Bike Messengers Take on DoorDash & Grubhub with a Local, Worker-Owned Delivery Service

Image @candlestickcourier via Instagram

Ordering food from the supposedly ‘necessary-evil’ delivery apps like Uber Eats, GrubHub, and DoorDash often leaves you with a bill that makes you feel like you could have bought a yacht for that much money. But you’re not the only person getting screwed over by the delivery apps — the restaurants are charged dickish and predatory commission fees of up to 30%, while the delivery drivers being paid a measly $1.45 or so an hour. 

But the delivery apps are not a necessary evil, not are they even necessary. There’s a worker-owned co-op called Candlestick Courier Collective, based in SF’s Tenderloin District, where old-school bike messengers run the show, instead VC-funded Silicon Valley bros who move to San Francisco and then constantly complain about it.

Candlestick Courier Collective’s website says that they’re “Owned and operated by our professional cyclists, we strive to provide better, faster, more affordable service than our corporate counter parts. We offer fast, direct on-demand delivery for local businesses including daily personal food orders and large catering orders for restaurants, as well as parcel, document, plant and wholesale coffee delivery for the office and home. “

KQED just ran a feature on the collective, and how they’ve enjoyed strong growth during the pandemic by forging mutually beneficial, not-predatory relationships delivering for local businesses like Jay’s Cheesesteak, Miss Saigon, and Udupi Palace. They’re transitioning into a worker-owned cooperative, so delivery bikers are co-owners instead getting exploited for some crappy $1.45 an hour. 

“We are working with local businesses and only local businesses because the whole goal is to put the money back into our pockets, back into restaurant pockets, back into the community,” worker-owner Tasha Rose told KQED.

You can get food or other items delivered by downloading the CCC app for iOS or Android. If you run a small business and would rather work with someone local instead of the delivery apps that are screwing you over, you can contact Candlestick Courier Collective for a partnership with a company you can be proud of working with.