DCsnacks.com is celebrating their fifth anniversary this year. I thought I would take the opportunity to highlight this interesting business that I just learned of recently.

A colleague of mine does work for the creative web design agency jess3. While perusing some of the web pages they’ve designed, one jumped out at me: DCSnacks. As someone who both lives in DC, and enjoys snacks, I was surprised that I was unfamiliar with this company. I decided it was time to do a little digging. First things first, I checked out the DC Snacks website:

The site seems easy to use, easy to navigate, and being able to place an order online and use your credit card is a HUGE convenience. The prices for the products on the site may initially seem pricey. However, with no delivery fee , the cost of the convenience you are getting is built into the cost of the goods (and if you are tired or drunk at 2 AM and jonesing for some good snacks but there are no stores open, it is a BIG convenience).

The site isn’t just for those with the late night munchies either. You can order things like cigarettes, cloves, hookah tobacco, DVD’s, batteries, over the counter medicine and even condoms…for when the mood strikes and you want to be safe, but you don’t know where to find an open store.

DC Snacks deliver from 7 PM to 2 AM Sun – Wed, and 7 PM – 3 AM Thurs – Sat. Their delivery area includes most of the biggest neighborhoods in Northwest, covering Chinatown, Logan Circle, Dupont Circle, U St, Georgetown, Foggy Bottom and the Western side of Adams Morgan.

Sadly not covered: my apartment, which is on the eastern side of Adams Morgan. However, looking at growth trends in DC neighborhoods, I would imagine eastern Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights would be the next neighborhoods added if any expansion occurs.

To find out a little bit more about DC Snacks, I interviewed Matt Mandell, co-founder of the company:

So Good: Who founded DC Snacks and why?

Matt Mandell: DCSnacks was born under the name CampusSnacks in January of 2003 when I was 21 and the other founder was 20. We were upset that we could not find food and services we were used to having grown up in NJ / NY metro area. We wanted to serve the residents of DC. We never had a business plan or thought about money, we wanted to fill a need and originally operated only 3 nights a week from 8pm – 4am.

So Good: What made you think originally, or continue to think now, that DC Snacks can be a successful and profitable venture?

Matt: When I speak to customers, or when customers meet me and recognize my name and they suddenly smile. I also know this as I look at sales numbers and the number of customers who continue to order from us each night.

So Good: How many people do you employ and who are they?

Matt: We maintain a staff of anywhere between 25 and 50 employees with a mix of students, couriers, professionals looking for additional money, or people who love to ride their bikes. I often hear, you are paying me to ride my bike which is something I love and not work to me. I think this adds a lot to the company culture.

So Good: In terms of where you operate from and the territory you cover, why did you choose the areas you did? Are there any future plans for expanding your delivery area?

We operate our base of operations from a location near the white house. We choose areas based on our ability to efficiently serve it. We are working on an expansion plan which would serve larger and more areas, both inside and outside of the DC market.

If you live in any of these delivery areas, check out DCSnacks.com and see what they have to offer.

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