Local business delivers food throughout Caldwell County

By Wesley Gardner
LPR Editor

When Kimberly Martinez originally opened Glenda’s Delivery Services with her partner Vanessa Castillo in March of 2018, she was initially worried she might have gotten in over her head. Now, the business is thriving and they’re taking in new customers every day.
The business, which has since expanded to Luling, allows anyone in Caldwell County to call in an order from their favorite restaurants in Lockhart and Luling and have it personally delivered to their door.
“At first, I was a little discouraged because nobody was ordering,” said Martinez. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, nobody’s ordering, nobody knows about us. We’re not going to be successful.’
“Of course, when you’re opening up a business and you’re not really familiar with how it’s going to work, you’re going to expect the worst, but I stayed positive throughout it all and it ended up actually being really good for the community. Every day we have at least four new customers, and at least five customers on each street in this town.”
Martinez said she originally had the idea when she was sitting at home with Castillo after recently having moved back to Lockhart from Houston, where delivery services such as Uber Eats are already mainstays in the community.
“Me and [Vanessa] were laying at home one day and I was telling her, ‘I wish we could have McDonalds delivered,’” said Martinez. “You know, something that’s not pizza.”
Thus, Glenda’s Delivery Service was born. And as for the name Glenda’s, it has a nice back story, too. It was named after Martinez’s mother.
“My mom – oh gosh, my mom,” said Martinez. “I just love her so much. She’s been my rock growing up, and she’s always pushed me to do what I want to do.
“My mom means the world to me, and I would be lost without her, so I decided to name it after her.”
Martinez said the business was slowly gaining steam as 2019 rolled around, but after COVID-19 forced restaurants to switch to delivery or take-out only, their number of customers skyrocketed.
“Once all the restaurants closed to to-go and delivery only, we picked up a lot,” said Martinez, noting the shut-down added about 30 extra deliveries a day for the business. “I had to hire at least six new drivers.”
Now, the company has 11 drivers in Lockhart, as well as three more in Luling. And the best part? The drivers keep 100 percent of the money they make.
“The whole purpose of offering jobs to our drivers is to make sure they make enough money to get by,” said Martinez. “We want to make sure that they’re making the money and they’re keeping the money, because they’re the ones driving.
“They’re the ones delivering food. They deserve all the money. We only make money when we deliver, and we’re perfectly fine with that.”
Martinez noted that both she and Castillo only deliver on the weekends now because they both have jobs working in the Lockhart school district, but they’re okay with letting the other drivers take over during the week.
As far as cost is concerned, there’s a flat $6 delivery fee for any in-city deliveries in Luling or Lockhart. Anything out the city runs at a rate of $1 per mile.
“It just depends on where you are, really,” said Martinez. “We go from miles to the restaurant to exactly where the drop-off point is.”
Martinez added that she’ll sometimes make exceptions for customers under certain circumstances.
“We also work with our customers, too,” said Martinez. “If the delivery fee is too high for their area, we’ll come to an agreement and work with them.
We’ll meet them halfway. We don’t ever like to tell our customers no. We try to be reasonable with everyone, especially during this time.”
According to Martinez, delivery services from San Marcos to Lockhart is currently available, as well, though she said she’s still trying to work out the kinks of expanding that to Luling.
Drop offs are completed without contact, she added. Customers can pay by cash, Venmo or a cash app. If the customer chooses the cash option, they can stash the money in a safe place outside and the driver will leave the food at the door.
More than anything, Martinez said both she and Castillo enjoy being able work with their team to offer a service to the community they each grew up in.
“The joy the delivery option brings me is knowing a customer is able to have a safe and friendly delivery option without them having to leave their home,” said Martinez. “Great things in a business are never done by one person. They are done by a team of people.”