Trellus co-founder and CEO Adam Haber was interviewed by Long Island Press, and discussed why he was inspired to start a small business delivery service. As reported, Long Beach-based Trellus currently works with small businesses in Nassau County and as far east as the Sagtikos Parkway in Suffolk, and delivers from all of Queens to Montauk. As of the publish date, Nov. 1, 2021, Trellus was closing in on the milestone of a 100 small businesses using the platform.
by Claude Solnik
[Excerpt of full interview]
Solnik: Where’d you get the idea [for a small business delivery service]?
In 2016, when my son and I went to visit colleges, we went to several colleges around the country. He ended up going to Wake Forest. There were no or few individual stores where the person knows your name, what you like. The small-town feel wasn’t there. I saw Northern Boulevard have empty storefronts. Why? Because Amazon provides goods and services cheaper and people don’t have to leave their homes. I thought if we can do the same thing, it would work. People want convenience.
How did you create the company?
I partnered with Brian Berkerey and JR Jensen. I went door to door to get feedback, to see if there was a business there. After I had signed up 40 or 50 businesses, we knew we had something special. We’re raising $2 million in seed money, which we’re probably going to close on very shortly.
Related article: What Is Trellus Local Same-Day Delivery?
How widely is Trellus used?
So far we have 90 businesses. Some libraries like using us. We have special rates for nonprofits. We have a nonprofit diaper-delivery company. We work with services, firms like legal firms, for paperwork. But the crux of our business is small and home-based business. We do an average of 100 deliveries a day and are growing rapidly. Some of our merchant partners end up working with other businesses. This isn’t just “B” to “C.” It’s also “B” to “B.”
What categories do you work with?
We do not do cooked food. It’s an extremely crowded space. We created an advertising platform, a marketplace where we drive people to shop local. People click on the links of the website of our merchant partners or even call them. They shop with the businesses. They can do UPS and curbside pickup. If they want to do same-day delivery, they use us. We integrate with Shopify, so it can be a selection at checkout if you want it the same day.
