RoadRunnerApp.com, a new delivery service created by Ville Platte native Brett McElwee, is hoping to change the app-based delivery business in Acadiana. The app went live Monday.

McElwee said his new business will deliver not only take-out orders from restaurants but also medicines from local pharmacies and legal documents to and from law offices. Deliveries could also include groceries, parts, floral arrangements, dry cleaning and even personal deliveries.

It went through its final test Friday.

"I ventured out into this mobile delivery app about a year ago while brainstorming about how to make delivery services convenient not only to the carry-out food market but also other markets," said McElwee, a registered nurse and University of Louisiana at Lafayette graduate who started First Choice Medical Staffing in 2004.

"We felt it would be advantageous even outside the food market. We started with a local software company here because we wanted to stay local and have that face-to-face interaction with them during development."

The app is different from Waitr, Door Dash and Grubhub, he said.

It will use independent drivers with each driver controlling his or her own delivery areas. Unlike other delivery apps, RoadRunnerApp.com will not charge businesses to use the service, he said. The app will charge the customer a rate based on the distance the driver will have to cover.

It's this difference in pricing structure, he noted, that will allow drivers to reach rural areas and not lose money, while also expanding delivery services to areas and small businesses that have historically been undeserved by the app's more metropolitan-focused competitors.

The fee system will differ from Waitr, which announced a fee system earlier this summer that charges restaurants 15% to 25% commission on every transaction, depending on how much food sales per month each restaurant gets through Waitr.

"We'll make our initial start here in Acadiana, but we plan to eventually move into other areas like Lake Charles and Baton Rouge," McElwee said. "We're able to deliver in places our competitors can't while also being able to deliver in metropolitan markets, but I see our future really thriving in rural markets where our competitors can't offer their services."

The app will be helpful to rural areas, noted Renee Brown, executive director of the Evangeline Chamber of Commerce. It could be a boost for Ville Platte, which was named the second poorest town in the U.S. only a year ago.

It's a city where nearly 40% of its 7,000-plus residents lived in poverty and the median household income was just over $18,000, well below half of the state's median income level of $45,000.

“Brett McElwee is an entrepreneur whose app will provide rural areas with delivery service amenities that were only available in the big cities," Brown said. "People are going to love the convenience of the Roadrunnerapp.com delivery service no matter where they are.”

The app can be downloaded from the website, roadrunnerapp.com, and the mobile version will soon be available in Apple and Google app stores.

McElwee said he's hired a number of drivers already, with about 80% hailing from the Lafayette area. Drivers will be background-checked but will share in the revenues generated by the company, he said.