EatStreet, a Madison-based company, launched their service in several cities across Wisconsin this past week, including Eau Claire.

EatStreet was created in 2010 by Matt Howard, co-founder and CEO of EatStreet, and two of his friends. The trio were students at UW-Madison and were using an ordering service that charged a fee for using it, Howard said. Thus, Badgerbites was born. Badgerbites later became EatStreet as the business expanded.

EatStreet was originally just an ordering service but eventually evolved into a delivery service. Howard said customers are able to see where their food is in the ordering process using the order-tracking feature on their app.

“We really are focused on making the ordering process as easy as possible,” Howard said.

EatStreet has served in over 250 cities across the United States and delivers from over 15,000 restaurants, according to their website. Howard said EatStreet provides food from local restaurants in addition to major chains, giving the customer more variety.

EatStreet currently provides delivery from 28 local and chain restaurants in Eau Claire, including The Goat Coffee House and Buffalo Wild Wings. It also offers free delivery in Eau Claire until Dec. 6 as a promotion of their launch.

Howard said Eau Claire was a natural next stop for the company. The company is available primarily in college towns, as their target demographic is college-aged students. Eau Claire does not currently have many delivery services, so it made sense for EatStreet to launch in Eau Claire, Howard said.

Ellie Decker, a first-year nursing student, said that EatStreet is convenient for those who do not have a lot of time to cook or transportation to go get food.

“I think that it’d be great, especially for the university community, because a lot of students can benefit from that,” Decker said. “We’re busy and, especially with winter, it’s nice to have things delivered.”

EatStreet opened four new markets in Wisconsin and toured the state in a custom green double-decker bus called the Double-Decker Hunger Wrecker, according to the company’s Twitter. On their “Haulin’ Ass for Hunger Tour,” the Hunger Wrecker made stops in Eau Claire, Green Bay, Appleton and La Crosse.

Howard said it has always been important to him and the company to give back to their community. Besides promoting their launch in these cities, EatStreet donated to food pantries in each of the cities they visited. The company donated $20,000, including a $2000 donation to Feed My People in Eau Claire. The company also spent time volunteering in local food pantries.

“We wanted to help the local communities where we are launching,” Howard said.

Kelley can be reached at [email protected].