Food Fair

This Louisville woman has launched a food delivery app for West End residents

March 31, 2022
Janell W. Murphy
Limitless app developer TaMeka Bland speaks before a ribbon cutting ceremony for a delivery app she created. "Our target market right now is the nine neighborhoods of West Louisville, and we are trying to create a platform where they can get things delivered past a certain street or past a certain time of day," Bland said

Limitless app developer TaMeka Bland speaks before a ribbon cutting ceremony for a delivery app she created. “Our target market right now is the nine neighborhoods of West Louisville, and we are trying to create a platform where they can get things delivered past a certain street or past a certain time of day,” Bland said

One of the beauties of food delivery apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash is that people can just order what they are craving with the push of a button.

But residents of Louisville’s West End neighborhoods don’t always have that luxury because many of those services do not deliver to their neighborhoods, according to TaMeka Bland, an entrepreneur who grew up in Shawnee.

To help fill that void, Bland has launched an app called Limitless that will provide her neighbors with an option to have fresh food delivered to their homes.

“I wanted them (residents of the West End) to know that this app was created for them,” Bland told The Courier Journal in late March.

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Limitless app developer TaMeka Bland speaks before a ribbon cutting ceremony for a delivery app she created. "Our target market right now is the nine neighborhoods of West Louisville, and we are trying to create a platform where they can get things delivered past a certain street or past a certain time of day," Bland said

Limitless app developer TaMeka Bland speaks before a ribbon cutting ceremony for a delivery app she created. “Our target market right now is the nine neighborhoods of West Louisville, and we are trying to create a platform where they can get things delivered past a certain street or past a certain time of day,” Bland said

A launch for the business was held Monday at the Louisville Central Community Center, 1300 W Muhammad Ali Blvd. Users in the West End can now download the app, which can be found on the Apple Store for iOS users and on Google Play for Android users, to have food delivered to them.

Limitless drivers will deliver to homes in the West End’s nine neighborhoods from participating restaurants, which include Garden Girl Foods, Seafood Lady and Chicago Jerk Tacos, Bland said. Customers will be charged $1.99 per each mile from the restaurant to their home, plus a flat service fee of $3.99.

The Limitless app designed by TaMeka Bland.

The Limitless app designed by TaMeka Bland.

Bland said she wants to serve people who don’t have easy access to fresh food. “I know all about the food insecurities, and not having access to certain things that other parts of town had,” she said, referencing her childhood in Shawnee.

Bland, 41, has shown an entrepreneurial spirit for several years. She previously ran two different beauty salons, created a line of hair products for Black women and opened a boutique where she sold urban clothing.

She said she had the idea for Limitless in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. She had a notebook full of business ideas and saw the need, she said. She then reached out to developers because she did not know the technical side of the app business.

The Limitless app designed by TaMeka Bland.

The Limitless app designed by TaMeka Bland.

Originally the app was going to be called “No limit” after a song by rapper Master P, who she and her husband like. But they settled on Limitless, which spoke to the app’s possibilities, Bland said.

“This is not an easy thing to start,” she said. “Definitely coming from the beauty industry, you know, my background is in making people feel and look beautiful. This is totally different.”

She has her friends, family and her “support system” reminding her of how far along she has gotten in this process. These same people attended her app launch on Monday and stood with her during the ribbon cutting ceremony.

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TaMeka Bland, with the pair of scissors, cuts a ceremonious ribbon during the 'grand opening' of her delivery app Limitless, during a launch at the Old Walnut St. Building. "I do know, based on experience using the app [Uber Eats and Door Dash], living in the West End, that there is either a clock period, or there is no delivery available," Bland said. Bland hopes Limitless gives more delivery options.

TaMeka Bland, with the pair of scissors, cuts a ceremonious ribbon during the ‘grand opening’ of her delivery app Limitless, during a launch at the Old Walnut St. Building. “I do know, based on experience using the app [Uber Eats and Door Dash], living in the West End, that there is either a clock period, or there is no delivery available,” Bland said. Bland hopes Limitless gives more delivery options.

Bland said she’d eventually like to expand Limitless to offer supermarket delivery, opening payment options to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries, and even hiring people to help the elderly learn how to use the app and electronic devices.

She also wants to expand beyond the West End.

“With the support of the community, Limitless could, you know, kick Uber Eats and Door Dash and all that out the door.”

Reach Ana Alvarez Briñez at [email protected]; follow her on Twitter at @SoyAnaAlvarez

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Food delivery app Limitless seeks to serve Louisville’s West End