In Tampa Bay, food and drink delivery services keep on expanding.
On Monday, Shipt — probably best known for its green shirt-wearing staff members who scour the shelves of your neighborhood Publix to fill on-demand grocery orders for customers who’ve requested them via the Shipt mobile app — announced that it plans to bring alcohol delivery to Bay area doors, starting Wednesday.
UberEATS said hello to Tampa for the first time last month, and Drizly has been making booze runs in the area since 2015. A partnership with ABC Fine Wine & Spirits (which also works with Drizly) is making the expansion of Shipt’s alcohol service possible. According to a statement from Charles Bailes III, CEO of ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, the option (with a $7 delivery fee) has been well received in Orlando and South Florida.
Members of Shipt, which launched grocery delivery in Tampa last year, will have access to the full selection of alcohol (growlers, mixers and other bar essentials included) showcased at their local ABC store. They’ll also scan their IDs through the app to verify age, then present their IDs to the Shipt shopper upon delivery.
For those who see the convenience in a membership, it costs $99 per year. Alcohol delivery isn’t offered to non-Shipt members, by the way.
Fourteen ABCs in Tampa and additional cities in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties, including Brandon and St. Petersburg, are participating locally.
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 7, 2016.