Eat Street, and our alcohol provider, Saucey, into one place,” said Michael DiBenedetto, Bootler’s founder and CEO.

Given the booming on-demand economy that’s taking the country by storm, it was only a matter of time before a service like Bootler popped up. With Bootler, users can search and discover restaurants that deliver in their neighborhood, browsing by restaurant or category and arming consumers with the power to instantly compare differences in price, menu options, taxes, and delivery times.

The idea is to save users from the time it takes to hunt down their favorite restaurants on various delivery services. Users can click through to order from their preferred delivery site, with the option to add beer or wine thanks to a partnership with Saucey.

DiBenedetto said they’re the first service of their kind for food and alcohol delivery. Of course, Bootler is following in the larger footsteps of companies like Kayak.com, who notably found success by aggregating travel deals from sites like Orbitz, Priceline, and Expedia in a centralized hub.

“If you have over three big players, an aggregator is necessary,” DiBenedetto said, noting that there are around 12 major players in the food delivery space in Chicago alone, with anywhere from 40 to 50 competitors nationwide.

As larger companies like Uber, Amazon, and Square step up to the food and alcohol delivery industry’s $70 billion dollar plate, Bootler’s in a prime position to thrive.

Backed by angel investors, DiBenedetto said Bootler’s reporting 40 percent week over week user growth — a metric he’s satisfied with, given the startup's early stage.

“If we own the food and alcohol delivery search engine market in Chicago, that’s a great place to catapult us to our other cities such as New York and San Francisco that are on the horizon,” he said.

Bootler works in concert with more than 4,000 restaurants across Chicago. 

Image via Shutterstock. 

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