IN THE middle of a busy day or at the end of an exhausting one, when you feel like having a good meal to relieve stress, you may phone in the comfort food of your choice from a restaurant and have it delivered right at your doorstep.

All you have to do is check out the list of restaurants City Delivery services and dial 87878.

You no longer have to settle for the usual hamburger, pizza, or chicken fare. City Delivery now offers anywhere from Japanese to Thai, Singaporean to Italian, and several other dishes in between.

You can even get donuts, pastries and yoghurt. For a minimum order of P500 ? with 10-percent delivery charge ? you can enjoy ?limited edition? dishes in your office or at home seven days a week from 10:30 in the morning to 10:30 in the evening. Whether it is a meal for one or an impromptu feast for a dozen, you dial just one number to choose from almost 30 restaurants.

And if you feel like organizing a relaxing evening with the guys or gals, playing a friendly game of poker, City Delivery will even provide the deck of cards, together with the beer, wine and soda, plus potato chips and other snack items. The company has a respectable selection of imported beers, some wines, including Moet et Chandon bubblies, and products from San Miguel Corp. and Coca-Cola.

As is often the case with new business ventures, City Delivery came about as a solution to a personal problem, according to Raquel B. Bartolome, sales and marketing supervisor, and Edelynn Marie A. Tolentino, sales and marketing executive.

The women say that the enterprise, City Delivery Food Solutions Inc., came about when the owner got home one evening and felt the need to dine on something other than the usual fastfood meals. He was too tired to cook and did not feel like wading through Metro Manila?s heavy traffic to have his fill of something different.

Bartolome and Tolentino say that the owner got the idea of a food delivery service from a similar company that has been doing brisk business in Shanghai.

When he returned from China, the women say, the owner wanted to become the Shanghai firm?s franchisee here. But the Chinese encouraged him to start his own business, so City Delivery was born.

The owner, along with some cousins turned business associates, all wish to remain anonymous, the women say.

Bartolome and Tolentino explain that the service has been designed primarily for the A and B markets, as well as discerning diners who are not too keen on fastfood. The restaurants City Delivery services at the moment has more than 1,000 dishes to offer, varied enough for even the pickiest and fussiest of diners (complete menus of restaurants are available at the company?s web site, www.citydelivery.ph).

Right temperature

City Delivery tries to make sure that the food reaches the client fresh and in good order. It has even customized their delivery boxes and the motorcycles couriers use.

The food compartment has both hot and cold boxes, each with two shelves ? the bottom one has room enough to accommodate cakes. The Yamaha motorcycle has been equipped with a plug for the hot box so food is kept warm during transport. Each courier delivers food from only one restaurant and the box has a slot where the name of the establishment can be slid in.

City Delivery has also issued member establishments round stickers of its logo. The stickers are placed on every food container to guarantee that the food is delivered just the way it was packed by the food outlet. Of course, quality of the dish itself is the responsibility of the establishment.

Bartolome says their initial choices of partners were ?personal favorites of the owners, their friends and friends of friends.? Of their current partners, only three have regular delivery services. Some establishments may accommodate delivery only if the destinations are nearby, she says.

Orders received at the City Delivery call center are sent to the restaurants concerned via dedicated fax numbers to make sure they are given priority.

At the moment, City Delivery has two hubs ? one services the Makati and Fort area, while the other takes care of Ortigas, Greenhills and Eastwood. Business is more brisk at the Makati-Fort area as there are more restaurant partners in that part.

?Delivery takes 45 minutes to one hour,? Bartolome says. ?This is not fastfood, so it takes a little longer to prepare the dishes.?

The business started only in December, but Tolentino says they now average 200 calls a day, about 40 to 50 percent of their initial target.

?We are taking orders not just from offices but also exclusive villages, with more orders being placed in the evening,? she says.

Trained staff

Because it has a more fastidious clientele, City Delivery makes sure that its staff ? from the people who receive orders to the delivery crew ? get the proper training. The call center staff is oriented on the various restaurants and the dishes they offer to help callers navigate the tricky path from Brussels sprouts to ube macaroons.

Couriers, or ?riders? as they are called, have to demonstrate skill and strict observance of safety rules. City Delivery will not guarantee the food will get to you within so many minutes because it does not want to pressure its riders to ignore basic safety precautions and traffic rules, putting their lives and limbs at risk and the food in danger of getting mashed and crushed, just to beat the clock. The riders are also trained to deliver a brief spiel about the company, the restaurant where the food came from and the food itself.

To ensure that your order gets to you at a precise time, City Delivery suggests placing your orders a day before or even earlier.

At the moment, the company services Bizu, The Bread Bag, Crustasia, Freska, H&E, Kitchen, Little Asia, New Orleans, Peri-Peri, The Flying Pig, Seafood Island, Chlorophyll, Cupcakes, Gonuts Donuts, Berries Fresh Yoghurt, Konbini Store, Mangan, National Sports Grill, Red Kimono, The Red Crab?s, Blufish, Claw Daddy?s, Fish out of Water, Gourdo?s, Jatujak, Life Coffee & Tea, Mr. Choi Kitchen, Texas Smoke ?Em, and Secret Recipe.