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Ram Runners offers simple, fast grocery delivery to students

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Max Harris delivers groceries to Silvia Manent. Harris and Richard Skill founded Ram Runners, a grocery delivery service, in February.

For students bogged down by finals and struggling to make it to the grocery store, the Ram Runners grocery service is ready to help.

December graduate Max Harris, who co-founded the organization in February with junior Rich Skill, said the idea behind the delivery service was to make buying groceries as easy as possible for campus residents and students without transportation.

“My first year on campus, I didn’t have a car,” Harris said. “The bus was a huge hassle, and I promised myself I’d never do that again. You’re very limited in what you can bring back.”

The service allows students to order groceries from an online database of nearly 1,000 products. The items are then delivered directly to students’ residence halls or apartments.

New products are added to the website regularly, and Harris said the service hopes to have more products by the beginning of next year. He said the business buys most items wholesale, but goes to Harris Teeter for more specialized requests.

Besides a delivery price of $5, which covers transportation costs, students pay a normal retail price for the items.

Ram Runners’ website has about 50 registered users, and the service is averaging about one delivery a day.

But, Harris said, the service hopes to attract new users in incoming freshmen, many of whom don’t have cars and can’t purchase groceries easily.

For now, Harris and Skill are using all profits to run an advertising campaign, which has grown from chalk and fliers to business cards with discount coupons and a Facebook page.

“Right now, we’re trying to be fun, so people will support us,” Harris said.

Students can also become registered users on the service’s website, granting them discounts. They can also save items they order regularly in their shopping carts.

Junior Silvia Manent, who uses the service weekly, said she loves it.

“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t,” she said. “I can reorder items I buy regularly, and my cart stays the same.”

Ram Runners only serves on-campus residents and student apartments. Harris said the service hopes to expand by the start of the fall semester, possibly delivering to nursing homes or people who can’t shop regularly.

But expanding the service would mean hiring more people; Harris and Skill are the only two employees on the service.

Harris and Skill want to hire an unpaid student intern to learn the business’s practices during the summer. The position will become a paid administrative position in the fall, and more staff will be added in the fall as the business grows, they said.

Senior Donald Cooley, who heard about the service through its Facebook page, said the service is quick, cheap and convenient.

“It’s a great idea and a real need for a lot of students,” he said. “It would have been even more convenient if I had been a freshman.”

Contact the University Editor at university@dailytarheel.com.

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