Trey Asbridge knows the streets of Millington.
The Flag City native is no stranger to jumping behind the wheel and patrolling the pavement in north Shelby County. But after six years of pursuing justice and keeping Millington safe, these days when Asbridge receives a call, he is on the chase to apprehend your lunch or dinner.
On July 17, Asbridge along with his wife Elizabeth went live with DeliverMe Millington, an app-based business that delivers a variety of restaurants’ menus to residents in the 38053 zip code.
“My biggest thing is I’ve lived here my entire life,” Trey said. “I’ve lived on this road (Woodram) for 34 and half of 35 years. Aside from local and national pizza chains, briefly Mandarin Wok, nobody delivered on this road.
“It’s just being tired of not having options,” Asbridge continued. “So what could we do? What could we do about it? What could we bring to the city of Millington, not necessarily unique but we got a jumpstart on the other municipalities. Bartlett is well served and Collierville is well served.”
Before the launch of DeliverMe Millington, the couple studied the market, learning from models like Uber Eats that function in metropolitan areas.
Trey, a former Millington Police Department officer, added his knowledge of his hometown and experience of navigating the streets of Millington to create his prototype.
“The big key was learning the ins and outs of the industry as a whole,” he added.
Now DeliverMe Millington is a seven-day-a-week operation at the fingertips of anyone living from Shelby Forest to the tips of Tipton County. With a price range based on mileage and the order, a customer can download the DeliverMe Millington app to his/her smartphone to see the choice of restaurants and their menus.
“If you’re sitting at the house one day, and for whatever reason we’ve all had that one day, it doesn’t matter what one day out of the week, month or year,” Asbridge said. “You’re going to have that day. You had a long day at work. You’ve been chasing the kids. You’re too busy for life, that’s one less step. That’s where we can help out.”
Place your order, and an e-mail alert themed by the NFL on Fox will ring throughout the Asbridge household. That’s when either Trey, Elizabeth or one of their five independent contractors will spring into action.
Trey took Journal West 10 Media on a run recently to the current No. 1 restaurant of choice by their customers, Kobe Japanese Cuisine on Wilkinsville Road in Millington. Once Asbridge compiled the order, he jumped in his car, calling in the request to meet the 15-minute guarantee to ensure freshness.
DeliverMe Millington places the order when a driver is en route to limit rest time for the food. Within minutes Asbridge arrived and purchased the food (no fountain drinks are purchased with any order).
After taking the food into custody, Asbridge placed the order in his backseat in a secured thermal bag to maintain the freshness and the heat.
With the app now transformed into a global positioning system device, Asbridge headed to the delivery point. The person receiving the meal signed for the order electronically and DeliverMe is off to the next run, with no cash involved giving drivers extra security and clarity in transactions.
To be eligible to drive for DeliverMe, a person needs a valid driver’s license and must be 18 years old. An contractor will also need proper insurance, a clean driving record for the past three years and a smartphone to operate with the app.
“It’s very technologically involved,” Asbridge noted, “with our software provider.”
Being a provider in his hometown motivated Asbridge to start this business alongside his wife. Trey graduated from Millington Central High School in 2000. A few years later he joined the MPD and served his native community in uniform.
During those six years he developed relationships and connections with several people in the 38053 ZIP code.
Growing up and currently living on that same dark two-lane road, Asbridge saw a need in his beloved community. He noted Millington is filled with hard-working, dedicated people who need a break.
“Who is having a day to where they need one less step,” he said. “My primary goal from day one was think about those with realistic goals and realistic expectations ordering out. Ordering out three nights a week is unrealistic in this area.
“So we generally target to those who need that break at least once or twice a month,” Asbridge added. “You either got too much going on at work, too much going on with the kids. Life gets just a little bit hectic.”
Life gets hectic outside of Millington as well, and the Asbridges have their eyes on other markets.
“I would not think it would be too far of a stretch to see expansion going forward,” Elizabeth said. “Especially in rural areas. These smaller towns to where Uber has no intentions of coming to and who don’t have anything.”
With ownership of the DeliverMe name for the state of Tennessee, residents of the Volunteer State might meet the vision the Asbridges from the Bluffs to the Smoky Mountains.
“We’ve always looked at the other municipalities like Arlington and Lakeland,” Trey said. “I know Millington can sustain this. And I know there are other areas who need this. I genuinely believe Drummonds, Atoka and Munford could become DeliverMe Tipton at some point.
“It will be a real thing to push as an expansion,” he concluded. “Out east you have Uber in Bartlett. But there’s still services you need to look at as far as Lakeland and Arlington. Let’s go further out, let’s talk Jackson, Covington and Union City.”
For menus or more information, visit delivermemillington.com or call (901) 873-1364. Delivery hours are from 11 a.m. to 9:15 p.m. for all areas (ZIP code 38053, Munford, Atoka and Drummonds).
To download the app on your iPhone or Android, visit the Apple App Store or Google Play.
