Breckenridge restaurateurs talk success of e-delivery program ahead of fee system rollout
News | May 10, 2024 | Allison Moore, Summit Daily
“As Breckenridge prepares to begin charging food distributors to participate in its e-delivery program later this year, some residents and restaurant owners have raised concerns that the new fees could ultimately drive up menu prices for consumers. But local officials and restaurateurs closely involved with the program say the opposite is more likely true: the centralized delivery system has already improved public safety, created operational efficiencies and saved money for distributors that outweigh the new permitting fees.
“106 West has won the hearts and minds of the restaurant community in this town.”
The e-delivery program, part of the town’s broader Blue River Pathways initiative, was created to reduce traffic congestion, improve pedestrian safety and cut emissions in the downtown core by eliminating large delivery trucks from narrow streets and alleyways. Instead of semis making dozens of individual deliveries downtown, participating distributors unload shipments at a centralized dock facility near City Market, where staff from 106 West Logistics handles the “last mile” of deliveries using smaller electric vehicles better suited to navigate Breckenridge’s tight and often snow-covered streets.
Breckenridge Town Council approved a new fee and permitting structure for the voluntary program last month. Council member and local restaurateur Jay Beckerman said before initiating the pilot program over a year ago, the town specifically examined concerns about whether the new fees would encumber restaurants already facing economic pressures.
“That was one of our (the council’s) concerns as well: is the cost of the program going to burden our local businesses that are already struggling with the low-snow year and some of the other headwinds when it comes to fuel prices?” Beckerman said.
Instead, he said, the program has significantly reduced labor, fuel and operational costs for large distributors in the area.
“It turns out that this program saves our distributors — our larger ones and semis — so many man hours, truck wear and tear, fuel costs and emergencies where they get stuck in alleys,” Beckerman said.
Under the recently approved fee structure, the largest distributors would pay up to roughly $45,500 annually, depending on delivery volume and operational impact. Beckerman said that cost is minor relative to the savings distributors have already seen while participating in the program at no cost over the last year. He added that before the e-delivery system, distributors often spent entire workdays navigating Breckenridge’s downtown streets.
“It allows them to come to the north side of town, closest to I-70, and they’re able to be in and out usually between 30 to 90 minutes to empty their load,” Beckerman said, noting those time savings have proven invaluable to operations at his restaurants, Blue River Bistro and Bistro North. “This eliminates driver time where typically it’s 8-10 hours.”
The change has also helped address longstanding staffing issues among some distributors, Beckerman said. He noted that drivers with commercial licenses are limited by federal regulations governing daily hours allowed behind the wheel.
“They’ve been on the clock too long, and that’s against federal regulations,” Beckerman said of delivery drivers under the previous system. “Now, drivers are fighting for this route because it is easy.”
“Now, he said, deliveries have become faster, smoother and more reliable. ”
Eric Mamula — longtime owner of Downstairs at Eric’s, former mayor of Breckenridge and current Summit County commissioner — said the difference with e-delivery has been dramatic for his and other local restaurants.
“It’s been night and day how much better we’ve been working with this,” Mamula said.
Before the program launched, Mamula said delivery trucks routinely crowded into the busy alley behind his Main Street business, posing safety issues in heavily trafficked pedestrian areas.
“Right behind my restaurant is an alley that in the summertime is filled with people, kids on bikes, people walking dogs,” Mamula said. “The whole thing of having trucks out there constantly was really a safety concern.”
Mamula also recalled frequent operational issues with deliveries before 106 West introduced its centralized system.
“For a while, they were going through drivers pretty regularly, so drivers wouldn’t know where they were going,” Mamula said of his restaurant’s primary distributor, Shamrock Foods. “It honestly became such a pain.”
Now, he said, deliveries have become faster, smoother and more reliable.
“The guys (from 106 West) bring everything, they know where everything goes, all the delivery spots around town,” Mamula said. “They know exactly what to do.”
Both Mamula and Beckerman disputed the concern that the new fee system justifies passing major costs onto restaurants and consumers.
“I think there’s cost savings for the major distributors,” Mamula said. “With the way inflation has escalated the price of goods, with what we’re paying in fuel charges, this is so unbelievably minor compared to everything else we’re experiencing.”
Beckerman noted that so far, distributors have effectively received the service at no cost since the town initiated the pilot program. The fees were always going to follow, he said. During that time, Beckerman said, distributors have saved on the costs of labor, travel time and more.
“They’ve been saving everything … where now we’re asking them to pay a tiny fraction of that savings to help us (the town) subsidize about 19% of the cost of the program,” Beckerman said.
The town still expects to cover roughly 80% of the program’s operating expenses even after the new fees take effect. With that, he said, there should be no reason for customers to see higher food prices as a result of formalizing the e-delivery permitting process.
“I think it would be very disingenuous for distributors to say that this is an unreasonable burden to then place this on restaurants,” Beckerman said.
Beckerman also addressed concerns some restaurant owners initially had about delivery accuracy under the centralized model. Beckerman said 106 West staff check invoices and deliveries at the dock facility before shipments leave for restaurants, helping catch missing products early. (Mamula noted he’s never had a delivery error while working with 106 West.) If an item is incorrectly labeled at a distributor warehouse, Beckerman said 106 West coordinates returns and corrections.
“It’s been a very smooth process,” he said.
While some restaurant owners were initially skeptical that 106 West could handle the volume of deliveries required in Breckenridge, Beckerman said attitudes have shifted significantly since the program launched.
“They have passed with flying colors,” he said. “106 West has won the hearts and minds of the restaurant community in this town.””
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