SASKATOON — Trey Pernitsky, McLurg alumnus and entering his fourth year at the University of Saskatchewan, enrolled in Edwards School of Business, is helping to launch a new subsidiary business.
Pertnitsky is a member of Comm 447 at Edwards, and one of the successful businesses launched by the group is Cubbi, a food delivery service that offers short-term storage in what the entrepreneurs call pickup pods. Recently the group launched Lunchlocker.
A recent article published by USask, https://www.edwards.usask.ca/news/2022/current-edwards-student-launching-new-subsidiary-of-cubbi-called-lunchlocker.aspx featured Pernitsky and his business venture (written by Maya Gauthier).
At first glance, Cubbi and LunchLocker appear to have few differences. In the USask interview, which Pernitsky gave permission to use, he states, “We view Cubbi as a hotel. It’s like a one-night stay. You book a meal to the fridge and that’s your pod for that day.
LunchLocker differs as it is viewed as a long-term storage system without the capacity for meal delivery but rather a subscription-based service with a monthly payment plan. Cubbi offers meal delivery to their fridges without the long-term storage option. Cubbi’s business model is food delivery. It operates by delivering meals from local vendors to the fridges in local businesses.
“The project is funded by Cubbi, which is the parent company of LunchLocker. Cubbi is privately funded by local investors. LunchLocker operates as a subsidiary company with a different business model but the same product as Cubbi. All revenues generated go back into the business to fuel its growth and eventually a return on investment for our investors,” says Pernitsky
LunchLocker is currently in 15 other locations across the country including Calgary and Vancouver and Pernitsky says he is working to get them in all of the other colleges across USask. LunchLocker is also available to businesses, co-working spaces and athletics teams.
Asked how he manages his time between his commitments of athlete on the track team, university academics and this business venture, Pernitsky responds, “Time management and managing my priorities effectively is one of the things I am most proud of. I have strong habits every day that allow me to get the most I can out of myself. I prioritize my rest, so I can get the most out of all areas of my life and remain efficient every day. From my three years of university, I can only remember missing one class.”
Pernitsky says he has completed the majority of his degree and has left only a couple of “easier” classes allowing him to focus on athletics and LunchLocker.
“After the completion of this year, I will still have two years of athletics eligibility left so I plan to continue competing as a Huskie while pursuing my MBA or law degree,” adds Pernitsky.
The USask student says he believes LunchLocker will be a full-time project after convocation as it has been prosperous so far, however, Pernitsky maintains it is difficult to grow by himself and one other employee.
“Short term goals are to get up to a recurring revenue amount that will sustain the student internship grants needed for me to bring on more employees. Long-term goals are to be in every university in Canada as well as a variety of athletics teams, co-working spaces and regular businesses,” affirms Pernitsky. “If local businesses are interested in learning about Lunchlocker and how it can help their staff, my email is [email protected] and our website is www.lunchlocker.ca.”
There is also a recently released app under LunchLocker.
The USask article says Cubbi’s founder and CEO, Dawson Norrish, named Pernitsky the CEO of LunchLocker.
