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I've wondered for a while why so many restaurants on Seamless etc. have physical locations (or rather, why there are so few that don't). Surely it would be a n

I've wondered for a while why so many restaurants on Seamless etc. have physical locations (or rather, why there are so few that don't). Surely it would be a no-brainer to do delivery only, and optimize for that. Select a few cuisines, get great chefs to develop recipes that anyone can be trained to execute flawlessly, set up locations strategically situated to minimize delivery time/distance. It might not end up being Michelin-star-quality food, but then none of the places I order deliver from are, either. As a consumer, my biggest problems with delivery are speed and quality. Places I order from routinely take 60+ minutes to deliver, even if they're close by. Quality is the bigger problem, and I suspect a lot of people feel the same.

ollieshmollie 9y ago
I think that's what the guys at Maple thought. I worked there for a bit when it started, and it seemed to me like they were growing too fast. There would be some pretty serious operational issues (from my point of view), but bang, they would open another hub to serve another thousand people, thereby magnifying the issues. I'm sure they did what they had to do, but after about a year I saw the writing on the wall and left. But heck, I was just a delivery boy, and lots of people really loved the idea. I'm sure we'll see more delivery startups, and maybe they'll be great, having learned from Maple.
twblalock 9y ago
It seems like a no-brainer, but the restaurant business is a cutthroat, low-margin tough slog and a lot of that comes from the cost of parts (i.e. food) and labor, not just the storefront. A delivery-only restaurant still needs to deal with hiring staff, sourcing product, health inspections, purchase and maintenance of equipment, etc. That's before the whole delivery thing comes into the picture. If you want fast service, you have to scale up the staff and get some decent logistics in place. I suspect this would only be profitable via automation. But that will probably happen soon.
tschwimmer 9y ago
There's a company in SF called Pythagoras Pizza that does this (https://www.getpi.co/ https://www.getpi.co/). A 14-inch pizza costs $23 (!!!) but apparently, they're doing well.
sah2ed 9y ago
If they go with high quality and fast delivery, their service might be too exorbitant for most people for them to expand to larger markets. If you think of it as a trilemma between quality, speed and price, it's unlikely you'll ever find a service that can meet your needs because when a competitor shows up, "worse is better" kicks in.
JauntTrooper 9y ago
And if you're focusing on operating efficiency with an digital-only storefront you could try variable pricing. Want a sandwich at noon? That's $7. Want it at 3pm? That's $4. Want us to drop everything and get it to you in 15 minutes? That's an extra $2.

ollieshmollie 9y ago

I think that's what the guys at Maple thought. I worked there for a bit when it started, and it seemed to me like they were growing too fast. There would be some pretty serious operational issues (from my point of view), but bang, they would open another hub to serve another thousand people, thereby magnifying the issues. I'm sure they did what they had to do, but after about a year I saw the writing on the wall and left. But heck, I was just a delivery boy, and lots of people really loved the idea. I'm sure we'll see more delivery startups, and maybe they'll be great, having learned from Maple.

twblalock 9y ago

It seems like a no-brainer, but the restaurant business is a cutthroat, low-margin tough slog and a lot of that comes from the cost of parts (i.e. food) and labor, not just the storefront. A delivery-only restaurant still needs to deal with hiring staff, sourcing product, health inspections, purchase and maintenance of equipment, etc. That's before the whole delivery thing comes into the picture. If you want fast service, you have to scale up the staff and get some decent logistics in place. I suspect this would only be profitable via automation. But that will probably happen soon.

tschwimmer 9y ago

There's a company in SF called Pythagoras Pizza that does this (https://www.getpi.co/ https://www.getpi.co/). A 14-inch pizza costs $23 (!!!) but apparently, they're doing well.

sah2ed 9y ago

If they go with high quality and fast delivery, their service might be too exorbitant for most people for them to expand to larger markets. If you think of it as a trilemma between quality, speed and price, it's unlikely you'll ever find a service that can meet your needs because when a competitor shows up, "worse is better" kicks in.

JauntTrooper 9y ago

And if you're focusing on operating efficiency with an digital-only storefront you could try variable pricing. Want a sandwich at noon? That's $7. Want it at 3pm? That's $4. Want us to drop everything and get it to you in 15 minutes? That's an extra $2.