Fed up with the high prices of the Huddle Mart and campus vending machines and tired of trudging cases of water back from the D6 parking lot, Morrissey sophomores Adam Hansmann and John Jeffrey regularly joked that they would gladly pay for a drink delivery service. The two enterprising business majors then realized back in February that they themselves could provide this service, using Hansmann's minivan to make deliveries.
"Basically, the idea came from two places," Hansmann said. "We wanted to start a business on campus and we realized the need from our own experience going off-campus to buy drinks."
The pair began developing dormdrinks.com, a Web site where, starting this week, Notre Dame students can order drinks using a Google check-out account.
"The Web site is key to everything we do," Hansmann said. "It allows you to go through and pick the products you want."
On their Web site, Hansmann and Jeffrey list convenience, affordability, and integrity as their values.
"Dorm Drinks is not an overly-complicated business and does not use sophisticated pricing or marketing strategies," the Web site reads. "If a student can get affordable, reliable beverage deliveries without the hassle of going off-campus or hauling cases of water or soda back to the dorm, we believe that he or she will find definite value in the service our business provides."
When asked why a student would order from dormdrinks.com rather than just utilizing the Huddle Mart or vending machines, Jeffrey explained that while every bottle of water from a vending machine costs $1.35, a bottle of water from dormdrinks.com costs only $0.25 on average.
"Even with the delivery fee tacked on, it is much cheaper than the Huddle or the vending machines," Jeffrey said.
Last week, when the duo ran a beta-test of their service in Morrissey and Lyons, they received nine orders. Jeffrey said that he expects to receive about four orders from each dorm.
"We're not expecting the numbers to be through the roof originally," he said. "But we did get really good feedback from the people we delivered to."
Right now, the Web site lists mostly Pepsi products such as Gatorade, Lipton Green Tea and Mountain Dew, but Hansmann said he is interested in expanding to include other non-alcoholic beverages.
"The store we're going to get all the stuff carries mostly Pepsi," he said. "We're open to most products other than beer."
