Dinner from the night markets to your doorstep, Auckland Night Markets to launch new food delivery service

Brian from New Lynn

Auckland Night Markets directors say they founded the business to give Aucklanders an "international street food dining experience". But with a growing number of customers getting used to having their dinners delivered to their doorsteps by the likes of Uber Eats and Panda, the night markets will be launching their own app and delivery service. So instead of queuing for food at the night market stalls, customers can order their dinner from up to 150 night market vendors and have the food delivered. The first night market was opened in 2010 at Pakuranga, but has since expanded to seven locations across Auckland and two in Hamilton on different nights of the week.
Night market co-founder Paul de Jonge said the need to launch a food delivery service and Night Market Eats mobile application was "a sign of the times". "Aucklanders are today so used to having the convenience of just pushing the screens of their mobile phones and having their dinner appear on their doorsteps," de Jonge said. "One of the top queries we get is about whether we do deliveries, so we've just got to keep up with it." The service is offered without charge to night market stall holders, de Jonge said, and is also a way to help them grow their business. The range of food on offer at the night markets include squid tentacles, durian pastry, dumplings, hangi, fried noodles, burgers and barbecue skewers. Cuisines range from Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Greek, Hungarian, Maori to Pasifika. "We are looking at how we can best ensure that the food remains fresh and gets delivered to our customers at the quickest possible time," de Jonge said. Jasmine Yao, 28, who developed the mobile app, said customers can order from any number of stalls and pay just one delivery fee. The food is sent to a centralised pick-up point, or the "night market hub", and the delivery driver will pick up and take it to the customer's doorstep. Customers will be able to find the list of stall operators and menus on any given night in the mobile app. "We basically make our money from the rent, so we won't charge our stallholders any more commission on top of what they sell their food for," Yao said. "This is also a way to help us attract even more stallholders in the future."
The app and delivery service will be trialled in late September, early October, Yao said. Information on how to download the app will be released on the Auckland Night Markets Facebook page once it's ready. A frequent user of Uber Eats food delivery service and night market visitor Tom Gibbard, 24, said he was excited about the night market delivery but questioned whether it would work in terms of food quality. "We're not talking pizza or fried chicken here, noodles can get soggy and some Asian buns can become hard as stone when left out for a while," Gibbard said. Another night market regular Dave Takai, 42, said he was unlikely to use the delivery service and would continue to get his dinners at the markets. "The night market isn't just about the food, it's the atmosphere. You can have pizza at home, but you've got to be at the markets to fully enjoy what the food's about.
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