My Bodega Online app launches to help deliver much-needed items in time of crisis

A new delivery app recently launched to help cut down on human contact at a time when customers need groceries and bodegas need business.
Jose Bello, the founder and CEO of My Bodega Online, says customers can go on the app and select the items they want. Once they place their order, a bodega worker is sent right to their door with the items.
Bello says consumers who live near city bodegas may not want to shop at mobbed supermarkets. There is no delivery fee, though customers are encouraged to tip. A user only has access to bodegas within a few block-radius of their address.
"This way we are putting the bodega inside of their phone, right?" says Bello. "So we see a possibility for any bodega to actually expand what they are doing, not only to their traditional clientele but to new generations."
Bodega owners like Francisco Marte are losing business because of the coronavirus pandemic. He hopes the app will help bring business to his bodega.
In the future, bodega owners will be charged 50 cents per transaction, which is much smaller than the nearly 30 percent commission some larger third-party apps may charge.
Bello says the fee is being waived during the coronavirus crisis.
Twenty-three bodegas are currently in the process of signing up with the app. The goal is to get 1,000 bodegas across the city and create hundreds of temporary delivery jobs.
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