Select. Sautee. Savor. That’s the motto of Scaffidi Restaurant Group (SRG), founded in 2009, which operates a multipronged restaurant, bar, catering, and virtual quick-service business in Steubenville, Ohio. Selecting DoorDash as its premier delivery and marketing platform gives SRG and its customers plenty to savor.
DoorDash’s reimagined Merchant Suite highlights ways restaurants can grow, from promoting online sales and brand recognition to attracting new customers, discovering best-sellers, using data insights, and increasing order volume.
DoorDash reaches an estimated 94 percent of the population, and after it arrived on SRG’s demographic and geographic scene, Scaffidi’s Restaurant and Tavern went live on the platform in September 2020.
“It was the Tuesday after Labor Day in 2020,” says SRG CEO Frankie DiCarlantonio. “I remember the tablet came in, and I said, ‘I don’t know if this thing will ring once, twice maybe.’ I really didn’t know what to expect that first week we were on DoorDash. Then, every day we were receiving 60–70 delivery orders—strictly delivery orders. It was booming.”
Buoyed by this success, SRG launched Steubenville’s first virtual concept in February 2021, Wings on Wheels, allowing use of its existing kitchen, staff, and operations. The brand leveraged DoorDash Marketplace to attract new customers to such acclaim that in August 2021, SRG premiered Gnocchi Nook, a quick-service carry-out restaurant in Weirton, West Virginia, featuring homemade, customizable pasta bowls—with original recipes from the brand’s Nonnas, its Italian grandmothers.
Last year, in 2021, SRG produced 32 tons of gnocchi across its operations. That’s no small potatoes at 64,000 pounds. Indeed, in January 2021, SRG received 780 DoorDash orders, which is a 1,850 percent increase from its pre-DoorDash days. While SRG works with three other third-party partners, DoorDash accounts for 54 percent of its off-premise sales.
After COVID-19 turned Gnocchi Nook into a delivery- and pickup-only operation, SRG leveraged growth and accessibility via Storefront for commission-free orders on Gnocchi Nook’s own website and social media; Sponsored Listings for prime promotional real estate in the Door Dash app; and DoorDash On-Demand Delivery to call drivers when needed.
According to DoorDash Chief Revenue Officer Tom Pickett, 87 percent of DoorDash merchants have the goal of attracting new customers, and SRG is no different. “Being able to be on that listing and interact with their customer base has allowed us to reach a whole new set of customers that may have never known or sampled any of the brands operated by SRG,” says DiCarlantonio, who cites a 10–12 percent profit increase on SRG delivery orders since the brand began offering wine and beer.
Having just hit the two-year mark partnership with DoorDash, DiCarlantonio is excited about the new tools and technologies ahead: “I love DoorDash because the company is not staying stagnant; it’s always growing, and it’s not just offering connection with restaurants anymore. Now, alcohol is being delivered to you, as well as groceries and items from the convenience store or office supply stores. I don’t doubt that our partnership will also grow.”
To learn more, visit get.doordash.com.
By Jocelyn Winn
