Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Dine out, but enjoy comforts of home

By Anne Gelhaus

For West Valley residents who want to sup from a restaurant menu but don't want to brave the wait for a table at Willow Street Wood-Fired Pizza or slip into something less comfortable than their sweats to go to Bella Saratoga, help is just a phone call away.

San Jose's Dine In Restaurant Delivery service allows people who want to select from a restaurant's bill of fare but eat at home the opportunity to order food from any of 14 establishments in Los Gatos, Saratoga and Cupertino. The service actually encompasses about 50 South Bay eateries, broken down into three delivery areas.

"Los Gatos, Saratoga and Cupertino are all in one delivery zone because no one in that area is more than 15 minutes away from any of the 14 restaurants," says Dine In owner Andrew Grant. "To preserve the quality of the food, we don't deliver from Original Joe's [in downtown San Jose] to Los Gatos."

West Valley residents can order everything from sushi to burgers through Dine In. Restaurant menus are compiled in a dining guide that's mailed out to thousands of area residents; when placing a phone order, customers refer to menu items by number, and Dine In employees then fax the order to the appropriate restaurant. A driver is dispatched to pick up the order as soon as the food comes out of the kitchen. Dine In charges $6 for delivery on orders of all sizes.

Grant says about 80 percent of Dine In's lunch business comes from office workers who are chained to their desks, as well as large orders to serve corporate meetings. The other 20 percent comes from individuals at their homes.

"In the evenings, it's just the opposite," Grant adds.

Besides helping keep the overworked masses well-fed, Grant says Dine In provides great exposure for the restaurants involved.

"Restaurants can only seat a certain number of people at once," he adds. "We help maximize their kitchen capacity."

To place an order through Dine In or obtain a dining guide, call 998-3463.