howell Dennis/Crowley Post-Signal
Chris Meaux still carries the notebook with him everywhere he goes.
As a young man with big plans, he jotted every idea he came up with down in an old, purple and gold notebook with an LSU decal on top of it.
He tried his hand in five start-up companies, each of which didn’t work out.
However, judging by the rate that the business he started in 2013 is growing, it’s possible that the last idea he wrote down in his notebook could be the last one for quite some time.
Meaux, the man who came up with WAITR restaurant delivery app, gave a presentation to OneAcadia’s monthly meeting Jan. 16 in the Acadia General Hospital’s conference room.
One of the ideas that Meaux jotted down in his notebook eventually paid off. He came up with a concept for a food delivery app that enables a person to call any participating restaurant, order anything they want on the menu and have a driver who lives in the area pick it up and deliver it to their house in “approximately 45 minutes.”
“We won’t give a specific time because lawyers will be sitting and waiting for one of our drivers to get in an accident like Dominoes did a while back with their 30 minutes or less guarantee,” he joked. “What we will guarantee is that if there food is cold by the time it arrives that we will pay to have the restaurant remake it or refund your money.”
Money is something that Meaux doesn’t have much of a problem with these days. Since WAITR started up in their initial test market in the Dallas/Fort Worth area using only five restaurants with only family and friends as customers, they have grown considerably. In 2015, revenue was just over $600,000. In 2016, revenue had reached $10 million. His business expanded from his initial Dallas/Fort Worth test market to dozens of areas across the southeastern United States. His currently runs his business out of Lake Charles.
However, Meaux does not give one the impression that money was his motivation for starting WAITR. He seems intent on building his business to where it eventually becomes available in all 48 states in the continental U.S. And he doesn’t seem to be one to let borders stop him either.
“I’d like to get us to where WAITR is used internationally as well,” said the determined Notre Dame High graduate.
Meaux also told the group that even though people may not view south Louisiana as an area where ideas involving computer-based technology sprout up on a regular basis, a good idea combined with perseverance will eventually lead to success.
“I was in Austin, Texas, looking for investors and when one man declined to come aboard he told me that it wasn’t that he didn’t like the idea, it was that he didn’t like the fact that I was starting my business in Louisiana as opposed to some place like Silicon Valley,” said Meaux. “He didn’t directly say that starting a business Louisiana meant that it was doomed to fail but he sure seemed to imply it. I stood firm though about keeping it here.”
It’s funny how success can make suddenly change things. While Meaux said he has a large sales force to try to get restaurants signed up, the concept isn’t quite as hard to sell as it was just a few years ago.
“When we first started out my father was our only salesman which was nice because he worked for free,” he laughed. “These days it isn’t that hard to sell our concept. The restaurant have begun calling us.”
And as for the suggestion that he begin his venture in Silicon Valley?
“They have been calling me recently,” he said.
Meaux gave the impression that he could have talked to the gathering for much longer, however, he had to be in New Orleans to film a commercial.
“I don’t want to keep the person I’m filming with waiting too long,” he said. “You may have heard of him. Some guy named Drew Brees.”