LOCO CR launches new, locally-owned delivery service in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — A new delivery service has launched in Cedar Rapids after years in the making.

LOCO CR, whose name is a portmanteau of “loyal” and “local” as well as an acronym for “locally owned co-op,” quietly launched in November with deliveries from The Blind Pig in Cedar Rapids. Founder and chairman Jon Sewell said the platform will plan to add several more restaurants to its platform in the coming weeks leading up to a January grand opening, according to the Corridor Business Journal.

By its grand opening, the platform expects to have 80 restaurants participating.

With buy-in from a collaboration of local restaurant owners, LOCO offers a locally-owned alternative to platforms like DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats as big tech firms tighten their market share grip on a growing revenue stream for restaurants.

The new delivery service for restaurants is attempting to do what other third-party apps have not been able to deliver, founders and restaurant owners say: local, competent service that’s still profitable for restaurant owners in a dining world permanently altered by the pandemic.

Customer service is based locally, commission rates for the service are a fraction of those charged by national apps, and business practices are more driver-friendly.

Delivery drivers, who typically rely on tips, will be paid more. All drivers will have a minimum guarantee of $15 an hour, with potential to earn more.

Local ownership will deliver service that resolves conflicts without taking a hit on a restaurant’s reputation and revenue. Quality control is a common complaint among restaurant owners who use third-party delivery.

“We’ve all been getting our butts kicked by (the other delivery apps) of the world,” Steve Shriver, co-owner of Brewhemia in Cedar Rapids and chair of Loco’s board, told The Gazette in 2024. “They’re taking up to 40 percent of our revenue through their platform, and it’s leaving the community.”

The cooperative model has previously been pioneered by President Jon Sewell with other delivery brands like Chomp in Iowa City. LOCO will never expand outside the Cedar Rapids metro, he told The Gazette.

“This service will be run the way a restaurant owner wants delivery service to be run,” he said. “There are no retired restaurant owners in the DoorDash executive suite.”

In 2023, 65 percent of all restaurants in the country had a higher proportion of delivery sales than they did in 2019, according to Jessica Dunker, president and CEO of the Iowa Restaurant Association. That number is higher even for full-service restaurants — 58 percent of which have seen higher demand.

Dunker said 31 percent of restaurant operators expected their off-premise sales to increase in 2025. Another 55 percent expected those sales to remain steady.

“What this tells you is that the market has evened out, and they’re understanding better how to integrate strategies for delivery into their revenue models,” she told The Gazette in 2024.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.

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