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If it can work here, it can work anywhere
Nanette JordanCo-Owner
July 6, 2026
Full-service steakhouse · Poplar Bluff, MO
"I started as a server at 18. By 25, I was a general manager. At 35, I became co-owner of Colton's Steak House & Grill — a full-service restaurant in a town of 17,000 people, where we sell 600 pounds of beef every week. In a market this size, there's a ceiling on how many new customers you can find on your own."
One year later
20% Increase in revenue
After a year they saw a promising increase in our revenue.
Delivery is part of the business now
Not a side experiment, but a real and recurring channel
Why they waited
"In a town of 17,000, there's a ceiling on how many new customers you can find."
The margin problem
"We run a full-service steakhouse — food costs are already high and margins are already tight. Paying a commission on top of that didn't look like a growth strategy. It looked like a risk we couldn't afford to take."
The customer ceiling
"In a town of 17,000, we'd already reached most of the people who were going to find us on their own. The loyal regulars kept coming. But new customer growth had slowed to something close to zero."
— Nanette Jordan, Co-Owner, Colton's Steak House & Grill"I held out on DoorDash because of the commissions. Food costs these days are a struggle, margins are tight, and I didn't think our customers would accept extra cost."
"Honestly? Here's what surprised us most"
| What they thought would happen | What actually happened |
|---|---|
What they thought would happenThe commission fees would eat into their margins."I'd run the numbers a dozen times and kept landing on the same fear: deliver more, keep less." | What actually happenedThe new volume made the math work."Customers who were never coming in added revenue that didn't touch our dine-in business — incremental, not cannibalized." |
What they thought would happenThey've already reached everyone they could in Poplar Bluff."In a town this size, we knew most of the people who were ever going to find us." | What actually happenedThere was a whole market they hadn't touched."DoorDash opened us up to a community that probably wasn't coming in at all." |
Average
20%
Revenue increase
in one year
Up to
600
LB beef sold weekly
at Colton's Steakhouse
Up to
17K
People in Poplar Bluff
"DoorDash helped us reach the ones who weren't already regulars"
ONE YEAR LATER
"We didn't just find new customers. We found a market we didn't know was there."
+20% revenue in year one — Growth that came entirely from customers outside our existing base
Delivery is part of the business now — Not a side experiment, but a real and recurring channel
— Nanette Jordan, Co-Owner, Colton Steakhouse"Even though I was hesitant, I can't argue with the fact that DoorDash brought in an extra 20% revenue this year. If it can work here, it can work anywhere."
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