A stroll through the Tenderloin is redolent with whiffs of the cuisines of Burma and Yemen, Vietnam and the Philippines. The gritty neighborhood is dotted with tiny ethnic restaurants often run by struggling immigrants. Now a technology company and local nonprofits want to give these small players an economic boost with a website and connections to delivery firms so they can receive and process online meal orders — and help establish the neighborhood as a culinary destination.

“We’d love to get more new customers and get the word out,” said Maria San Antonio, who manages Kusina Ni Tess, a Filipino restaurant at 237 Ellis St. owned by her mom. “Most people see (Tenderloin restaurants) as hole-in-the-wall places where the locals eat. People are scared of this area; they think it’s a bad neighborhood. If they checked it out, they’d see what a diverse melting pot it is.”

Kusina Ni Tess is among several restaurants that signed up for the new Tenderloin Market website, http://www.tenderloinmarket.com hoping it will open the door to new business.

“Our goal is to help San Franciscans access the food mecca that is the Tenderloin,” said Josh Hamilton, CEO of tech startup Bringsy, which created the website and specializes in connecting companies to couriers for last-mile deliveries. “There’s so much ethnic cuisine, and it’s very authentic. We want to help direct more dollars to the hard-working people there.”

He hopes that tech companies will start turning to Tenderloin spots to cater lunches and meetings. Still, it may be a bit of a hard sell in an era of instant gratification: Most of the restaurants need at least a day’s notice for big orders.

City support

San Francisco officials support the new endeavor. “The ethnic restaurants and their proprietors play a major role in the culture of this neighborhood,” said Joaquin Torres, deputy director of the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development. “Anytime an entrepreneur finds a way to bring attention to people who are working day in and day out to create successful businesses is a very welcome addition.”

Several related initiatives are designed to highlight the Tenderloin’s food options — and attract customers with spending power. The Tenderloin Economic Development Project and the city have sponsored 13 “Taste of the Tenderloin” field trips for employees of nearby Mid-Market technology companies to visit specific restaurants and hear their owners’ stories. This year, Twitter employees have visited New Delhi restaurant, and Dolby workers went to KYU3, an Asian noodle house.

“We collectively introduce people to the proprietors and the culture this food comes from,” Torres said. “It gets them comfortable and gives them a personal connection to the restaurants.”

Volunteers from Hack the Hood are helping some restaurants create their own websites, while other bistros received Square credit card readers.

“There’s momentum building in this neighborhood, and the diversity it can offer is something that should be experienced far and wide,” Torres said.

Online push

Anh Nguyen, former executive director of the Tenderloin Economic Development Project, helped spearhead the Tenderloin Market website and the field trips. “We are trying to help save as many businesses as possible,” she said. “They can no longer rely 100 percent on foot traffic. Getting them online will help diversify their revenue streams, and make the Tenderloin a destination for ethnic food.”

She hopes the net result will show up on Google. “When people type in ‘Tenderloin,’ hopefully the first things that come up are our restaurants, not stabbings or homelessness or things that might turn people away from discovering the bohemian funk, art and culture.”

Many of the Tenderloin restaurants have already signed up with online ordering services like Eat24 and courier services like GrubHub, Seamless, DoorDash, Postmates and others. Most of those courier services charge restaurants a commission of 15 to 20 percent, plus delivery fees to customers. Hamilton said Bringsy will take only a 5 percent cut from the Tenderloin restaurants, plus 5 percent from customers. It contracts with courier companies to handle the deliveries; they charge customers $5 and up depending on order size.

“Twenty percent is too much,” said William Lue, who recently opened Tender Loving Food at 393 Eddy St., bringing his number of small Burmese eateries in the Bay Area to six. “I work on a tight margin. I can’t pay that.”

Focus on deliveries

His plan for Tender Loving Food, which has just a handful of tables, is to focus on deliveries, so he plans to sign up with multiple delivery services, but hopes some will give him a better deal. Right now, all his entrees — Burmese tea leaf salad, oxtail kabocha and Mohinga catfish chowder, for instance — cost less than $10, but he may raise prices slightly to cover the delivery commission. Bringsy’s lower commission is appealing, and he has already received a few orders through the website, he said.

At Yemen Kitchen at 219 Jones St., owner Abdul Al Rammah said he’d welcome additional business from the Bringsy website. He has also signed up with GrubHub and Eat24.

“The more we get busy, the more we can hire more people,” he said. “We need people to know that we’re here, selling different food, not just pizza and burgers.”

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid