Move over, Door Dash, Grubhub and Uber Eats! There is a new kid in town providing delivery of world-class dishes. It’s called Crave Delivery, an app-based food delivery concept that launched in the Treasure Valley in June 2020.
Crave is designed to be a completely new way to order food from award-winning restaurants. The food dishes are prepared in a central commercial kitchen and delivered to Meridian, Eagle and Boise by drivers who work directly for Crave. Customers can mix and match any dish from an app-only menu of options from nationally known restaurants.
Crave’s Director of Strategy, Shannon Bloemker, describes it like this: “Each of these restaurants comes into the kitchen, they make their awesome menus, and we provide them an app that we built so they can provide it to consumers, who can place an order for delivery in their home or business or wherever they are. [It’s] definitely not fast food or fast-casual, but it really is approachable.”
With a complete focus on delivery, each restaurant crafts seasonal specialties and classic favorites, all prepared and packed to maintain quality from their kitchens to a customer’s table. And this concept provides an easier way for chefs to reach a whole new audience without the burden of trying to find a suitable commercial kitchen or take on an expensive lease.
As of August 2020, there are four "name" restaurants in the mix for dishes to order. The menu includes about half a dozen choices from each one:
Betelnut (SF Asian Fusion roots)
- An icon on the San Francisco food scene, Betelnut was central to the rise of pan-Asian food nationwide during its celebrated 20-year run. With dishes inspired by the award-winning Cecilia Chiang, cited as the woman who introduced America to authentic Chinese cuisine, Crave is delighted to be working with the Betelnut team to reignite its cult status and bring a fresh take on Asian cuisine delivered exclusively by Crave.
ESW@home (Seattle roots)
- The newest inspiration from celebrated chef Scott Crawford Crawford Cookshop brings the cozy comfort food he’s so well known for at Raleigh, NC’s award-winning Crawford & Son, into your home. Crawford – a multiple James Beard Foundation “Best Chef: Southeast” nominee, Forbes 5-star chef, and winner of Bravo’s “Recipe for Deception” – delivers his hallmark attention to detail, clean American flavors and artful approach to homestyle cooking, now uniquely designed for you to enjoy at home.
Elliott’s Oyster House (Seattle roots)
- Since opening in 1975 near the heart of Pike Place Market, Elliott’s Oyster House has delighted taste buds from all who walk through their doors. They have developed a national reputation for impeccably fresh seafood and are recognized by Tom Horan’s Top 10 Club, FORTUNE, USA Today, Gourmet, Wine Spectator, and Seattle Magazine.
Crawford Cookshop (Raleigh roots)
- Focused on authenticity, ESR@Home uses fresh local, ingredients to let the food do the talking. Ethan Stowell has a passion for doing it right and has been recognized by the James Beard Foundation, Food and Wine, Sunset Magazine and Travel & Leisure’s 50 Best New U.S. Restaurants.
Currently available only in the Treasure Valley, Crave will be expanding to dozens of destinations across the US in the next few years. Crave is building a 15,000-square-foot kitchen space at the 10 Mile Crossing area in Meridian, set to be fully operational by fall 2020, and they plan to add 8 or more restaurants to their lineup to include approximately 14 kitchens.
Note: Not to be confused with CRAVE Kitchen and Wine Bar, the Eagle restaurant opened by Lucky Fin, Crave Delivery is owned in part by owners of The Tavern at Eagle Crossing in Meridian.
To try out Crave Delivery's collection of food, download the free app in your app store, find them online, or follow them on Facebook.