Bottoms up: Beverage-order Web site saves dollars, trips to Wawa

Wharton senior Jason Toff looks over an order sheet of drinks to deliver. He and fellow Wharton senior Kelly Schaefer run PennDrinks.com.

Unlike most Penn students, Wharton seniors Jason Toff and Kelly Schaefer spent their summer nights chatting online with Indian programmers.

The programmers were working on creating Toff and Schaefer's new Web site, PennDrinks.com, which launched last week after months of preparation.

The site allows users to order boxes of 20 different non-alcoholic drinks, ranging from soda to Vitamin Water, and have them delivered directly to their homes.

The idea was born through a conversation Toff had with a friend, who bemoaned the fact that people purchasing drinks are limited not by money, but how much they can carry back to their homes.

Toff and Schaefer then thought a drink-delivery Web site would be a worthwhile venture.

"I was thinking, 'This is my senior year, this is a good chance to do something risky,'" said Schaefer.

The two have invested thousands of dollars of their own money, turning their house into a warehouse for drinks, and so far they have been making deliveries themselves.

PennDrinks has a "drag and drop" design, which the two are hoping to patent, and is inspired by the simplicity of Apple products, said an iPhone-toting Toff.

To order, you have to become a member of the site. Since going live a little over a week ago, the site has gained 100 members, and about 40 boxes have been ordered.

One customer, Wharton senior Jessica Trief, heard about PennDrinks through one of Toff and Schaefer's housemates.

"When I heard about it, I was so excited," said Trief, who had previously been buying drinks from Allegro's Pizza. She said she found PennDrinks both cheaper and more convenient.

Prices on the PennDrinks Web site range from 70 cents for a can of soda to $1.90 for a Red Bull. There is an additional $2 delivery fee.

Toff and Schaefer credit the Internet for making their business possible, saying a Web site was much cheaper than any kind of physical store would have been.

"Fortunately, because of the Internet, we could make our own business," said Toff.

The two hope that PennDrinks will eventually become as the popular internet food-ordering site, campusfoods.com.

Their other goal? Going from red to black.

"First, we want to make our money back," said Toff.

And if some of their early customers have a say, both goals may be easily within their reach.

"As soon as I run out of drinks, I'm going to order again," said Trief.

Comments (11)

Even though this thread is about 2 years old, I would like to remind "Realist" and others that LiquidBooks did not fail. It actually came very far from failing. My partner and I decided to shut down the venture to focus on our respective career searches because we wanted to give the private sector a run. LiquidBooks was an awesome experience. Our customers were very satisfied with the service, we were able to learn more about our entreprenurial talents, and we made substantially more than we would have made on minimum wage. If this post is ever read (which I doubt it will be) i'd just like to encourage entreprenuers on Penn's campus to continue coming up with creative ventures to explore their entrepreneurial angst. A college campus is perfect for it. Feel free to contact me with any questions or inquiries for advice. Chrisben84@gmail.com

this is incredible! Just ordered like 10 boxes!!

Sure you did, "Howard".

You're not going to make money being a delivery boy. This is exactly why LiquidBooks failed. I can guarantee that even if this company does make money, the workers would have made more if they had put the same amount of time into a minum wage job.

[QUOTE id="4f230621-aaa9-49e9-88d3-fa5f03b64868"]You're not going to make money being a delivery boy. This is exactly why LiquidBooks failed. I can guarantee that even if this company does make money, the workers would have made more if they had put the same amount of time into a minum wage job.[/QUOTE] yeah.... but, imaging how much more they'll learn about operations, customer service, margins, contracts, suppliers, cash flow, logistics, etc etc etc I don't think their goal is to overtake Safeway, jackass, I mean realist.

I saw these guys handing out free water the other week. This is an excellent way to keep your dorm mini-fridge stocked!

The prices are about the same as those at the food trucks; probably more per drink once you factor in delivery. I'd use this, but only if it saved me money. At these prices, I am better off buying my drinks on the street, which is more convenient anyway.

Sounds like a great idea. Good luck guys--hope it's successful!

This is the stupidest thing I've heard all day....way to hijack a story with your treehugging bull shit. Maybe society should stop buying toys because they're made of plastic too? And while we're at it, why don't we stop making bumpers on cars... [QUOTE id="0b08e8c7-549d-4dec-9dbf-8e981a83b4be"]First, let me say that I do think that this is an exceptionally clever business idea, and I commend the two students that came up with it. However, the amount of waste (even when it can be recycled) created by our obsession with disposable drink containers is obscene and a major cause of easily reducible environmental damage. Check out the facts just on bottled water: "What�?s more, our increasing consumption of bottled water�?more than 22 gallons per U.S. citizen in 2004 according to the Earth Policy Institute�?fuels an unsustainable industry that takes a heavy toll on the environment. Approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil�?enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year�?are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns even more oil. ... Nearly 90 percent of water bottles are not recycled and wind up in landfills where it takes thousands of years for the plastic to decompose." http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/reasons_to_ditch_bottled_water.php So get a Brita filter and a Nalgene.[/QUOTE]

First, let me say that I do think that this is an exceptionally clever business idea, and I commend the two students that came up with it. However, the amount of waste (even when it can be recycled) created by our obsession with disposable drink containers is obscene and a major cause of easily reducible environmental damage. Check out the facts just on bottled water: "What�?s more, our increasing consumption of bottled water�?more than 22 gallons per U.S. citizen in 2004 according to the Earth Policy Institute�?fuels an unsustainable industry that takes a heavy toll on the environment. Approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil�?enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year�?are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns even more oil. ... Nearly 90 percent of water bottles are not recycled and wind up in landfills where it takes thousands of years for the plastic to decompose." http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/reasons_to_ditch_bottled_water.php So get a Brita filter and a Nalgene.

Wharton kids actually need to work? Dont you have a trust fund set up for you to take care of all your booze and drug bills?

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