When Andy Zarka arrived at his European Street Café location in San Marco days after it was flooded by Hurricane Irma, he knew it was going to be a long time before it would open again.
“I was shocked honestly,” said Zarka, an owner. “I didn’t see the actual flooding, but the silt left behind told the whole story.”
Antiques and decor that adorned the restaurant at 1704 San Marco Blvd. for 20 years were gone, as was his busy lunch and happy hour crowd.
Zarka has focused on his three other locations while the restoration process begins. He said his regular customers have followed, too.
“It’s good to see those familiar faces,” he said. “Everyone knows it could’ve happened to any of our locations, so we’re happy our regular crowd continues to support us.”
One thing that he said will help make up for the loss in revenue is UberEATS, the food delivery service he’s using.
It’s an offshoot of multibillion dollar ride-hailing company Uber, which launched in Jacksonville on Thursday.
The service, which runs 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, already has service contracts with more than 100 local restaurants, according to UberEATS Florida General Manager Juan Pablo Restrepo.
He was in Jacksonville on Thursday to launch the service and to announce a $25,000 donation to the First Coast Relief Fund that’s helping with Irma cleanup.
“We are going through a massive expansion,” Restrepo said. “We’re operating in 150 cities around the world, and 60 of those are in the U.S.”
He said UberEATS plans to be in 100 U.S. cities by the end of the year.
In 2013, Jacksonville was Uber’s first Florida city, but the food delivery service is not. The company instead focused on efforts in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Gainesville and Tallahassee.
UberEATS will cover the Beaches, most of South Jacksonville, San Marco, Riverside, Downtown, and Northwest Jacksonville inside the Interstate 295 beltway. That is good for Zarka, who has restaurants in those parts of town.
Customers pay a $4.99 delivery fee, but a $5-off promotional code is available to new users.
Restrepo said the service also shares some information it collects from customers with its restaurant partners, “reviews and things like that to help them figure out how to optimize their delivery service.”
“It’s going to expose our brand to thousands of people who may not want to come in or for some reason just want to sit at home and enjoy a meal,” Zarka said.
He said the initial demo work and cleanup at the San Marco restaurant, which closed days before Irma hit Jacksonville, is wrapping up.
The renovation process will take much longer.
“I’d say four months is a good estimate right now,” he said.
For now, he’s moving staff to his other locations with some focused on handling the to-go orders.
“The timing could not have been better with the other store shut down,” he said about UberEATS. “It’s keeping us going.”