You’re about to settle in for a night of gaming but forgot the snacks and energy drinks. Before February 2023, this could have ruined a good night in. These three founders are making sure it won’t happen again.
Delivery services may be a dime a dozen in Luxembourg. You’ve services for frozen foods, groceries, take-away. This year, Ikea even got in on the action. But try finding a service delivering toilet paper, sanitary products or barbecue accessories after 8pm and your online search list will have just one hit: livery.lu
The out-of-hours, online grocery store was founded by three friends Mara Menghi, Cindy Santos and Kittithat (Nek) Sarika. Having lived abroad and enjoyed late-night opening hours, they sought to make life in Luxembourg “more accessible and comfortable, especially during the night time.”
“Some people work until six and then until they get home and everything the shops are already closed,” explains co-founder Cindy Santos, adding: “So a lot of people have already been in that situation where they cannot go shopping.”
The three officially registered the business in 2021 and launched their platform in February 2023. Since then, they have expanded their selection and customer base and now serve the south and centre of Luxembourg.
“In future, we aim to be able to provide to the whole country,” says Santos.
Initially the three, who do this in addition to their respective full-time jobs, offered the service on Friday and Saturday nights from 8pm to 4am. But since August, coverage has been extended to weekdays from 8pm to midnight.
Currently bootstrapped, the three founders and one additional team member shoulder the delivery responsibilities and costs, funneling all profits back into developing the business.
So far the solution has been well-received and shows signs of growth in terms of brand awareness. Snacks appear to be the mainstay of demand but they’ve experienced some peaks in certain items based on the weather and specific events like Luxembourg national day.
“We had a pizza weekend where all of our customers were ordering our frozen pizzas. The weekend after it was the ice cream weekend. So, it really depends,” says Menghi.
The trio say that they have plans to extend their opening hours and stock. “We’re not done yet,” says Menghi. “We still want to do more in Luxembourg.”
Ultimately, they hope that they will make enough profits to pay full-time staff.
