Foursquare to-go: Delivery.com adds virtual check-ins (exclusive)

Foursquare’s place check-in is moving into new territory Tuesday. Online food ordering and delivery service Delivery.com is integrating with Foursquare so that customers can virtually check in to a businesses when they place an online order.

Through the integration, the appropriately named food and beverage delivery service will enable its customers to connect to Foursquare to not only check-in when they order on the web, but also view food hotspots, sort results by check-ins, see venue photos, reviews, and tips, and leave tips of their own.

“Shopping online has been a singular type of business,” Delivery.com CEO Jed Kleckner told VentureBeat. “There is a need and interest on the part of the consumer to understand what other people have to say about things they want to purchase … we can provide that depth.”

Delivery.com is very much a competitor to popular food ordering sites such as GrubHub and Seamless, and has 500,000 users, supports 10,000 merchants, and operates in more than 50 U.S. cities. But it has grander ambitions and hopes to assist all merchants in the perishable goods category. To that end, the company recently expanded to include online grocery shopping and already allows ordering from wine and liquor stores.

“[Foursquare integration] educates the consumer and enriches the Delivery.com experience for our existing customer base,” Kleckner said of Tuesday’s site-wide release.

Foursquare platform evangelist Akshay Patil confirmed with VentureBeat that this is the first time a site of this size has enabled virtual check-ins. But in disappointing news to those looking to stay inside and still ramp up Foursquare cred, Delivery.com Foursquare check-ins won’t count toward points, mayorships, or badges. Check-ins will, however, feed into and enhance the data pool that powers Foursquare’s Explore discovery tool, we’re told.

The data exchange is one that could add infinite value to the Delivery.com experience, and the site could also experience a healthy network effect where new customers are pulled in from the messages pushed out by those checking-in at check out.

Founded in 2004, Delivery.com is based in New York and has roughly 50 employees. The company has raised an undisclosed sum of venture capital.

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