4 ms·

The courier must arrive before the food is ready and wait for it. The food must be packed so that the least damage occurs. (eg. crispy needs to breathe, yet be

by Canada 11y ago

The courier must arrive before the food is ready and wait for it. The food must be packed so that the least damage occurs. (eg. crispy needs to breathe, yet be kept warm) The courier must deliver it in under 10 minutes worst case, but within 5 minutes on average. Like the constraint of the speed of light on networks, no amount of money can change this. Some food ages like VOIP traffic. Pizza and Chinese delivery do well in the worst case. They reheat well. Look at what airlines serve. To survive these new delivery services need to make a profit delivering food that is unprofitable for individual establishments to deliver themselves.

FlamingHotRam 11y ago
> The food must be packed so that the least damage occurs. (eg. crispy needs to breathe, yet be kept warm) I wonder how much room there is to specialize in doing this right. The vast majority of the time I order delivery, food tends to come in super-budget containers that degrade the experience. Pizzas arriving in cardboard boxes, the taste altered by 10+ minutes of steaming and dripping oil... asian food tends to arrive in the clam-shell styrofoam containers that mush up some vegetables or turn crispy fried food soggy, with sauces in thin plastic cups that invariably leak at least a little... When was the last time anyone rethought delivery? The experience could be so much better. What if soups used parfait-style containers to keep the liquids separate from dry mix-ins (eg fried chicken) until right before consumption? What if pizza boxes had oil-absorbant padding and better venting? And what about standardizing those container sizes like we standardized shipping containers, so food doesn't get jumbled in a plastic bag? Seems like that would open the window to containers with heating/cooling packs as well, which would help batch-deliver orders more efficiently. How much of a market is there for companies that handle shipping and packaging/handling of delivery orders? Owning the full delivery experience instead of just some cars.
- qq66 11y ago
  That's what the vertically integrated delivery companies like Munchery do. Ultimately I think this model will win, since the food prep facility does not need to need to pay rent in a restaurant neighborhood, and the food can be designed for deliverability.
beachstartup 11y ago
there is a thai place and a ramen place in my neighborhood that will ship deliveries 'deconstructed' meaning you combine the ingredients when you get it. it works great for things like soups, noodle dishes, etc. you can heat the soup base or noodles nice and hot and then add the cold ingredients for a nice just-made taste. someone really needs to figure out how to keep fried food crispy though. that's a billion dollar idea just on its own.
- Canada 11y ago
  To keep fried food crispy just cut the top corners off the foam container.

by Canada 11y ago

FlamingHotRam 11y ago

> The food must be packed so that the least damage occurs. (eg. crispy needs to breathe, yet be kept warm) I wonder how much room there is to specialize in doing this right. The vast majority of the time I order delivery, food tends to come in super-budget containers that degrade the experience. Pizzas arriving in cardboard boxes, the taste altered by 10+ minutes of steaming and dripping oil... asian food tends to arrive in the clam-shell styrofoam containers that mush up some vegetables or turn crispy fried food soggy, with sauces in thin plastic cups that invariably leak at least a little... When was the last time anyone rethought delivery? The experience could be so much better. What if soups used parfait-style containers to keep the liquids separate from dry mix-ins (eg fried chicken) until right before consumption? What if pizza boxes had oil-absorbant padding and better venting? And what about standardizing those container sizes like we standardized shipping containers, so food doesn't get jumbled in a plastic bag? Seems like that would open the window to containers with heating/cooling packs as well, which would help batch-deliver orders more efficiently. How much of a market is there for companies that handle shipping and packaging/handling of delivery orders? Owning the full delivery experience instead of just some cars.

qq66 11y ago
That's what the vertically integrated delivery companies like Munchery do. Ultimately I think this model will win, since the food prep facility does not need to need to pay rent in a restaurant neighborhood, and the food can be designed for deliverability.

beachstartup 11y ago

there is a thai place and a ramen place in my neighborhood that will ship deliveries 'deconstructed' meaning you combine the ingredients when you get it. it works great for things like soups, noodle dishes, etc. you can heat the soup base or noodles nice and hot and then add the cold ingredients for a nice just-made taste. someone really needs to figure out how to keep fried food crispy though. that's a billion dollar idea just on its own.

Canada 11y ago
To keep fried food crispy just cut the top corners off the foam container.