Suspect this is mainly BS. I don't doubt they've been quite successful in diversifying into deliveries. But suspect the driver numbers thing is misleading, and mainly the usual turnover exacerbated by Covid.
So mainly marketing/PR spiel from start to finish, and one of the restaurants involved even gets a shout out to promote its wares.
Advertorial, churnalism, blah, blah. And that it's also effectively a recruitment advert should be obvious right at the end
Nottingham taxi firm DG Cars takes on 175 new drivers during pandemic - and there's still jobs going
https://www.nottinghampost.com/whats-on ... 75-4996110
They're delivering everything from false teeth to fish and chips
Image: Nottingham Post
With fewer people out and about during lockdown it has been a lean time for taxi firms but one Nottingham company has bucked the trend to take on 175 new drivers.
As well as picking up passengers, the cab drivers are delivering tapas, fish and chips and curries.
Rather than losing drivers, DG Cars has taken on more staff to help closed restaurants stay afloat during the pandemic by delivering takeaways to customers.
Local eateries and taxi drivers were both hit hard by lockdown restrictions, which prevented people from eating out. Restaurants were left without custom and taxi drivers were also desperate to pick up work after passenger numbers plummeted.
Image: Nottingham Post
In response, DG Cars decided to launch a new delivery service that would enable local restaurants to reach people in their homes and allow taxi drivers to find a new source of jobs.
The initiative has been such a success that the taxi firm is working with more than 160 restaurants across Nottingham and Derby, with around 3,000 delivery jobs being passed through to drivers each week.
The taxi firm is now extending the service to the retail sector, to help them get goods out to customers.
They're doing deliveries for large cash and carry, Hyperama in Derby, convenience stores and has partnered with NHS pharmacies to deliver medicine.
Drivers have transported false teeth, live leeches and glass eyes and can take pretty much anything - as long as it fits into a taxi - to anywhere in the UK.
In the future the business hopes to partner with "any and every" type of retailer - from florists to butcher's.
On top of the 175 new drivers recently recruited, to meet demand the company hopes to recruit a further 75 drivers within the next four months.
Omair Javaid, director at DG Cars, said: “In a difficult economic climate, this has been a fantastic way for us to support local businesses and connect the community.
“It has also opened up doors for our business – it’s enabled us to provide a new opportunity to our drivers, who have been struggling due to the lack of traditional passenger and corporate work.
“We plan to continue rolling out the service in the months to come. Many vulnerable people are currently relying on deliveries, so the more businesses we can work with, the better for them in terms of the options they have available.”
Image: Nottingham Post
Restaurants using the service range from Asian street food takeaway Chao Chao and Michelin recommended tapas restaurant Bar Iberico to Indian restaurant Masala Junction and chippy Bestwood Fisheries.
Ryan Schofield, head of internal business development at Chao Chao, a franchise takeaway with sites in Arnold, West Bridgford and Beeston, said: “Working with DG has solved many problems for us – we were struggling to find enough drivers to fulfil our orders during busy periods.
“With access to a huge network of drivers, we now know orders will be collected quickly – and food will arrive with our customers as fresh as it did when it left our premises.”
Restaurant customers simply order online or over the phone. The delivery element is then entered into Delivery Point, a technology platform developed by Autocab, which allocates the work to local DG Cars drivers.
To apply for a job with DG Cars go to dgcars.co.uk
