Growing Beyond DoorDash: How Barrio Turned First Party Ordering Into a Growth Engine

TLDR

Some customers are grabbing breakfast before work. Others are trying to fit lunch into a short break between meetings. People are in a hurry long before they reach the counter. Barrio Bagel & Slice was built around that reality. From drive-through pickup to scheduled ordering, the Gilbert bakery focused on making things easier for customers and smoother for staff. That approach helped one location grow into a business with over 5,000 app users.

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Barrio Bagel & Slice Built a Bakery Around Convenience and Quality

A Partnership That Brought Different Strengths Together

Barrio Bagel & Slice came from a partnership between two people with different skills but a shared vision. Oren Molovinsky and James Beard Award winner Don Guerra built a concept focused on great food and a smoother customer experience.

Don Guerra is widely known for his work in bread and baking. His approach helped shape the bagels served at Barrio, which are developed using his sourdough process. That attention to detail became part of the foundation of the business.

The goal was never to create a place where people simply stopped by for breakfast. The team wanted to build a spot that fit naturally into everyday routines.

Designed Around How People Actually Order

Walk into many cafés during a weekday morning, and the same scene appears. Long lines. Customers checking the time. Staff moving quickly behind the counter. People want great food, though they also want speed.

Barrio built around that reality from the beginning.

The location includes a drive-through designed to make pickup simple and reduce waiting time. The focus was on creating an experience that felt easy for customers moving through busy mornings and lunch schedules.

That thinking shaped the entire operation. Small choices around flow and convenience became part of how the brand worked day to day.

Many independent food businesses think about menu items first and operations later. Barrio approached things from another angle. The experience around the food mattered too.

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Why Customer Habits Are Changing for Morning and Lunch Orders

People order differently today than they did a few years ago. Convenience plays a larger role in small everyday decisions. Customers heading to work want coffee and breakfast ready when they arrive. Lunch customers often have a limited amount of time before heading back.

Recent industry research from the National Restaurant Association found that off-premises dining continues to remain a major part of customer behavior, especially for quick service and fast casual businesses. Guests increasingly expect ordering options that fit into busy schedules rather than requiring extra time during the day.

Barrio noticed these patterns early.

Many customers visit during morning rush periods when people are heading to work. Others order during lunch windows where timing matters. Waiting in line may only add a few minutes, though even small delays can affect routines.

Instead of asking customers to adjust their habits, Barrio built systems around how customers already behaved.

That shift became important because customers increasingly wanted ordering that felt flexible. Some wanted food prepared before they arrived. Others wanted the ability to place an order earlier and pick it up later.

Those small expectations started shaping what came next.

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How One Location Turned App Ordering Into Its Primary Channel

Barrio offers both branded app ordering and web ordering through Per Diem. Customers can place pickup orders, arrange delivery, browse menus, and plan purchases in advance.

Over time, the app became their strongest ordering channel.

Today, a single Barrio location has built a community of over 5,000 app users. For an independent bakery, that number says a lot about customer behavior. People do not continue opening an app repeatedly unless it becomes part of routine habits.

Oren noticed the shift happening firsthand:

"The nice thing about having the app as our primary ordering is actually it's used quite a bit."

Part of that growth came from giving customers tools that fit naturally into everyday schedules. Guests ordering breakfast before work could place orders ahead of arrival. Lunch customers could secure food before stepping away from work.

Pre-ordering bagels and breads also became useful for people planning their days ahead.

The experience removed small points of friction without changing how people already behaved.

For Barrio, ordering stopped feeling like a transaction customers had to think about. It simply became part of the routine.

And once that routine formed, the impact reached beyond customer behavior alone.

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How App Ordering Helped Staff Focus on What Matters Most

Fast mornings can put pressure on any bakery. Orders stack up quickly. Customers arrive at the counter at the same time. Team members are handling food prep while also managing incoming requests.

For Barrio, the goal was never to create speed at the expense of the team experience.

As app usage grew, another benefit started becoming clear behind the scenes. Order flow became easier to manage during busy periods because customers placed requests before arriving.

Oren saw that shift happen in daily operations.

"What we've noticed is it helps free up our staff."

Instead of spending valuable time taking orders during peak periods, employees could focus attention where it mattered most: preparing food, keeping quality consistent, and moving service along smoothly.

That difference became especially helpful during two key parts of the day.

Morning bagel rushes often bring customers in at nearly the same time. Lunch windows create a similar pattern. Orders tend to arrive in waves instead of being spread evenly across the day.

Pre-ordering changed how those rushes felt operationally.

"Customers are mostly picking up during early morning bagels and during lunch breaks and the app helps them order ahead and can even schedule order ahead."

Knowing incoming demand ahead of time gave the team a clearer picture of what needed preparation before customers walked through the door.

For many independent operators, technology conversations often focus on customer acquisition. Barrio's experience highlights beyond just that. Better systems can also create breathing room for teams during the busiest hours.

Help your team stay ahead during rush hours with Busy Mode and flexible prep times. Learn how to set up. 

Delivery Without Giving Up Customer Ownership

Many local food businesses join delivery marketplaces because they seem like the easiest starting point. Customers already use them. The audience exists. Visibility feels immediate.

The challenge often appears later.

Commission costs can put pressure on margins and many restaurants adjust menu pricing to offset those expenses. Industry estimates commonly place marketplace commissions between roughly 15% and 30%, depending on services and platform agreements.

Barrio wanted delivery convenience without building the experience around outside platforms.

Oren explained the approach clearly:

"We also like the fact that we don't have to be on DoorDash or Uber Eats. So we just let all of our customers know that you can select delivery on our app or online and it'll be coordinated and you'll have your food delivered to you by the same service."

From the customer perspective, delivery still feels familiar. Food arrives at the door as expected.

The difference happens behind the scenes.

Customers place orders directly through Barrio channels rather than starting relationships inside a marketplace app. That creates a direct path between the business and the guest.

Oren also pointed to another practical advantage:

"That avoids us having to pay all those fees and raise our prices."

For local operators, small cost differences can matter. Avoiding extra fees creates flexibility around pricing decisions and customer experience.

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What Cafés Can Learn From Barrio

Opening a new business creates attention for a short period of time. Customers are curious. People search online. Social posts get shared. Local communities start paying attention.

That early period shapes habits.

When brands depend entirely on marketplaces at launch, much of that attention stays inside another platform. Customers remember where they ordered, though the business itself can become easier to overlook over time.

Barrio approached things differently.

The ordering experience lived inside channels connected directly to the business from early on. Customers interacted with Barrio itself instead of building routines somewhere else.

That decision helped create direct engagement from the beginning.

For independent cafés, bakeries, and local food brands, there is an important lesson here. Launch periods create a rare opportunity to build recognition around your own experience while interest is highest.

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Final Thoughts

Barrio Bagel & Slice built its business around making things easier for customers and smoother for the team. That approach helped one location grow to over thousands of app users while keeping ordering directly connected to the brand. For cafés and bakeries looking at long-term growth, Barrio shows how building your own customer channels early can create stronger results over time.

Build an ordering experience that customers actually come back to. Book a demo today. 

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