Ever wonder why companies like Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat haven’t devised a way to transport food, beverage and other essentials to boaters out on the water? John Bonaccorso did and set out to answer the question, ‘Why is it that e-commerce stops at the water’s edge?’.
“I kept thinking, why hasn’t Uber done this? Why hasn’t anybody done this? It came to me. It’s because there’s not enough water-based restaurants to make this worthwhile for everybody,” Bonaccorso told IBI recently. That, and trying to find insurers that understand the concept and are willing to underwrite the ris[k is no easy feat].
So, Bonaccorso, a life-long boater, began working on a business model in 2023 and moved from Florida’s east coast to the Tampa Bay area to begin testing the concept using a website, social media and word of mouth.
Today, BoatBites is preparing for a full-scale launch in Florida and select markets over the next three months, using its proprietary mobile app for the fee-based service just as the boating season begins in most of the US. Within the year, they hope to expand to the Caribbean and EU.
Bonaccorso, a self-confessed “data guy,” surveyed 50,000 boaters across the US wondering - among other things - what people on the water would pay to have hot food, cold drinks or other essentials. The answer was surprising.
“The national average came back at $90 per delivery fee. $75 in Tampa, $150 in Miami. [In the Midwest] they pay higher than they do in Florida. The average out in the Midwest, about $85. The reason why they [are willing to] pay more in the northeast and northwest, they have a shorter boating season,” Bonaccorso explained, adding boaters also expressed a willingness to pay up in the form of a membership fee for additional perks like a personal concierge, but most importantly, moving higher in the queue.
Bonaccorso did some further testing through social media with a high rate of response from marine operators. “Our Instagram posts were just us delivering food. They instantly got that we were a revenue stream for them.”
After considering a franchise model, Bonaccorso decided instead to partner with marinas - currently he has 400 properties in 36 states signed to an exclusive deal - that will currently come to market over the next year.
“If you block up access to the water, no big company can come in after you because if they can’t get to the water, they have no access,” he said. “Marinas have limited revenue streams. They can’t build new docks. Their restaurants can only deliver to the people that pull up in their boats.”
BoatBites works with the marina and local food trucks for hot food items. The vendors pay a modest fee to the marina.
“We pay them $15 out of every delivery that leaves their marina, whether it’s from their restaurant or from a food truck parked there. We take orders from [local grocers]. So, for a marina, it’s a significant amount of revenue.
“If the marina has a restaurant and they sell a burger for 15 bucks, right? They have a 70% markup.
They’re making three bucks. If they let us deliver it for them, we’re paying them $15. Now they’re making $18 profit on their own burger.”
Delivery is limited from sunup to sun down because BoatBites delivers by PWC, which Bonaccorso believes are safer and more nimble than boats, allowing for beach landings. In saltwater markets, a delivery radius of 5 miles is in place, which expands to 5-7 miles in freshwater, based on making sure hot food arrives hot and navigation challenges like no wake zones.
“Our drivers during our delivery tests, they get $15 per delivery. They did two and a half deliveries per hour, and they got tips between $20 and $50 per hour. So those guys were making $80 to $120 an hour.”
Drivers go through an extensive background check and through the BoatBites app are monitored in real time for speed and navigation skills. Drivers must possess a driver’s license for five years, no DUIs, ever, no accidents in five years, and they have to have had a boating license for five years.
For the balance of March, Bonaccorso is opening on the Florida Gulf Coast from Fort Myers to Naples. “And then we’re coming right into Miami and up Fort Lauderdale and Stuart through April and May. And then the whole state of Florida. Then we’ve got marinas, part of those 400, we’re cherry picking. There’s a couple in Long Island (New York). We got Lake Minnetonka (Minnesota). We got Lake Travis (Texas).”
Market launch is highly targeted using local social media boating sites and traditional news outlets. A special promotions team is assigned to events or busy sandbars and other gathering spots to deliver pizza by drone and blitz the beach with coupon offers.
In the next year, Bonaccorso would like to see BoatBites enter key locations in the British and US Virgin Islands, South America and Canada. As a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, BoatBites can open anywhere at virtually anytime for an average cost of about US$2,000 per market.
-March 13, 2025