Syracuse University students will soon be able to enjoy many of Armory Square’s fine dining hot spots without leaving their dorm rooms.

Syracuse Catering, or SyrCa, is a food delivery business that delivers food from downtown restaurants to the university hill area, said Hannah Fagut, creator of SyrCa. Memberships will be available starting in the spring semester.

Fagut, a junior psychology and neuroscience major, said she wanted to come up with a business model that would cater to anybody on the hill. This includes students and employees at State University of New York Upstate Medical University, who want to enjoy downtown cuisine with a newfound sense of convenience.

She was frustrated with the Marshall Street food scene and the lack of options for fine dining on the hill, and that drove her to start SyrCa, Fagut said.

A membership fee of $75 per semester or $200 per year is required for anyone to enjoy SyrCa’s services, but for those who plan to order delivery even once per week, membership pays for itself in no time, she said.

Members will be able to order food from a number of local restaurants and have it delivered to them anywhere on the hill, free of charge with no expectations of tips or other gratuity, she said.

“I go downtown all the time to eat, and I waste so much money on gas,” Fagut explained. “Even if I try to save gas by ordering delivery somewhere, the delivery surcharges and tipping the drivers really add up.”

Another benefit of SyrCa is its partnerships with local Syracuse restaurants in Armory Square. Fagut explained that she will only be partnering with local restaurants, and that none of the restaurants offered a delivery option before partnering with SyrCa.

“Unlike GrubHub, which only works with places that already have delivery services set up, SyrCa is partnering with famous Syracuse restaurants that, until now, never offered delivery,” Fagut said. “I’m from Syracuse, so when I reached out to all of the restaurants, they trusted me and they trusted that I would do things right.”

Fagut also reached out to Terry Brown, the executive director of the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship at Whitman School of Management.

“She had really thought everything through and she was further along with the process of starting a business than most people who come to see me,” Brown said.

Brown added that he was excited about SyrCa because it’s a “really relevant idea” for the area, and said he will be using the services to order Dinosaur Bar-B-Que with his grandchildren.

So far, Fagut has secured partnerships with local restaurants like Pastabilities, Blue Tusk, Lemongrass and LoFo. Many other restaurants in the Armory Square district and the rest of downtown are anticipated to be on the menu for SyrCa’s services after all of the necessary paperwork is completed, Fagut said.

“We’re really excited about working with Hana and allowing some of our menu to be enjoyed by delivery,” said Brian Langdon, manager of Pastabilities. “We don’t have a final delivery menu locked down just yet, but we think Hana’s business is a great idea.”

Published on October 23, 2013 at 12:39 am

Contact Tom: tsharkey@syr.edu