Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Your dinner, a movie, some wine and a carton of Ben & Jerry’s for later.
It’s Knock Knock Santa Rosa.
If you’ve ever been pregnant, sick, babysitting, indisposed, on house arrest, tipsy or just plain tired, you can appreciate the idea of a friend who’ll pick up and deliver to your doorstep whatever you’re craving, anytime you want, with a smile. Knock Knock is that friend.
Available by Tweet, Facebook, text or phone call, the cheerful crew at this we’ll-deliver-anything start-up spend their days and nights running out to Sonoma County restaurants, stores, gas stations and minimarts then delivering the goods to local doorsteps. Seem like a ridiculous luxury? Hardly. Within Santa Rosa, the cost is a $10 flat fee for one stop and $3 for each additional stop (with a few conditions*), and the time frame’s usually about a half hour. Outside Santa Rosa (they now deliver to Rohnert Park, Healdsburg, Cotati and Sebastopol), it’s $15.
And in case you missed it: They’ll pick up and deliver anything legal from 9am to 3am daily. Anything.
Which is where the wheels start turning. Yes, they’ll return your videos. Yes, they’ll bring you beer (as long as you’re legal, junior). They’ll go get you Thai food and a tasty bottle of wine to go with it. They’ll bring you cough medicine and tissues at 2am. They’ll do your grocery shopping, pick up your patio furniture and drop off your dry cleaning. Suffice to say co-owners Matlock Zumsteg, Melissa Gordon and Jinx Rhodes haven’t turned anyone down yet.
Their oddest requests so far: Octopus for a late night sushi session, a roll of antacids to a refluxing bridal party on the town and a combination gasoline/cookies & milk run. They don’t deliver beer after 2am or people — meaning they’re not a taxi service and it’s a cash-only biz, so you’ll need to have some bills on hand.
What’s really sustaining them isn’t the beer-set, but restaurant and grocery delivery. “Restaurants can’t afford to staff delivery, and that’s where we come in,” said Melissa. The trio have a staff of independent drivers dispatched by “hub” workers who answer phones and social networking requests 18 hours a day. Unlike other restaurant delivery services, they’ll go to any restaurant that’s open and get you anything off the menu. In fact, they’ll even help you order if you don’t know what you want. They also go to grocery stores and even farmer’s markets for fresh goods.
To test out Knock Knock, BiteClub gave some pretty unclear lunch requests — some noodles with bbq beef and spring rolls from Pho Vietnam. Thirty minutes later, two boxes of vermicelli arrived, still warm and just what we wanted. Solid.
The idea behind Knock Knock was inspired by Pink Dot in Los Angeles, a market that delivers groceries and other goodies around town. Anyone who lived in San Francisco or New York during the dotcom boom remembers fondly Kozmo.com, the hipster bike messengers who would deliver magazines, movies, food and just about anything else until their sad demise in 2001.
Just two months old, Knock Knock has the modest goals of trying to promote local, sustainable businesses and helping the creative trio (and their staff) make ends meet. Start-up costs for their web presence and business permits from the city were about $150, good news for the part-time documentary makers, improv actors and W-Trans contractors who just months ago were brainstorming how to pay rent. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” said Matlock.
“We’re just trying to be so helpful for your $10,” said Matlock. “Just tell us what to do, because we never ask ‘Can we do it?’ We just figure out how.”
Want Knock Knock to deliver something? Find them at knockknocksr.com or on Facebook . First-timers need to call 543-1110 to get the details on delivery. Currently, they’re a cash-only biz but plan to be able to take cards in the near future.
*This is a business, after all. Orders over $50 have an 15% service fee and big jobs (like picking up patio furniture) may cost a little extra. But Melissa says they’re willing to negotiate to figure anything out.
Let’s be clear, this is in no way an original idea, and while it’s great that it’s here in Santa Rosa for now, it is a business model that has been tried and tested in MANY places. I’m all for it, but this isn’t new. And it is generally not successful. Best of luck to the Knock Knock crew though.
Thanks Jake! We never claimed to be the first to think of this, in fact, in our Bohemian feature, I clearly stated that I was inspired by Pink Dot in LA. We have a great thing going and a fantastic following, and have partnered with some wonderful local businesses to expand our business even more. We’ve been really well received so far. Demand is growing, and we too hope it continues. Thanks for your well wishes!
what a dick.
Am i allowed to make a recommendation? I believe that youve got a little something very good here. But suppose you added a few links to a web page that backs up precisely what youre saying? Or possibly you might give us something to look at, something that would associate what you’re saying to one thing real? Just a suggestion.
Here’s the website: http://www.knockknocksr.com. You can visit us on Facebook and Twitter, or call and talk to us anytime!
Thanks guys! We appreciate and are overwhelmed by the support our little idea has received. While it may not be for everyone, we understand that people may be busy, sick, or stuck at home, and our business is designed to help everyone! Not only that, we are forging partnerships with other small businesses in our county to do cross promotion and referrals, so our local economy stays strong and well-connected to our friends, family and customers. Thank you for your kind posts and support, we hope to be a dynamic part of our region and tailor our services to what our customers and community needs most! We welcome your thoughtful ideas and questions, call us or contact us online anytime!
Cheers!
Melissa Gordon, Owner
Knock Knock! Santa Rosa
To Shelly. How pathetic are you to write something so meaningless? Awake at 1:05 and that’s what you choose to do. Ummmmm.
Congrats you 3 on your new adventure! I wish you nothing but much success and can’t wait to call you when in need, it may be soon for a dog walker!
OMG, Anne: “Awake at 1:05”? Sorry to disturb your sleep, GRANDMA! Hmmm awake at that hour? Hosptial workers, rest home attendants, emergency personnel, grocery store/retail store stockers, waitresses, post office employees, janitors, bar staff, bakers, bread delivery drivers, farmers, MOTHERS and FATHERS everywhere! Melissa’s CUSTOMERS! And pathetic? Don’t have a dog if you can’t attend to it’s basic needs…We re not reading and responding to a world-altering story here….and don’t worry, tattoo ladies are a notoriously strong, self-respecting bunch, Miss Missy can stand up for herself….
Sounds fun and like a great addition to the area~
We need this service in Sonoma too~
The best of luck!
I’m TOTALLY for this…Sounds awesome and something I’ve wished had existed long ago lol
Hey, Melissa, sorry to see you were raised so poor….your momma couldn’t afford coloring books so your sister colored on you….bet you’ll look hot in the old folks home when that “artwork” is 50 years old!
That’s Jinx, not Melissa, and that’s quite a rude thing to say. Way to celebrate someones success by berating them. I’m ashamed we share the same name.
Wow…….how rude was that? If you don’t like tattoos, don’t get one. It’s that simple. Oh and, live for NOW, not 50 years from now. Great idea Knock Knock!!!
I assume, when dissecting your reply “samsmom”, that you are attempting to educate me in the ways of social acceptance and nonjudgement, she of the no/low self esteem that she has to define herself not as a person in her own right, but as someone’s “mother”…you’re not that individual – even mean, ol me has a momma ! Where in my post does it say anything about me not liking tattoos? Are YOU feeling a wee bit regretful about something….that’s why I’m supposed to live in the NOW? That’s a rather “anti-social” hedonistic attitude if you think about it. All of you lovely people that live in the NOW , are you and the generation before you concerned about who/what comes after? Nope. It’s all about me me me….
I believe the quotes around “artwork” in combination with the implicit sarcasm in the statement were what made it seem like you had a distaste for tattoos. I don’t think there’s any way to take that other than as insulting to the person at which it was directed. What incited the comment, I wonder? Or even your looking at the article in the first place? Were you ‘Googling’ yourself and found my name in it?
There’s no reason to be so angry. Shelly is entitled to her opinion, however outspoken she may be. We can handle all the slings and arrows because we know we’ve got a great thing going and that the overwhelming majority of people who know about us think we’re pretty neat for doing this, without judging the way we look.
Thanks for the support you guys, and stay positive!
This is the best idea ever, thanks Heather and Knock Knock!
Wonderful idea! Best of luck to these creative people!
Knock Knock…who’s there? Just the greatest idea guaranteed to succeed in Sonoma County!
Hey, I wanna make that a bumper sticker! 🙂
Yes, finally we can get decent food to our office. Looks like knock knock will become our bff
Great idea. I’ll be keeping this in mind, plus spreading the word. Good luck on this endeavor.
This is fantastic! Thank you Heather for doing such a fun piece on us! We hope you enjoyed your lunch! And thanks for the compliments from your readers, we are astounded at how quickly Sonoma County has made us feel welcome and supported, you guys are wonderful! Cheers!
I used them right before I moved from Santa Rosa to San Francisco. SR- you people are lucky!! I wish there was something as reasonable as this in the city.
Great write-up Heather, great company idea, and from what I’ve witnessed so far through their presence on facebook… a great trio of smart, savvy, kind, conscientious and above all else, professional trio heading up this poised-for-massive success enterprise. Kudos and congratulations all around!!
I’ve been hearing a lot of hype about these folks! What a great idea!