Erik Trujillo is leading the way for sustainable food delivery in Sedona.

Just six months ago, Trujillo and his dad, Terry Trujillo, decided there was a big hole around the Sedona area for food delivery. With limited services like Doordash and Ubereats, the market was wide-open for a businessman like Erik, who has been living in West Sedona since 1991 and has Down syndrome.

“It’s pedal-based that also has the battery, so it has a long-range,” Terry Trujillo said. “So he’s working out. He’s not adding to the noise. He’s not adding to traffic. It’s very eco-friendly, which to us, is so important.”

Before Erik started his delivery business, he was working at Bashas’ in West Sedona and then he started selling photos that he and his father had taken all over the state. But, both Terry and Erik decided he needed an activity that got him out of the house a bit more, on top of concerns about traveling around the state during the pandemic for the photos.

And so that’s when the bikes came in.

“We started talking about it after we got the vaccines since he started going to the stores for pickups and deliveries for us,” Terry Trujillo said. “And we thought this would be a fantastic idea for everyone else.”

Just during the daytime, he is open for taking orders in West Sedona, Uptown and the Chapel area for food and supply delivery or odd jobs around the house. Although according to Erik, he likes to stay around the West Sedona area, where he has lived almost his entire life. And his electric bike, which he purchased with help from his father just a few months ago, is how he does it.

Previously Erik was getting around on his three-wheel electric scooter, but as the idea for the delivery service came to be, the Trujillos knew he needed a new bike. But the name came naturally during the height of the lockdown and months following when Terry would call out “Hey Erik” in their house to ask him to go pick up an order for them.

And so far, Erik’s favorite part about the job is delivering people their favorite foods, especially the pizza and wings since they smell the best.

Orders come from many different platforms too.

Piya Jacob, a West Sedona resident for the past 10 years, found out about Erik’s service from a social media app.
“This is a great service that Erik is providing for a pretty nominal fee,” Jacob said. “And when I talked to his father, he said they had figured out a section of town that was safe for him to do the deliveries and not expose him to traffic. So I thought this would be a great opportunity.”

Jacob ordered from the Sedona Community Center, which provides meals for seniors in the area and on whose board she sits.

From the community center to her West Sedona home, Erik only took around seven minutes to deliver her lunch.
After her quick delivery, Jacob said she knows she will be ordering again, or even scheduling Erik out to help with some odd jobs around her house.

While Terry and Erik are trying to figure out an easier way for people to schedule out deliveries and jobs, currently it is a case-by-case basis if Erik is available when customers email Terri at heyerik@eriktrujillo.com.

“We’re still sort of sorting out the kinks because at first I thought it was going to be OK a couple of times a week at the most. But then it’s turned into where he’s actually doing more,” Terry Trujillo said. “And so now we’re trying to figure out how do people contact us? Because we started with an email and we started with my phone number. And now we’ve been doing some structuring and we’re working on a logo for him.”

Right now, Terry will text Erik during the day with where and when to pick up the order, followed by the delivery address. Erik will then set up his phone on the bike’s holder to give him directions to each different location. Both Terry and Erik hope within the next few months, “Hey Erik” will have a set way to make appointments, as well as advertising around the city.

“I want a hat, and a shirt and a sign on the bike that says ‘Hey Erik,’” Erik Trujillo said.

For West Sedona deliveries, he charges $5, while the Uptown and Chapel areas are set at $10. If he is scheduled out for any odd jobs, he charges $15 an hour. For all scheduled services, Erik asks for a tip if the customer feels his work deserves it.

Erik is also available for recycling pickup from homes and drop-offs at the Sedona Recycles location.

“One of the things we want to try to stay away from is having him service the tourist component,” Terry Trujillo said. “But [it’s] more for the locals because everyone knows we’ve been here for a long time and there’s an interaction. There’s the repetition and you get to know people. It’s just fun.”