Meet the creator of the Innisfil What's For Dinner Today? app

For the past three years, residents of Innisfil have had the luxury of having take-out meals delivered right to their door by using the local delivery app, What's For Dinner Today? (WFDT).

The food delivery service app was just an idea local resident James Tonks and his father came up with one day while figuring out what to eat for dinner. 

Since the pandemic, app creator, Tonks, says clients and users have increased drastically. 

"We had a huge increase in business at the start of the pandemic, and also a lot of new restaurants joining up," he said.

The idea for the food delivery app came in 2018 from his father who runs the local beer and liquor delivery service, Mr. Delivery. 

"He (his dad) came up with the idea for our food delivery app. We saw in this area, there were no other food delivery apps at the time, Skip the Dishes was only in the big cities," he said. "We started the app together, and I built the app and he signed up the restaurants."

Tonks has a degree in computer science. He started working on the WFDT website the summer before graduation, and integrated it with the online ordering service. 

"It did take a few weeks to build the app and uploading the restaurants as well," he said. 

Tonks and his father run the business full time and employ a handful of delivery drivers in the area. 

During the first few weeks of the pandemic, while everyone was stuck at home in lockdown, Tonks and his father teamed up with the Town of Innisfil to offer free delivery to customers. 

"Our partnership with the town really helped increase business by three times what it was...it helped get our name out," he said. "2020 was a bit of a stressful year for me, just with the increase in business and hiring lots of drivers." 

He was a little worried when competitors Uber Eats and Skip the Dishes entered the market earlier this year, but so far, he says business remains steady. 

"I think we have an established customer base already and customers are happy with our service from us," he said. 

In total there are 33 Innisfil restaurants that use the app. He knows how hard it has been for restaurant owners to keep afloat during the pandemic, and believes his app's competitive prices help them to reach a wider customer base. 

Tonks moved to Innisfil with his family in 2007 from the U.K. He says he loves the town and being close to the water. 

"It's a nice area to live in, it's a good community, with good people, being close to the lake is nice too," he said. 

WFDT have plans to expand in the near future to the Barrie area, focusing on local restaurants. 

In his spare time, Tonks says he likes to travel but unfortunately hasn't been able to due to the pandemic. He and his family plan to go back to visit the UK within the next year.