Danielle Candela's Tote Taxi provides door-to-door pickups and deliveries on the East End — and beyond

It wasn’t necessity but inconvenience that drove Danielle Candela to create her niche delivery service.

After a decade of "schlepping" her bags between Manhattan, where she worked and lived, and East Quogue, where she visited her family year-round, Candela had enough, she said. So she started researching ideas for a business that would not only ease cumbersome treks to the East End, but would allow her to live and work full-time in the Hamptons, Candela said.

And in 2018, the uber-motivated entrepreneur, now 34 years old and a Southampton resident, started Tote Taxi.

Based at the Hampton Jitney’s Southampton office, Tote Taxi provides white-glove door-to-door pickups and deliveries of everything from luggage to dog crates — but not people or animals.

With prices based on the amount of stuff that customers want Tote Taxi to deliver and how quickly they want it to reach its destination, a one-way transport between the city and the Hamptons runs $275 to $1,765, and between the city and south Florida, $850 to $7,500. Tote Taxi also services other areas, including the North Fork, Westchester and Connecticut. 

"I’m not competing against the Jitney. The business is busy enough with the stuff we do, since it’s something new in the Hamptons," said Candela, who grew up in East Quogue and received her undergraduate degree in advertising and marketing communications from the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.

Since 2020, on average, Tote Taxi’s business volume has grown 45% annually, she said.

The operation hires a maximum of 10 independent workers, on an as-needed basis, to handle marketing and administrative work, as well as make deliveries in their own vehicles. It also has two full-time employees and two company-owned Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans, one of them purchased in the business’ early days.

"It’s the Hamptons, and I wanted us to be a luxury delivery service that caters to a specific clientele," said Candela.

Candela recently spoke to Newsday about her delivery business. Answers have been edited for space.

How did you fund Tote Taxi’s startup?

I participated in a Shark Tank"-style competition in Southampton Village and when I won $15,000, it was time to turn my business idea into a reality.

How did you spend the prize?

It helped build my website. I added the leftover money to the $5,000 that my father gave me and made the down payment on our first Mercedes Sprinter van.

What were the early days like?

The first two years, I was the delivery person going into Manhattan and lifting all those bags — because I couldn’t afford to hire anyone.

But, when I had the idea of starting Tote Taxi, I thought, "how glamorous to own a business!"

How do you market the business?

We use Instagram and work with NYC Moms, an Instagram influencer group based in Manhattan, which comes out to the Hamptons and, in exchange for receiving our service free of charge, share their experience with their communities. We also get referrals and a lot of business through our partnership with Blade [which flies helicopters to the Hamptons].

Blade has integrated us into its app, and when people book Blade, which accepts only 25 pounds of luggage per person, they can also book Tote Taxi.

Any formal courses to grow the business?

In January 2024, I was accepted into the no-cost Goldman Sachs 10K Small Business Course. I didn’t go to business school and wanted to develop another business venture.

The course wanted us to pick a growth opportunity to research and I asked our operations manager, Dipendra Rawal, for ideas. He suggested working with summer camps.

I brought the idea to my Goldman "Growth Group" and one member said she sent her two sons to Camp Walden in the Adirondacks. She made the introduction to Walden, which wanted a service for centralized baggage pickups.

And Tote Camps launched this summer.

How does Tote Camps work?

For Walden, we picked up baggage in four places — upstate White Plains; Paramus and Cherry Hill, New Jersey; and Bethesda, Maryland — for 350 families. At the end of camp, we’ll pick up from Walden and deliver bags to the same centralized locations. For two soft fabric trunks, our one-way prices are $170 to $200, depending on the pickup place.

Next season, I would love to do more camps who want centralized pickups.

What about door-to-door deliveries for campers?

We work with Ship Camps [a shipping company partnering with FedEx]. When families request a certain pickup time that FedEx doesn’t always offer, we’ll pick up the baggage from the family and drop it off at FedEx.

Other income streams?

Saint James Iced Tea is currently sponsoring one of our vans, with its name on the vehicle’s two sides and back.

Biggest challenge?

When I first started, my uncle and two other older guys saw I was struggling and helped me in the business. They’ve moved on, and I need to support and train a new team. It’s a new skill set.

Business’ best part?

The relationships I’ve built.

Before Tote Taxi, where did you work?

At [XO Group Inc.’s] The Knot in advertising sales. And from 6 to 16 years old, I was a competitive figure skater. I retired because of two stress fractures that I couldn’t recover from — and I wanted to be a kid.

Have those experiences prepared you for Tote Taxi?

The Knot gave me a marketing background, and sports gave me resilience and goal-setting perseverance. And now that I’m a bit older and in business, I see how I got here from figure skating.