Scott Belsky, the Co-Founder of Behance, once said that success isn’t about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.
Few embody this ideal more than brothers and business partners Vik and Karan Lall. Together, they have launched their first business, Drinksout, a premium alcohol delivery service.
“We noticed that it can be difficult to obtain alcohol in Windsor and Essex County,” Vik explains. “There’s a lot of delivery services out there. There’s food delivery. There’s grocery delivery. Even pharmacies deliver. However, there isn’t an easy-to-use platform for people to order alcohol. And especially during tough times like now, when people are spread so far apart, alcohol has a way of bringing people together.”
Inspired, Vik and Karan set out to meet this need.
“We wanted to create a cheap, one-stop solution,” Vik states. “If you log onto our website, we have over 5000 products from local LCBOs, the Beer Store and breweries. With all these different options, it’s very easy for customers to build a cart and place their orders. Then, our drivers can make the delivery.”
The Drinksout website offers real-time tracking, similar to other platforms such as UberEats, SkiptheDishes, and fellow local startup Jubzi.
“You’ll receive everything you’ve ordered within an hour,” Vik explains.
The Drinksout service is especially ideal during these frightening times, when the threat of COVID-19 is still looming large.
“We noticed that when people did go to the LCBO, they were waiting in these long lines,” Vik states. “And when inside the store, they were typically touching a lot of products and then putting them back down on the shelf. There is a substantial risk involved, especially for elderly people. With Drinksout, it is completely contactless delivery. The driver comes to the door wearing a mask.”
Drinksout is becoming the delivery service for several local manufacturers, such as Craftheads Brewery, Walkerville Brewery, Wolfhead Brewery and Pelee Island Winery. Their items can be purchased through Drinksout or you can purchase from websites to receive one delivery from all of your local alcoholic beverage retailers. Most of these retailers close their delivery service by early evening where Drinksout will have the option to delivery until late in the evening throughout the weekends. You will not have to rush from work to have access to great local products.
“A lot of these breweries are struggling,” Vik explains. “They rely on foot traffic for sales. They don’t offer deliveries locally—they work with Canada Post. But, those parcels can take anywhere from 5 to 10 business days to arrive. We carry all of their products on our site. And we deliver on their behalf.”
Thus far, reactions to Drinksout have been extremely enthusiastic. Vik and Karan already tested the market with two pre-launches on Valentine’s Day and the Super Bowl.
“Those were just for us to test the model,” Vik states. “But, on the Super Bowl–without any previous marketing or promotions—we had 18 deliveries in one night! All within four or five hours! That’s when we realized that there was a need for this service. So, trained more staff and hired more drivers.”
All Drinksout drivers are highly trained and SmartServe certified.
“Due to the products we’re delivering, we can’t just leave them at the door,” Vik explains. “We have to verify that our customers are 19 or older. Our drivers are highly skilled in that sense. We’ve run them through multiple different scenarios. The website itself also allows customers to verify their age during the checkout process.”
Mobile app coming soon
Currently Drinksout offer delivery service to Lasalle, Tecumseh and Windsor areas. Stay tuned for the release of their app and more delivery options in Windsor-Essex!
And what’s most impressive about Drinksout is how Vik and Karan were able to launch the whole business—from idea to implementation—in just a couple short months.
“It was a pleasure to support Vik and Karan during their start-up process,” Chelsie Hunt, Business Advisor, WEtech Alliance, states. “They have an entrepreneurial mindset and put it to good use ensuring that customer experience and employee satisfaction remained the priority during development. We look forward to sharing the platform with all our colleagues and partners in Windsor, LaSalle and Tecumseh.”
Have a virtual happy hour to attend later tonight? A Zoom call with friends? Want to eliminate more errands? Then stock up in a safe, simple way at www.drinksout.ca!
