TheBuzz Erika Engle

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Room Service in Paradise picks up Oceanic cable's business

OCEANIC Time Warner Cable has signed up with Room Service in Paradise Inc. to provide meals for Oceanic's interactive Food Court service. The deal means more lunch and dinner choices for couch potatoes, busy people and the culinarily impaired.

Hungry people need only tune in to digital Channel 001, select Food Court and review the menu of menus, or fire up their Internet connection. Just like in a restaurant, the tough part may be deciding what to eat.

WHERE TO FIND THEM On the Net: » www.oceanic.com » www.rsiponline.com » www.anytimegrinds.com

The interactive food court, on television and Oceanic's Web site, "allows restaurants to expand their distribution and branding imprint without having to lease additional retail space, and puts their menus right at our subscribers' fingertips," said Dean Luke, Oceanic manager of new business development.

Ten-year-old Room Service in Paradise has taken the place of Anytimegrinds.com, which recently discontinued its delivery service. Room Service also bought Anytimegrinds' customer and restaurant database and has assumed delivery duties for its predecessor's restaurant clientele in Aiea and Pearl City, according to Keith Gomes, general manager of Room Service in Paradise.

Many factors came together to cause Anytimegrinds owner Kyle Matsuyama to reevaluate his degree of participation with the Oceanic Food Court -- not the least of which is his wedding this weekend, he said.

The delivery business was hard to give up, "because you could see the growth," Matsuyama said. He is still under contract with Oceanic to maintain the data side of the food court.

Waipahu residents have lost, for now, the option to receive deliveries through Oceanic, but the new deal expands the previously limited choices for customers in metro Honolulu, Kailua and the Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe.

Oceanic customers in the latter two areas can order from Baci Bistro, Big City Diner, Deb's Ribs & Soul Food, Los Garcia's New Chinese Garden or the Shack.

Oceanic and Room Service in Paradise are banking on the customer appeal of such concepts as feasting on, say, signature ravioli from Baci Bistro in boro-boro clothes.

Offerings in town will include Dixie Grill, Ryan's Grill, Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch & Crab and Tony Roma's by the end of the month.

Oceanic hopes eventually to add all of the more than 50 restaurants from whence Room Service in Paradise makes deliveries, Luke said. Before that can happen, there's "back-office stuff we need to make sure is operating correctly," he said, then additional restaurants will be "layered" on. In the meantime, all of the restaurants are available for delivery at Room Service's Web site.

A variety of delivery fees apply for Room Service in Paradise, depending on the customer's location. Fees and "courtesies" for meal deliveries replace the acts of getting dolled up, leaving the house and finding parking. Those are explained on the Room Service Web site.

Room Service in Paradise was established in 1996 "to bring the complete dining experience directly to you at your home or office," Gomes said.

Room Service's 3-year-old online presence added exposure and a new way for the company to generate revenue. "It's kind of an online world at this point," but the partnership with Oceanic represents yet more "exciting new territory."

The deal is "basically transactional," said Gomes. "We pay per order ... it's based on the volume that comes through."

Oceanic's interactive food court includes 26 restaurants offering takeout or delivery options, or both. Three are in Lahaina, Maui, where deliveries are made by Cruisin' Cuisine, while the other 23 are on Oahu.