For the second time in just hours, Hossien Sahebjame trekked from his Westwood apartment to pick up a hamburger from the In-N-Out Burger nearby, only to hop onto his bike and the rush the food back up to the North Village.
But the piping hot meal was not for him or a friend ““ Sahebjame dropped it off at a stranger’s door, collecting money on the way out.
The delivery was one of several made in the past month by the fifth-year mathematics student for Food 4 Bruinz, a business he founded with his two roommates, Justin Sanders, a fourth-year political science student, and Jony Valenzuela, a fourth-year mathematics student.
Launched last month, the company brings food from any restaurant in Westwood that does not already deliver, to dorm rooms and apartments near the UCLA campus.
The roommates make about two to four deliveries a night and had made about 60 deliveries as of Thursday, Sanders said.
Those interested in making an order can text one of several numbers listed on the Food 4 Bruinz website or Facebook page with their food request and the address for where they want the delivery to be made.
In addition to the cost of the food, Food 4 Bruinz charges 25 percent of the total food cost for delivery, and an additional 3 percent on top of that for purchases made by credit card. One $10 order takes about an hour to deliver and produces a profit of $2.50.
Hours vary from day to day, but are updated daily on the business’ website and Facebook page. The company tends to operate in the afternoon hours, Sanders said.
Sahebjame said he drew inspiration for Food 4 Bruinz from his home country of Iran, where more restaurants have a delivery service.
Because the roommates have no out-of-pocket expenses, they have earned $200 since they began working last month.
The goal is to eventually pay for their apartment’s rent of about $1,000 a month, Sahebjame said.
Upon receiving a text from a student, the team will reply almost immediately to confirm the order, Sanders said.
“We’re always at our phones during (delivery) hours,” Sahebjame said. “As soon as a text comes in all three of us are like “˜Food 4 Bruinz?’ and get disappointed when it is just a friend.”
After receiving an order, one of the team members jump on a bike or skateboard and head out to pick up the food, Sanders said. One of the Food 4 Bruinz members will text the customer when they collect the food, with the total cost of the purchase and an estimated delivery time.
Other organizations, such as Eat24, also deliver food in the Westwood area, Sahebjame said. Eat24 delivers food from a select pool of restaurants.
Humza Siddiqui is a fourth-year neuroscience student and frequent customer of Food 4 Bruinz.
He has used the service since it was launched because the delivery cost was fair, he said.
“All the other (delivery services) don’t have as much variety and are not open as late,” said Siddiqui, who is also of Sahebjame’s acquaintance. “With (Food 4 Bruinz), I can just text them my order and they’ll come to my door in 30 or 45 minutes.”
Monica Wang, a third-year mathematics student said she saw the group on Facebook and will consider using the service when she returns to school in the fall.
“I would probably use (Food 4 Bruinz) if I was ordering for a lot of people or if I didn’t want to go down (to Westwood) myself,” Wang said.
But the business has not been free of complications and unusual circumstances during its beginning stages.
A seemingly intoxicated man in Kansas who had found their website was one of the first ones to call, Sahebjame said. After Sahebjame explained they were based in California, the man insisted they put some food on a skateboard to send to him.
The business’ first delivery was missing three tacos, Sahebjame said. He quickly returned to the restaurant to fix the order, and ended up delivering the order for free, he said.
The students also run the risk of having to pay out of their own pocket if a customer cancels their order after the food has been picked up, Sahebjame said. But that hasn’t happened so far, he added.
Overall though, Sahebjame said he is glad Food 4 Bruinz started in the summer, so the trio can work out any problems with the business before the academic year starts.
“We are really happy with how things are going, especially since it is summer and there are less students,” Sanders said.
With the school year about to start, Sanders said he expects business will increase ““ hopefully enough to cover his apartment’s rent.
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