Still delivering

Aaron Hoffman, BSS 鈥�16, and John Zinno, BSS 鈥�16 have been friends for about 15 years. As students at OHIO, the two conceived the idea of an on-demand college food delivery company that has since grown to a multi-million-dollar on-demand service.   

鈥淲e were walking to a dining hall on a cold November night, and I said to John, 鈥業 think we should start a business delivering food to the people,'" Hoffman says.    

Hoffman had identified a need that would cater to students, but Zinno had reservations about the idea.    

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to do it,鈥� Zinno says. 鈥淏ecause none of us had a car!鈥�  

鈥淭here was a need for food delivery, and the target audience was us, the students,鈥� Hoffman says. 鈥淲e knew students would pay for food delivery because it was convenient.鈥� 

Later that night at Alden Library, they decided to test the idea by creating an account on Twitter (now known as X). The account quickly grew, evidence to them that their idea would work. 

Zinno and Hoffman both changed their majors to focus on their growing company. They both chose to enroll in a Bachelor of Specialized Studies in University College, with Zinno majoring in real estate entrepreneurship principles with a certificate in entrepreneurship and Hoffman focusing on finance.   

鈥淭hat helped because running the business and balancing it with our academics was tough," Zinno says.  

There were plenty of challenges in those first days. Orders began coming in via text message to a single phone, and figuring out the payment system meant they had to start studying the tenets of entrepreneurship and business. One thing they pointed out as instrumental to their growth as business owners and entrepreneurs was the. 

鈥淲ithout OHIO, this business would not exist, Zinno said. 鈥淚 was able to do an internship that allowed me to think about the business so much. The Center for Entrepreneurship provided an environment and resources that allowed us to focus on our business, even in school. They brought speakers and resource personnel to speak to us about creating and sustaining businesses. The professors were phenomenal, and we got great advice from them and encouraged us to try more things and mix it up.鈥� 

The business proved it was a viable option they could pursue after school. They made as much as $60 on their deliveries. So after graduation, Hoffman and Zinno decided to take the next step, moving the company to Zinno鈥檚 hometown in Canton. 

Today, the is an industry leader revolutionizing catering delivery with over 300 million dollars of catering delivery services and a network of over 17,000 active drivers, operational in almost all states. 

Having co-owned the business for a little over a decade, Zinno speaks on how transformative the experience has been over the years in the industry but also in purpose and impact. 

鈥淲hat gets me excited is seeing people join us on this journey to help push this vision. Most importantly, witnessing the impact on people through food delivery, from events to everyday meals.鈥� 

Hoffman had similar sentiments. 

鈥淲e built something that works. Something that meets a need and makes us and other people money. I think it a privilege to have been able to pursue this right from school and to see it become what it has become in the world.鈥�