Chef Shuttle, RaftUp teaming up to deliver meals to boaters during holiday weekend

Chef Shuttle CEO Ryan Herget says the meal delivery service’s operations center in Little Rock will continue to take orders and dispatch drivers as franchise locations open.
Chef Shuttle CEO Ryan Herget says the meal delivery service’s operations center in Little Rock will continue to take orders and dispatch drivers as franchise locations open.

Two central Arkansas businesses are teaming up this Fourth of July weekend to deliver meals to boaters.

Chef Shuttle, a service that delivers food from local restaurants, and RaftUp, an app that allows lake-goers to share their locations via GPS, will work together to provide meal deliveries to boaters on Lake Hamilton during the holiday weekend. If it goes well, the two companies could reunite down the road, they said.

“We’d love to see how we’d continue partnering in the future,” said Corey Boelkens, CEO and founder of RaftUp.

Customers can download RaftUp — only available on iPhone — and “friend” Chef Shuttle on the app, according to a news release. Then, they can go to Chef Shuttle’s website and click the Lake Hamilton button, where they can choose what to eat and when they want it delivered.

By default, the deliveries will be taken to Gregg Orr Marine in Hot Springs, but customers on the water will have a phone number they can text to confirm their delivery, the release said. Chef Shuttle staff members, including the president and CEO of Chef Shuttle, Ryan Herget, will then use RaftUp’s location feature to deliver the food to its intended vessel.

On-lake deliveries will be available Saturday-Monday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Customers will be able to order food from restaurants like Bleu Monkey Grill, Chick-Fil-A, Rolling Pit BBQ, Purple Cow, Taste of India and more.

Herget said he saw news about RaftUp’s recent launch and thought there was potential to work together.

“What a great idea,” Herget said. “Let’s see if we can do lake delivery.”

Boelkens described his app in terms of supply and demand: People need things while they’re on the water, he said, and with this partnership, RaftUp’s GPS locator is able to provide the means to that end. In this case, it’s food.

Herget, who called Boelkens with the idea three weeks ago, said there will be some kinks to work out. He, too, said there was potential for a future collaboration.

“We’ve heard a lot of excitement about it, but we don’t know what to expect,” he said.

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